Matthew 12

I'm pretty sure that Herod had made a deal with the Jews
that they could practice their religion
as long as they took the responsibility for maintaining order.

I don't know where to go to prove it,
but I'm sure I heard it that way.

Did you know that Herod's title was "King of the Jews"?
I just found that out.
Now that I know about Jesus, that just seems so wrong to me!

Anyway, its easy to criticize them because they seem so dense.
We can see how they missed the whole point of the master plan
because they were too busy nit-picking about the law.

And hey, Jesus came down on 'em,
so its probably safe for us to do the same, right?
Well, maybe not....

The only point I really wanted to make is:
I think they were very devout
and tried so hard to be moral and righteous,
and if it weren't for them keeping the faith for so long
the society could have easily spiralled down into chaos,
but they held up.

So yeah, they totally missed the boat,
and I'm not defending them for that,
but I have to be careful not to do the same thing
thinking I am superior because "I get it".

In fact, once I get my own little paradigm all built up nice and secure
I will probably be defensive about anyone coming along and poking holes in it.

They probably thought they HAD to get rid of him,
or he might jeopardize their whole way of life.

One radical dude comes along to upset the balance
and the Roman army could stomp out the entire Jewish population,
or at least make worship difficult.

just a thought....