"Everybody loves you. The Great Ted Lasso. Well, I... I think you're a f***ing joke. Without me, you wouldn't have won a single match. They would've shipped your a** back to Kansas, where you belong. With your... With your son. 'Cause you... you sure as hell don't belong here. But I do. I belong here. This didn't just fall into my lap, all right? I... I earned this."
If the speech doesn't seal the deal on Nates inflated ego the final shot of the season does. Nate has become the head coach of West Ham United F.C. who has been recently purchased by ACF Richmond owner Rebecca Welton's (Hannah Waddingham) ex-husband, and show baddy, Rupert Mannion (Anthony Head). Nate's journey to the dark side is complete. One of the main plot points that runs through the first two seasons is that as Nate's ego grows exponentially he becomes a more treacherous, self-absorbed jerk who believes his nick name "Nate the Great."
There is a character in the Advent/Christmas story that also carried the moniker "The Great." In that story the specter hanging over the birth of Jesus is the King of the Judeans, Herod the Great. Like Nate, Herod sees himself as great and isn't a very nice guy. Herod, to defend his power and honor has his brother-in-law drowned in the family pool. The historian Josephus records that he has two of his sons brought in front of him on charges of treason. One son begs for his life from his father. In the the end he kills them both. Augustus Caesar was quoted as saying “it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” Herod wants so much to impress Rome and the Caesar that he builds a lot of things, including a city he names Caesarea.
Herod enters the Advent/Christmas story a bit late. Somewhere around two years after Jesus is born a group of "wise men" from the East arrive to pay homage to the new king. It makes sense that if they were looking for the King of the Judeans they would go to Jerusalem. In that city they find Herod, who is not too thrilled to discover a new challenger to the throne is out there. He tries to get Magi to come back to him to disclose the whereabouts of the new king, but they are warned by a dream to go another way home. As a response Herod has all the boy children two years old and younger in Bethlehem killed. Herod's message to those babies, and any would be new kings, is "you sure as hell don't belong here. But I do."
I suspect that your nativity scene has the Magi, but not the dead babies or Herod the Great. Over this Advent season I have been contemplating what it would look like to have a more complete or layered nativity. It seems to me that the backdrop against which the the birth of Jesus takes place is the reign of King Herod the Great.
Looming over the manger is a maniacal ruler bent on power at all costs. King Herod wanted power so much he was willing to slaughter babies. Into this world a helpless baby was born. That baby had more power than Herod could ever muster or imagine. That baby ruled not just one tiny area of the Roman world, but the entire world itself. That baby gave up his throne to become less than great - a helpless infant. Herod was willing to do whatever it took to maintain power, but Jesus, he gave up power to do what ever it takes to bring peace.
This advent we are invited to consider if we are part of the kingdom of the great - Nate and Herod doing whatever it takes to gain and hold power - or the kingdom that comes in the form of a baby that brings the promise of peace on earth. Which will you choose?
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