Salvation/destruction

This child must be born that the kingdom might come:
salvation for many, destruction for some;
both end and beginning, both message and sign;
both victor and victim, both yours and divine.
---John Bell

One of the easiest things to forget about Jesus' birth and early years is that he was already a 'marked man'. He came to lift up the littlest, the least, and the losers --- great news if you were little, least, or lost. If you were a one-percenter in the Bible-times world, however, this 'good news' was more than a little threatening. Herod was no idiot; he could read the writing on the wall --- or at least in the stars. When the astronomers from the East stopped to inquire about the new 'King of the Jews', the current King of the Jews was more than a little alarmed. You see, good news for the powerless is often anything but for the powerful. In life, there are winners and losers, and a savior who turns the tables is going to upset the table-toppers.
So it shouldn't surprise us when the powerful begin early making mighty efforts at keeping their power. Even when the opponent they battle is a baby. It is never too early to snuff out table-turning...


...so here we stand, whoever we are,
bathed in the light of a star...