Herod the Great was expert at eliminating multiple enemies, or imagined rivals, especially among his relatives. He knew how to play the political game, ingratiating himself with Rome, and so got himself designated as king of Palestine, even though he was not Jewish, but Idumean. The Idumeans had been conquered by a Jewish king, John Hyrcanus (125 BC), and forced to choose between adopting the Jewish religion and customs, or to leave their homeland. Most Idumeans chose to stay, which meant they went along, in some way, with the demand to accept Jewish practices.

Herod was scheming, vicious, and power-mad. The story of the slaughter of the infant males recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:1-18) depicts well his ruthless desire to hold onto power at any cost. He died in 4 BC. In his will, he divided his territory between three of his surviving sons, and bequeathed a few cities to a daughter. Herod Antipas became Tetrarch of the regions of Galilee (west and South of the Sea of Galilee) and Perea (east of the Jordan River). Antipas ruled these separated territories from 4 BC until his exile to Gaul in 39 AD. Herod Antipas was the Herod referred to during Jesus’ adult life and ministry.

Antipas wasn’t as monstrous as his father, but he was a schemer and did put aside his first wife in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his relative, Herod Philip (not to be confused with Antipas’s half-brother Philip). When John the Baptizer forcefully confronted him for this despicable act (although common among rulers), Antipas had John arrested and imprisoned. Herodias plotted, and succeeded, in having John beheaded in revenge for his audacity to dare question her status and welfare. Antipas cared more about saving face, than about saving John’s life.

Herod Antipas, like his notorious father, was surrounded by a cadre of followers, officials – those who always are drawn to power. These are the Herodians mentioned in the Gospels. Their main interest was to hold on to their own comfortable positions by doing whatever they could to keep Herod happily ruling. Of course, they were sensitive to any possible problems, kept their ears and eyes open for trouble, and reported everything to Herod. Their very presence was a deterrent to those who might be considering refusal to cooperate, or outright rebellion.

In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 9:7-9) Herod has had reports about Jesus, his teaching and his powerful works among the people. He wonders who this is, and most importantly, is he a threat to me. His spies tell him what the people are saying about Jesus: he’s John the Baptizer returned from the dead (thus his miraculous powers); Elijah returned to announce the imminent Day of God’s intervention on behalf of Israel; one of the ancient prophets who has come back to call Israel to fidelity to God… Herod knows that he has disposed of John, and dismisses talk of “ancient prophets.” Religion wasn’t a value or of interest to him personally. But this man is stirring up the “peasants.” He wants to “see” this Jesus for himself, so he can size him up, see what he’s really about.

The truth is Herod doesn’t want to see Jesus. He wants to see if this rabble rouser is a problem that he needs to take care of. This line from the Gospel caught my attention this time. Do I, do we, truly want to see Jesus, who he really is, not what we want him to be, not what others (in church?) have told us he is? What if Jesus isn’t what we’ve thought him to be? Do we only want to see the Jesus we’ve become comfortable with? 

It’s too easy to paint Jesus, make statues of Jesus, use some image of Jesus to justify our actions. Jesus is, and always will be, more than we can ever capture in our minds or imaginations. Perhaps we need to be a bit more careful around the mystery of Jesus. He’s not this, or that, but more and less than what we want or imagine him to be. We can better come to see who he is simply by hanging around him for a long time, through meditating on the Scriptures, especially the Gospels.