Christ, not Criss Angel

Luke 23:8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.


8 Ὁ δὲ Ἡρῴδης ἰδὼν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐχάρη λίαν, ἦν γὰρ ἐξ ἱκανῶν χρόνων θέλων ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν διὰ τὸ ἀκούειν περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤλπιζέν τι σημεῖον ἰδεῖν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γινόμενον.

Every time I read this verse I am struck by the utter triviality of Herod's thinking. Here he had Jesus, the son of God in his custody. He obviously had heard of Jesus or else he would not have hoped for a sign. All he wanted was to see a magic trick.

Of course, Jesus had experience with this. He had crowds following Him because He became a walking Long John Silvers. He also was a walking MASH unit. They wanted to be fed and they wanted to be healed. They clearly did not want to take up their crosses and follow Him. It's interesting to see how the crowds thinned out after He stopped doing so many miraculous signs. In fact, He eventually told the people that they would get no sign but the sign of Jonah. After all, a resurrection was the best you could imagine.

Before we look down our collective noses at Herod I think that perhaps we should consider how many times we have done the same thing to Jesus. We want the healing. We want the provision. Do we want to take up our cross and follow Him? Do we want to sacrifice or suffer for Him? If we're honest I think we'll admit that we usually don't. I know that I don't.

What's the cure to this problem? We need to recognize who He is. He was born as God incarnate. Not only did He suffer incredible physical agony, but He had to deal with the full force of God the Father's wrath on Him for our sin. We say that we want for this man to be our Lord and Savior. When we realize who He is and what He did, can He be anything less than our Lord?