What about Herod...

"Jesus wept."  The shortest verse of the bible.  One of the first, surely, to be spoken in a memory verse competition ... not that I think anyone has those any more.  John 11:35.  I know the verse.  But do I know what it means?

Of the many Lutheran shockers along the way, one of the earliest, I think, was hearing that Jesus died for Herod.  A sermon, if I recall.  For me, it was such a difficult concept around which to wrap my head.  After all, he was THE ENEMY.  Of course, I should admit that, at the time, and most of the time now, Herod the massacrer of the innocents is also Herod the murderer of John the Baptist.  Only Herod the Great was the former, Herod Antipas the latter.  However, I suppose it matters not that I failed to ask at the time, "Which Herod?" Jesus died for both.

Huh?

I am not sure if the sermon was based on a lectionary reading from 1 Timothy or if merely that bit of Gospel was woven into another reading.  However, that was the answer I was given when asked how that could possibly be.

"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. (1-8)." [emphasis mine]

But, I protested, Herod was THE ENEMY! 

The one who stood against God. Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies. This God taught me to pray in Psalm 139: 21-22.  In a way, after I got over my shock of the whole concept of the papacy being the anti-christ, the doctrine made perfect sense to me.  Anti = against.  Against Christ.  An office that sets itself up as an intermediary between God and man and claims authority to speak of God is nothing short of being against Christ.  Therefore, do I not hate the papacy as God hates those who stand against Him?

SIGH.

Jesus wept upon hearing the news of the death of His friend.  But when we are told that Jesus wept, was He weeping only for Lazarus?  What that the only time Christ wept?  Did He weep for Herod?  For both Herods?  The one who tried to kill Him as a child and the one who ultimately allowed His death as a man?  If God desires that all man come to Him, if He cherishes His creation, did He weep for Herod?  Does He weep for him still?  For the Herods of today?  For those who dare hold the office of the papacy, for those who promulgate its heresy, for those who condone it, even if merely by their silence on the matter? For those who reject Christ crucified, for those to mock or persecute the ones who believe?

In Psalm 56, we pray:

Be gracious, O God, for man has trampled upon me;
Fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My foes have trampled upon me all day long,
For they are many who fight proudly against me.
When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in Thee.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?
All day long they distort my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil
They attach, they lurk,
They watch my steps,
As they have waiting to take my life.
Because of wickedness, cast them forth,
In anger put down the peoples, O God!

Thou hast taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Thy bottle;
Are they not in Thy book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man to do me?
Thy vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to Thee.
For Thou hast delivered my soul from death,
Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living. [emphasis mine]

This prayer was true for John the Baptist.  It was true for him before his death.  It is still true for him after.  Even though John called upon God to be save and yet was still beheaded, God was still for John and God delivered his soul from death.  Eternal death.  Easy to forget that.  Being saved from death and harm does not always mean earthly death and harm.  These are spiritual matters even as they are bodily ones.  We are sheltered and hidden from the wrath and assaults of our enemies, but sometimes that shelter is beneath the wings of Christ, by and with and through the cross in our lives.

God put John's tears in a bottle.  Christ also prays this prayer.  Did His Father capture His tears as well?

Yet there is also the promise of Revelation 21:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (1-4) [emphasis mine]

A comfort I have been given about things that distress me so deeply, that bind me in ways I fear I shall never escape, is that once I am raised in glory, they shall fall away. The fear and shame will not matter to me anymore, will not fetter me.  So, whilst certainly distressing in this world, they are ultimately moot.  To be blunt, I shall not longer loathe my body for what has been done to it, shall no longer desire with my whole being to be shed of it, shall not longer fear being trapped in it for all eternity.  Because all of that will pass away ... even if I cannot fathom such now, it will be.  Such is promised.

But what about Herod?  For Revelation 21 continues, does not stop merely with the promise of eternal life, the sweet, sweet Gospel, but we also are given the reality of the Law placed upon those who do not die in Christ.

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their partwill be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (5-8)." [emphasis mine]

There is such a thing as Hell.  Now, as I was told, it is not mine to judge who ends up where.  And in so understanding, I can hope in the promise of Isaiah 55, that God's Word will not return void or fail to accomplish its purpose and in I Timothy that God desires all men to be saved.  I also have the promise of Luke 23: 33-43,

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.  And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” [emphasis mine]

The hour of belief matters not.  The Living Word and the Sacraments are as effective the first moment of life as they are the last.  The Holy Spirit is not restricted to a set length of time in order to bestow, build, and sustain faith in us.  So, for all I know, Herod, one or both, might  be rejoicing in the glory of our Savior right this very minute.  

But both, also, might be suffering the eternal agony of fire and brimstone.  There is a hell.  People do actually die eternal deaths.

What comfort is there for those, whose have been raised in Christ and, thus, whose  own "death" is actually eternal life, but who grieve and mourn those who whose death is fire and brimstone, whose tears shall have no end?

Could you wish such even on your enemy?  I could not. I do not.  I wish for him justice, the justice of Christ.  For in wishing for him I am wishing for mine.  I, my flesh, is the enemy of Christ.  The old Adam in me stands against God.  So, I will for all the justice of Christ crucified because if it is not for all, then it is not for me.  I know what I deserve.  I cannot, by my own, stand before God and expect eternal life.

That wishing and hoping, sadly, can go unfulfilled.  Not all men will come to God.  Not all men believe.  Some reject Him, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Some reject the Triune God, replacing Him with a monotheistic or duetheistic god of their making.  Some live lives given over to the pursuits of godliness and yet never know Christ crucified.  Never believe in the cross.  The Pharasisees were/are real too.  And they still exist today.

That sort of makes the whole "white-washed tombs" declaration even more harrowing.  Folk, seemingly the epitome of righteousness, walking around with fire and brimstone simmering in their bodies, instead of the body and blood of Christ.  But there are also Juduses walking around as well.  And all manner of unbelievers in between.

Did Christ weep for them?  Does God capture their tears?

What comfort is there for those mourning the eternally lost?  For, to me, there is no comfort in speaking of their own salvation when that is not what is being mourned.  Again, to me, such talk only serves to deepen the grief. 

It is good, right, and salutary to hate the enemies of God.  But is it also good, right, and salutary to weep for their eternal deaths, to sorrow for what they have rejected and lost?  If so, what comfort is there for that sorrow, for that grief?

I have noticed the other side of the coin of the sacrament of Baptism celebrated in a church body.  The dearth of comfort, of instruction, of spiritual care for those facing the death of the unbaptized, the un-saved.  By this I mean, every sermon I hear, every blog I read, nearly every where I look are Words and words for believers.  Yet we are surrounded on all sides by unbelievers.  And many of us love them, are fearful for them, and mourn not merely their passing but the reality of what that passing means.

I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!