Broken hearted with a young couple who had lost a child, I stopped in a small town to tell a church member the sad story. I rolled down my window and told him of their loss. He shrugged and said, “Well we bring these things on ourselves.” I rolled up my window and drove away. He was so wrong, there was nothing left for me to say.
Herod was wicked, but he prospered financially. They called him Herod the Great. What was he great at? Killing, for one thing. He killed his own sons out of fear that they would conspire against him. Matthew tells us he put babies to death after the Magi told him of Jesus’ birth. Zechariah and Elizabeth were descendants of Aaron the High Priest. They did the right thing, keeping the Lord’ commands blamelessly. Yet they could not have children. And now they were old.
So much for the prosperity gospel. This virus in American theology implies that material prosperity always follows righteousness. Do right by God and he will do right by you. That is the thinking. This transactional theology is insidious really because it deceives. Then people who encounter difficulties blame themselves for their challenges. Some secret sin must have caused a curse in their lives, they reason. Guilt compounds their grief. Meanwhile people who prosper assume God is rewarding them. This is not a biblical view of life.
Some of the finest Christians I have ever known were not blessed with the ability to have children. Nor did they experience great material blessing. Meanwhile some of the worst people I know have the midas touch. Everything they do turns to gold. In this life, the scales do not always balance. But they will in eternity. God was about to do something greater than Zechariah and Elizabeth could have imagined. Herod’s reign ended with his death. But the baby God gave to Zechariah and Elizabeth would announce the eternal reign of Jesus, who is truly great.
