Hunted by the Crown

Lately, all I hear about is the Coronavirus. It’s kind of hard not to, as the topic is on every news station and social media feed. A “corona” virus is a common virus named for its little “crown” of club-shaped spikes seen under a microscope. Corona is the Spanish word for crown.

I personally like the word ‘corona’ better than ‘crown.’ Crown rhymes with frown, and I instantly think of a certain grumpy-looking British queen who has reigned since my dad was ten years old. Corona has a more melodious sound. However, I’m partial to the Spanish language.

It feels like the world has gone into hibernation – with all the school closures, shops either closing or severely restricting their hours, travel bans, and social distancing. Reports say nature is doing better in our absence (shocker!). The memes on social media are coming fast and furious, and my sarcastic nature is unashamedly enjoying them. As an introvert, I’m rejoicing in the six-feet-apart rule everywhere. I wish I could keep that going after all this is over.

I have been homeschooling my children for seventeen years before this virus, so it’s not a shock to my system to spend every waking hour with one or many of the ten of them. Homeschooling wasn’t thrust upon me overnight. However, what I am not enjoying is that we are “home” schooling in its most literal sense. School. At. Home. Blech. This is not what our days usually look like. Hey, that field trip we were going to take this weekend to watch how maple syrup is made? Canceled. That awesome Trades Career Expo where my 16-year-old son would have learned more about an HVAC career? Canceled.

However, we are not living in a time where we are short on entertainment options. Puzzles, play-dough, and playing cards, oh my! Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Nintendo Switch, Xbox. Reading aloud to the kids a book* about running away from home and living in the woods led to a really good fort being built outside. ( * My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George)

My situation is pretty tolerable, honestly. I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom, and my husband’s job is deemed essential. Single parents are trying to juggle paying the bills, putting food on the table, managing child care, and helping with homework.

As moms, we are told not to take our kids anywhere, or else they will be ‘hunted by the crown.’ We wash our hands, wear masks, shop sparingly, and avoid our friends and family, which is counter-intuitive in a crisis. All to protect that which we hold most dear.

Even with my situation being more bearable, that voice in the back of my head still worries that no matter what safety measures I take, the ‘crown’ is still going to find my children.

Thinking about this, I reached for the Bible the other night to get my mind and heart refocused on solid ground. Matthew Chapter 2. A well-known set of parents trying to outrun The Crown. Capital C.

In roughly 4 B.C., Mary and Joseph became parents to their newborn son, Jesus. And almost immediately, Jesus became hunted by The Crown.

¹After 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:

⁶ “‘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.”

Sadly, King Herod was so power-hungry that he could not stand the idea of another “King.” Herod had no intention of worshipping Jesus. He planned to assassinate the little boy who was born the Savior of the world. An observation – the Magi could see the star, but it seemed that King Herod could not. I think God has a good sense of humor, playing peek-a-boo with a star.

After the Magi left, God warned Joseph in a dream that the Crown was hunting his child, and to leave.

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.

Joseph didn’t have to be told twice! He took Mary and Jesus and ran away in the night to neighboring Egypt. Extreme social distancing, for sure.

King Herod quickly figured out he had been hoodwinked by the Magi when they didn’t return with the address for Joseph and Mary’s house. He took it very badly. Herod decided that if he killed every single boy two years and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity, then he would probably kill Jesus by sheer luck. In military terms, this is called “scorched earth.”

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.

The Bible doesn’t say whether Joseph and Mary heard that tragic news in Egypt. I can only imagine how saddened they might have been to know that so much collateral damage had taken place in the hunt to find their precious son.

The Bible also doesn’t say exactly how long Joseph and Mary were in Egypt, but some estimates put it at two to three years.

Two to three years!! I have been feeling crusty about being in lockdown for a couple of weeks so far. With every form of entertainment, decent weather and modern medicine at my fingertips.

I asked my 14-year-old daughter what she would do if she were stuck in a foreign country while riding out the Coronavirus. She answered, “Probably get bit by something poisonous and die.”

Mary and Joseph’s reality was not far from that. Malaria-biting mosquitoes, hungry crocodiles in the Nile, sandstorms. No family or friends to soften the blow of isolating amongst people who spoke a different language, who practiced a different faith. They endured years of this because their child was being hunted by The Crown.

After researching Mary and Joseph’s story further, I felt more than a bit embarrassed for wasting any time worrying over a germ when they had to fear an army. My children are being hunted by the crown, little c.

The beauty is that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and deservedly wears the Crown, capital C. He loved us enough to die on the cross for us, to take the punishment for our sins so that we could be with Him in heaven when it is our time. I treasure that my children have been hunted most lovingly by the One who wears the Crown that will save their souls. Hosanna!