“Don’t go back to Herod.”
A second half kind of life begins when you choose the other road.
“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another route” (Matthew 2:12).
There’s a moment in the Gospel of Matthew that’s easy to overlook. The wise men have just encountered Jesus — a sacred moment for sure. They’ve fallen down to pay homage to Jesus and have opened their treasures. And then comes a dream. A warning: “Don’t go back to Herod.” The familiar road that brought them to Bethlehem won’t be the way back. They must return home by another way. Herod wanted control.
That one sentence stopped me “dead in my tracks.” It carries a whole world of wisdom for me as I have prioritized a new spiritual path for my life laboring “until Christ is formed in me” (Galatians 4:19).
Because the truth is, once I tasted the holy – once I began to awaken to the presence of God within me – I had no interest in going back to “first half of life” experiences that had sought achievement, stroked my ego, and entangled me in several negative relationships and mindsets that threatened the sacred within. As if joining the wise men on their journey, I could not return to Herod and instead started a different path to my heart’s home as the beloved of Christ.
What did Herod look like for me?
Herod represented the forces in my life that threatened deep encounter with Jesus. Herod, or busyness or expectations don’t want transformation — they want control and attention. They want to keep things as they are. Herod shows up in many forms:
The inner critic that says I’m not enough unless I achieve more
The relationships that want more out of me or success
The religious system that values performance over presence
A fear of letting go of familiar paths
Herod is anything that tries to but cannot coexist with the Christ being formed in me.
A Dream and a Choice
The wise men were warned in a dream. That inner knowing – that sacred nudge – told them something was wrong. And they listened.
My warning came to me in an epiphany. I had recognized deep spiritual formation in others, and the journey I observed in their soul called out to mine. If you knew me, however, you might say that spiritual formation began not just when I encountered the sacred deep within, though that is real, but when I began to heed the warnings of my soul. Those warnings helped me to stop brushing off the red flags. My inner voice called me to admit I can’t go back to that.
Because going back to Herod is not neutral. The Herods of life had sidetracked me and poured water on the fire of the sacred. Slowly. Subtly. Until I began dreaming about the divine life growing in me.
The Other Way
So, the wise men went home by another way.
I love that part. It reminds me that there’s always another way, even if it’s unfamiliar or longer. The spiritual path is rarely the most convenient. But it is the truest.
For me, choosing the new path means:
Setting boundaries on time and commitments – I have prioritized encounter with Jesus over the endless activity that characterized my first half of life.
Cultivating rest, silence, solitude – regular spiritual retreats
Nurturing rhythms of spiritual practices and Christ encounters at work, prayer, rest, and scripture study
Saying yes to spiritual discernment, listening to the voice of Jesus in contemplative prayer or in a dream or in community with others
The change in me over the past ten years hasn’t always been dramatic. At times it has been slow and subtle, a gradual detangling from Herod’s grip. But every time I choose to honor what’s sacred inside instead of returning to what stifles it, I am choosing to walk home by another road.
A second half kind of life asks…
What sacred thing is being born in you?
What dream is warning you to protect it?
What “Herod” must you stop returning to?
Your soul is a holy place. The Christ-life in you – your true self cultivated in deep encounter with God – is too precious to risk.
So, listen to the dream.
Take the other road.
And don’t go back to Herod!
Photo on Unsplash by saif71.com