Advent object lessons - Grinch!

I'm certain that the image above is familiar to all of us. I snagged it from the Wikipedia entry about "the Grinch."
The term has come into our language now, just in the same way that the word "Scrooge" came in, when the Charles Dickens story became popular. Scrooge's miserly ways have become familiar and many of his sayings are often quoted.

Similarly, most of us know the story of the lonely, mean-spirited Grinch, living high on the mountain overlooking a happy town of "Whos" that loved to celebrate Christmas. They ate lovely feasts, gave sweet gifts to each other, and then best of all, they would gather in friendship and fellowship and sing.
The lonely Grinch hated all of that, since no one offered him any yummy food, gave him a nice gift, or asked him to sing along with them. (Grin)
He devised a plan to steal their Christmas, or so he thought. His Grinchy plans included disguising himself as Santa, taking their presents, stealing their decorations, and nabbing their food, too.  The Dr. Seuss story tells us that all of this was because his heart was too small..... he couldn't stand to see the Whos in Who-ville enjoying themselves.

I'd not thought about it before, but I reckon that Herod was the very first Grinch. (Grin) He was approached by the wise men in the familiar passage in Matthew's gospel:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for out of you will come a ruler    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (Matthew 2:1-16)

Looks like Herod's heart was too small, too! He heard them say "King of the Jews" and immediately starting worrying about this new king becoming more popular then he was; or that his (Herod's) kingdom would be overthrown and the new king would take over......

In the Dr. Seuss story, the Grinch's plan didn't work. The people in Who-ville knew that the joy of Christmas doesn't come from the presents, the food, the decorations. The joy of Christmas comes from our hearts being filled with love!
Herod's plan didn't work out, either. An angel told the wise men about Herod's plan, so they went home a different way, and didn't stop back by the palace to tell Herod where to find the baby King. And an angel appeared to Joseph, too, and warned him. He took Mary and Jesus to Egypt where they would be safe.

So, ever since the very first Christmas, there have been Scrooges and Grinches that try to steal the joy of Christmas from us. We have nothing to fear, unless our heart has gotten too small! Let's make certain that our hearts are big enough to share the love of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet! And not just at Christmas! Let's share His love all year long!