The Gross and The Good

“Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord stuck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” Acts 12:23

 I do believe God placed certain details in the Bible to hold the interest of eighth grade boys.

Jael lulled Sisera to sleep with milk and a blanket, then nailed his head to the ground with a tent peg through the temple(Jdg 4:21). Samson ripped a lion with his bare hands, killed one thousand men with a fresh donkey jawbone, caught three hundred foxes, tied them in pairs tail to tail, fastened a torch to each pair, lit the torches, and let them loose in his enemies’ grain fields(Jdg 15:4-5).  David conquered Goliath with a sling and stone and later chose which of his enemies lived or died by measuring them off with a rope.  The exploits of his mighty warriors make today’s gun-toting superheroes seem wimpy.   “Jashobeam raised his spear against three hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter”(1 Chr 11:11).  “Benaiah…was a valiant fighter. He struck down two of Moab’s best men.  He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.  And he struck down an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall.  Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s rod in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club.  He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear”(1 Chr 11:22-23).  Haman’s body dangled from seventy-five feet high from gallows he had built for someone else.  A big fish vomited Jonah onto dry land.  King Herod was eaten by worms.  And we haven’t even mentioned Song of Solomon!!

But the reality is that these events were included for both adolescents and adults—and not only for our interest but also our instruction. Take the story of the wormy Herod.  (This Herod was grandson of the tyrant, Herod the Great, who had tried to kill baby Jesus.)  Herod was not a Jew by birth but became very zealous for the Jewish religion.  When his beheading of the apostle James brought a spike in public approval ratings, he arrested Peter with plans to do to the same.  After Peter’s divine rescue, Herod didn’t hesitate to execute the guards who had been on patrol; then he headed out of town for Caesarea.  The citizens of that region had been on the outs with Herod, but needing to ensure an adequate food supply, they humbly asked for peace.  The day their treaty was ratified, Herod, “wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people”(Acts 12:22).  In excitement and relief, they hailed him as a hero and exclaimed, “This is the voice of a god, not a man”(Acts 12:22), and Herod in his arrogance didn’t disagree.  Instead of deferring the honor to the only One who is worthy, he delighted in the blasphemous acclaim.  Herod’s position had done more than go to his head; it had grown from his heart, and God had had enough.  “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord stuck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died”(Acts 12:23). Gross.

The motto of this true tale is obvious:  Don’t try to be someone you’re not—especially when that Someone is God.  But why the method?  Why worms?  Why not a heart attack, a stroke, or even a celestial zap?  Why something so repulsive and rank?  Perhaps to remind us that anything full of worms is rotten and useless. Including us.

When writing his famous hymn, At The Cross, Isaac Watts didn’t shy away from the fact that makes many squirm (so much that the lyrics were changed in most songbooks.)  Instead, Watts penned these words: 

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Herod didn’t recognize his need for God’s grace until the grave, but, by His mercy on the cross, God has redeemed the slimy, sinful mess of our lives here and now.  We’ve not been salvaged.  We’ve been saved—from our gross, by His good.

And that should interest all of us.
Not just eighth grade boys.