1726) Blame is a subject that attracts powerful emotions. Somehow, in our minds, we try to make sense of difficult things and blame can take a major role in our processing.

If we choose to look for “blame,” though, it’s hard to identify who belongs in this spotlight because our emotions can interfere with clear thinking.

These thoughts have whirled around in my mind when I read about the wise men’s record of seeing Jesus and then being told not to go back to Herod, not giving him the information he asked for. (Mathew 2:16) Because of their actions, Herod ordered all the male children under the age of 2 to be murdered.

Let’s think about this. Who’s to blame? When I read Bible accounts, I tend to put myself in the place of the characters to see the event through their eyes. If I were one of the wise men, I might be likely to blame myself for the murders, but since we can see the event objectively, we know this isn’t the case.

Who’s to blame here? Herod. Period. It is he who made this decree. He could have chosen not to.

It’s easy to let a mental train of dominoes be knocked over, thinking that any way I might have been involved was the catalyst, but this is not always true. Other people still are responsible for their choices despite what I did or didn’t do.

Playing the blame game comes with a price: the burden of guilt for something that may not be my responsibility after all.