I don't remember where I gleaned this story, but it was in some of my readings this week in sermon prep. But Brenda Roberts of Stone Mountain, Georgia is a Sunday School teacher. She was reading the story of Jesus' birth to her day-care children one morning. As usual, she stopped to see if they were paying attention and understood. "What do we call the three wise men?" she asked.

"The three maggots," replied a bright 5-year-old.

"What gifts did the Magi bring baby Jesus?" the teacher corrected.

That the same 5-year-old popped up and said. "Gold, frankensteins and smurfs!"

Christmas and the Scriptures usually don't contain any frankensteins or smurfs. But as we look at the passage for this morning, you might very well associate Frankenstein's monster with King Herod. (1)

Let's look at …