King Herod had legal authority.
He acted within the laws of Palestine and his kingdom.

With that authority he snatched two-year-olds from their mother’s arms.
So did Hitler act within his authority when he sent children to concentration camps.
These authoritarian figures have the law on their side.

But there is a more sublime law -
the law that forms our consciences and is based on the teachings of Jesus.
It proclaims love your neighbor and
what you do for the least of your brothers and sisters
you do for me.

To snatch children from their parents arms
was mortally sinful in the olden days as it is in our own day.