There are many eruptions of such fear-based acts of violence by rulers in our past and in our present. We could name too many names. Today I name Herod. King Herod, mentioned early in the gospel of Matthew. King Herod, who ordered the killing of "all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under" in an attempt to eliminate the child Jesus, whom he heard had been born in that town and called "king of the Jews."
Could one man's fear truly cause such a vicious atrocity? In the gospel of Matthew, the answer is yes: When King Herod first heard from the magi that such an auspicious birth was to occur, "he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him." (Matthew 2:3)
King Herod was frightened. And "all Jerusalem" with him (especially all the people who were privileged by his Roman Empire-enforced reign). Fear can spread like that.
Fear can become a contagion that takes hold of and harms an entire society. Fear can lead to othering, hatred, murder. This is not a phenomenon we have outgrown and left in our past. King Herod is trembling, so children "have to" be killed.
Our democracy is also trembling. Our fellow citizens, including both the most privileged and the most vulnerable, struggle with intensifying fear.
But fear need not inevitably lead us to hating and killing each other. Noticing our fear can lead us to turn to each other and care for each other and take steps to make our world safe for each other, especially for our children.
This is the reason God comes to us in the beautiful, vulnerable child, Jesus. To help us love each other and want, deep in our hearts, to make the world safe for each other--and for everyone, everywhere, no one left out.