2025.11.30 I In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In
No KingsIn the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In
Lamentations 3:55-57 & Luke 1:5-13
Preached by Rev. Ashley Wai'olu Moore
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, CA
30 November, 2025
Good morning, Beloveds! I don’t know about you, friends, but my need to be an informed citizen is currently at odds with my need for peace and calm. Nothing can rattle my optimism like watching just about any news source in these times.
In this time of tribulation, we are longing for God to break in. We see our rights and our protections diminishing. We see the best of our government’s agencies and programs being summarily dismantled without any concern for the harms they will cause for real people. We see human rights violations occurring daily, with families being torn apart, children being separated from parents, the poor and elderly nearly losing their food benefits and losing access to affordable health care. LGBTQIA+ people being denied human dignity because they don’t fit into their ideas of normative identities. Moreover, we are distressed that so many of our fellow citizens and neighbors are complicit.
We who have been earnestly awaiting God’s kingdom to fully manifest and God’s shalom to spread across the globe are grief-stricken and dispirited over what we are seeing. We long for the goodness of God to be revealed to us in our national context, for justice and fairness and equity to break forth and calm these tumultuous waters. We cry out like the disciples on the boat, “don’t you care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).
But friends, there is hope. When we look at our scriptures, we are reminded that God does not work that way. The promise of God’s abiding love and salvation is faithful and enduring. Despite our circumstances, God is always with us and encouraging us to be God’s agents for good in these times.
Now it is traditional to begin the Advent season by looking back and remembering the circumstances that our Jewish predecessors were experiencing while living under Roman rule around 5 BCE.
In brief, Judea had lost its status as an independent Jewish state about 60 years earlier. Their sovereign rulers had been replaced by client kings of Rome. The next half century was fraught with civil wars and rebellions, tumultuous and changing leadership in the Roman Republic, the capture and control of Jerusalem, and the installation of more Judean leaders loyal to Rome.
In 49 BCE, Herod became the governor of Galilee. One of his first acts was to send soldiers to confront a group of anti-Roman rebels with orders to massacre every single one of them. The violence was so great that it triggered riots in Jerusalem. This is how Herod began his reign.
8 years later, Judea was invaded and captured by the Parthians. The anti-Roman sentiment was so strong that many Judeans supported the Parthian occupation. But Herod fled to Rome begging for help. Marc Antony and Octavian finally agreed to help on one condition: that Herod prove himself worthy by retaking Jerusalem. Backed by a Roman army, Herod succeeded to do so three years later in 37 BC. As a result, Herod became King of Judea.
But he was not considered a real Jew by the Judeans. His support for the Roman republic marked him as a traitor of Judea. Rome’s installing of Herod as their king was insulting.
But Herod tried to win over the people’s favor through his colossal building projects and by using Jewish symbology in those structures and on their currency. Among these works was the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—including the Western Wall that we can still see today.
But he paid for these projects by taxing the people heavily, and his fondness for pagan and Roman items made Judeans suspect he was sabotaging their culture. Further, he was ruthless in enforcing his will. For example, he had a group of protestors who tore down a Roman eagle burned alive.
In 10 BC, Herod lost Roman favor after he bungled a military campaign. This led to him developing a profound sense of paranoia, and he engaged in a ruthless campaign to root out suspected enemies. He had 300 of his own soldiers murdered, hundreds of his own citizens imprisoned and tortured, and orchestrated gruesome public executions to keep order. He became so afraid that others were plotting to take his throne, that he eventually assassinated four generations of his own family, including two of his sons. It is against this backdrop that Jesus was born.
Of course, Herod is most notoriously remembered as the tyrant king who was responsible for the Massacre of the Innocents as told in Matthew 2:16-18. Today, scholars cast doubt on whether this was an actual, historical event or merely a theological drama. But the depiction is certainly in keeping with Herod’s legacy.
As a result, the Judeans were praying for a Messiah to come and save them. They imagined a leader who would overcome the power of Rome, defeat their armies, overthrow Herod, restore Judea’s status as an autonomous, independent nation and bring peace and prosperity to the people. Like us, they yearned for God’s divine light to break into their dark and violent world.
But this is not how God’s Spirit breaks in. God moves in small, personal moments that ripple outward through time and space, causing seismic shifts that bless many. Let us consider the reading from Luke (1:5-13) that we heard earlier.
The gospel tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were an aging couple who were righteous before God, honoring all the commandments of the Lord. But they had not been able to have children because Elizabeth was barren. Zechariah belonged to the priestly order and entered the sanctuary of the Lord one day to offer incense according to the custom of the priesthood. While he was doing so, we are told that an angel appeared to him. He was overwhelmed with fear.
The Greek word for fear used here is the verb “tarassó”— which means more than merely being startled. It suggests a deep inner shaking, a disruption of body and spirit. Zechariah was terrified. But the divine messenger spoke to him, saying “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your prayer has been heard! Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”
Granted, a theophany such as this is no casual event. Such appearances do not happen often. But they usually happen quietly, privately without announcement or fanfare. There were no witnesses, or anyone else who could vouch for Zechariah’s story. This was a moment of revelation to one person proclaiming that his and Elizabeth’s prayers were heard and were going to be answered.
And yet WE know that their child would grow up to be known as John the Baptist who would prepare the way for Jesus and in-so-doing change the world.
These are the kinds of ripples that spread outward through time and space causing seismic shifts that bless many. We will see many such moments as we journey through this Advent season. Through their stories we can see God’s deliberative actions, beginning with private directives given to unlikely candidates. Just like Moses, each will be accepting a call, agreeing to BE a part of God’s plan and saying YES to a journey they can not possibly comprehend. They take faithful steps on their journeys, trusting to God’s sagacious wisdom. These are the kinds of stories that tell of God’s divine light breaking into our dark and violent world.
It is said that God is no respecter of persons, but God certainly uses the small, meek and unlikely as the agents of blessing and change. This is part of the Advent message. That God answers prayers, moving through the most unlikely means. Like, the birth of a child from a young, un-wed virgin; that the savior of the world would come in the form of a baby who was born to an unhoused couple sleeping with animals in a manger. And who would have imagined that the salvation and everlasting life that Jesus was to bring would be accomplished THROUGH his political execution at the hands of the Roman empire?
So we should not be expecting to see God’s justice revealed through some meta action on the national stage. Rather, we should be watching for Spirit to move closer to home, in the goodness of people like you, and you, and you. The blessings we seek will come through neighbors loving neighbors, being kind to the stranger and doing unto others as we would have God do unto us.
And when the stress of these times gets to be too much, when your faith or optimism is rattled, do not hesitate to cry out to God from the depths of your soul. Cry out like the voice from Lamentations 3 that we heard earlier. There’s no need to be polite; God can handle our deep and honest emotions. Because, as the Rev. Dr. Boyung Lee writes,
“Your fear is real—but it is not the only truth.
God has already been listening.
God enters into [...] the very place [your] fear has taken root.
And God’s response begins not with a miracle, but
with recognition:
your prayer has been heard.
This is a word for all of us in Advent.” (1)
Last year, I stood in this pulpit and proclaimed that the future we hope for is taking shape in the present. Because somewhere God IS preparing to do another miraculous and unpredictable thing that will stymie the powers and confound the wise, bringing a new thing, a new way out of no way, into being. It will be birthed like that baby king born into the world as a meek little child. It will arrive in an unexpected form that defies the customs and expectations of the world. Do not be concerned that we cannot yet perceive it. Be encouraged and have no doubt that God is moving. Take comfort in knowing that Jesus promised to be with us always.
And so beloved, as we journey through this Advent season, pay attention to how some seemingly simple acts were deemed important enough to remember, how the faith of those who appear impact the story and move it forward. Notice how often God seems to be flipping the script, causing things to come in surprising forms or in ways that defy expectation. God’s new thing begins with a quiet and faithful “Yes” within our own hearts. Amen.
(1) Rev. Dr. Boyung Lee, “Commentary on Luke 1:5-13; Lamentations 3:55-57” in A Sanctified Art’s worship series, What Do You Fear: Insisting on Hope This Advent