Dec 29, 2019; ICCM; Matthew 2: 13-25; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson
It’s only 4 days after Christmas, that silent holy night where all is calm, and all is bright, with the holy infant, tender and mild, sleeping in heavenly peace. Already we’re listening to a tale of violence, threats and a close escape to a foreign land. Matthew uses journeys, prophecies and dreams to move the story along. The gospel moves quickly from the genealogy of Jesus, to a brief mention that Jesus was born and named, to the visit of the wise men, and then to the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt in order to escape a mad king’s fearful rage.
Herod practiced Judaism even if the religious elite of the day would not have considered him a Jew. He was elected by the Roman Senate in about 36 BC. He claimed the title King of the Jews for himself even though he was just Rome’s lapdog. To mask his powerless puppet status, he went on a building binge of tombs, temples, fortresses and palaces… all supported by outrageous taxes that ground the common people into the dust.
When the wise men appeared looking for a child born to be “king of the Jews” Herod’s fear and deceit kicked into high gear. Herod used the wise men as pawns in a plot to eliminate this new king. Then when realized that the magi have double crossed him, his instinct to preserve his power at all costs accelerated even more. He knew the approximate date of the child’s birth thanks to the magi’s calculations, and so he ordered the extermination of all children born “in and around Bethlehem.” Given the size of Bethlehem and the birth rates and so forth, scholars think that about 20 toddlers would have been killed.
Herod’s reputation for brutality was well known. Even before the slaughter of the innocents, his vices had the makings of a grisly A&E mini-series. He murdered his wife Marianne, her mother Alexandra, his eldest son, and two other sons.
Matthew draws his mostly Jewish audience’s attention to the striking parallel between the execution of the Holy Innocents by Herod and the male infants killed in the first Passover at the hands of Pharaoh the night before the Exodus. Herod is presented as a new Pharaoh. Both rulers lashed out with great malice but also in vain. Both Pharaoh and Herod brought about devastating losses of life, yet both ultimately failed to prevent the birth of a powerful leader of Israel. Both Moses and Jesus were born under the threat of death; both were protected.
Matthew firmly placed Jesus’ story as part of a continuous history of the salvation of the Jews. An angel appeared in a second dream to Joseph telling him to flee and head into exile. This geographical detour of the holy family as refugees in Egypt is shown as a fulfillment of a prophecy originally focused on the people of Israel. Matthew’s portrays Jesus as the embodiment of the people of Israel. He is the recipient, bearer, and fulfillment of the promises made to Israel by God.
Matthew doesn’t tell us anything about Jesus’ years lived in exile in Egypt. Instead, he quickly returns Jesus to his hometown, as promised once again by scripture. Another angel appears to Joseph in a dream, announcing the death of Herod. The coast is clear for the family to return home to Bethlehem of Judea. Then, yet another dream warns him that Herod’s son, Archelaus, now rules in Judea. So, the family makes its new home in Nazareth in Galilee. For the third time, Matthew points to a prophetic promise: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew reassures the readers that everything is transpiring according to God’s plan. In this gospel God directs the holy family at every juncture. And, even more important, every move they make has scriptural significance: Bethlehem in Mic. 5:2; Egypt in Hos. 11:1; Galilee in Isa. 9:1; and Nazareth in . . . well, actually, no one’s sure just where that reference to Nazareth is found, but Matthew thinks it must be in “the prophets” somewhere.
After leading the reader to believe that Jesus would be one before whom kings of the earth would either kneel or tremble, Matthew now reveals that Jesus is to be identified with helpless, and vulnerable people of this world. In time, this will include his followers, who, like him will be pursued from town to town.
The forced travels of Jesus and his family provide a powerful symbol for all the refugees and oppressed people of the earth. A terrible reality of life is that a great many people in many parts of the world are simply at the mercy of political tyrants or unpredictable forces of nature that determine where, when, how, and whether they will live. Our Gospel lesson for today, tells us that Jesus himself was one of these dispossessed ones.
Potential doom looms over these early chapters of Matthew. Jesus’ welcome to the world is not all choirs of angels and awestruck shepherds. It is also fear that this child would subvert the order of the world, that a mere child would weaken the powerful.
The arbitrariness of Herod would have been entirely familiar to ancient people living under Rome’s long imperial shadow. The narrative of these threats upon Jesus’ life bristles with authenticity –for such tyranny was well known to ancient peoples. Matthew’s trust in God’s providence emerges not from a simplistic expectation but from a faith that expects God to reign in a world where the dominance of the powerful seems unchangeable.
Let’s look at it like
this…The Gospels are not only concerned with spreading the joy of Jesus Christ
(which I assure you they are). They are also given to us to explain the truth. You and I all know that the truth is not
always a pretty thing. Matthew is not worried about our holiday spirit as much
as he is about showing us truth. The sad
truth is that tyrannical powers threaten the poor and powerless in every
generation. Syrians, Rohingans, Latin
Americans, South Sudanese, the list is endless.
The whole point of Christmas is to give hope, even to tragedies like the Holy
Innocents…..I’m going to say that again…. The whole point of Christmas is to
give hope even to tragedies like this. It is to say to those suffering, in
pain, “fear not, for I bring you tidings of great joy – a Savior is born!” When
we start thinking in these terms it makes sense that we celebrate the Feast of
the Holy Innocents in the Christmas Season. For we no longer have NO hope…We
have a Savior. We have Jesus Christ…We now have hope! We now have nothing to
fear!
The world is a hard place…. and like Herod it will try to silence the Good News
of Jesus Christ. The harshness of this world will try to distract us and make
us doubt. The world will bring each of us trouble and heartache. And certainly,
we witness and work against oppression and injustice. Each one of us carry heartache….Our own
burdens. Our own anguish in our hearts….But now…We can “fear not”.
Rather than letting the harshness of this world turn us away from Jesus, let us
rely on Christ as the Savior through all our suffering, brokenness and heartbreak. For the promise of
his birth, now fulfilled, shows God’s faithfulness in all the promises of
forgiveness.
Whatever tragedy you face, whatever cause for weeping and mourning, whatever
great sadness or guilt or pain you bring here today…Or, will face tomorrow –
find hope in Christ. Find forgiveness and blessing. Look forward in faith and
trust in a God who always keeps promises… “Fear not”.
The Holy Innocents were among the first martyrs of the Church. There have been many more. Jesus himself
suffered a horrible and cruel death, later because of a different Herod. The harsh reality, is if we separate the
Incarnation from the Crucifixion, we don’t
fully get Christmas…Or, Christianity for that matter. Christ’s resurrection from suffering and
death becomes our resurrection from the cold dark grave of despair… Jesus was
delivered, and so are we.
May whatever heartache you carry, give way to Christmas joy, as you find hope
and comfort in the Christ who was born for you. Who rose for you…And…Who is a
present for you……………Fear Not!