Sunday-school Christmas plays often lump the story of the wise men together with the story of the shepherds. The shepherds, each wearing a bath towel strapped around his head and an extra-large flannel down to his knees, stroll to the manger, where Mary and Joseph gaze upon Jesus with a practiced glow. Two minutes later the wise men come, clad in silk bathrobes and tinfoil crowns. That makes for a crowd at the front of the church, and one could argue it's not a very accurate crowd, since the Magi came to Bethlehem several months after Christ's birth.

But as long as we're crowding people and history in the front of church, why not add another key figure to the drama? Herod, who doesn't often make the cast. Nobody ever gets to be Herod. He's too mean and ugly. We know what he did, and we wouldn't want those atrocities to invade our Christmas joy.

But maybe Herod should be included in the cast. Maybe somebody should play Herod so we don't forget the importance of his failure. Herod is a spot of darkness in the light of the Nativity scene. But his gruesome attempt to kill the Christ Child fails, a reminder that the darkness of evil can never snuff out the light of Christ.

In our world, that promise bears repeating. Newspaper headlines and our hearts tell us so. Peace and rumors of peace are shattered by explosives on every continent. Statistics suggest that by the time you finish reading this sentence another hundred or so children will have died of malnutrition. Christians are kept from the mainstream of daily life, by oppressive regimes in some places and by repressive ideologies everywhere. Depression, disease, and disaster draw us into the shadows of doubt. Darkness seems to prevail.

But when we celebrate Christ's birth, Herod's failure to kill the Christ Child reminds us that darkness will never win, at least not ultimately. Christ is the light of the world and the light of our hearts that cannot be overcome. The Lord is our light and our salvation. What darkness shall we fear?

Sue A. Jager Rozeboom '94