We speak a lot about “Peace on earth” at this time of year, in the midst of the Christmas season. We may still be getting in the mail cards that say, “Peace and Joy!”. Yet, we are only four days into the twelve days of Christmas, and on this day we hear about one of the most horrific accounts in scripture, a story that sadly is replayed over and over again throughout human history. On this day, the church remembers as “The Slaughter of the Holy Innocents” and what the gospel writer Matthew records with just a few words:
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
We call this day “The Feast of the Holy Innocents.” Maybe you’ve never heard of it. We all, most likely, would like to just forget that something like this ever happened.
The church remembers the numbers differently: the Greek liturgy asserts there were 14,000 Holy Innocents, while an early Syrian list of saints asserts 64,000. Egyptian Christian sources assert there were 144,000. History, however, deems that Bethlehem was too small a town to provide such numbers; under 1000 residents would have lived in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth. Most likely there were between six and twenty male children in the town, with a dozen or so more in the surrounding areas. Whether 100,000 or 10, this is irrelevant; death of children at the hands of political and military authorities is always a horror. Herod was no stranger to cruelty and horror. He had three of his own sons executed because he feared they were plotting against him. This happened just about the time of Jesus’ birth. The man was jealous of power, dealing barbarically with all who threatened his hold on his crown. Herod was a bad king.
Earlier this year, I met a man named Robert Mindelzun. He was born in Poland just a few weeks before the Germans invaded Warsaw in September 1939. As the Nazis approached, Robert’s family fled with him as an infant to the east, and even though they experienced horrors under the Soviets, they survived. Robert eventually made it to America as a twelve-year-old, and he and his family made a life for themselves here, his own son going on to become a noted fiction writer. Robert was lucky, I guess we could say. Over a million other Jewish children were slaughtered by the Nazis and their allies. I say, “Robert was lucky,” because it’s hard to say, “God watched over and blessed Robert.” Was God not with those other children? Did God not desire those other children to survive the war? How we answer this takes us back to Bethlehem.
Matthew records that an angel came to Joseph and warned him to take the baby Jesus and Mary to Egypt, because Herod was seeking to kill the boy who one day would be called, “King of the Jews.” Jesus wasn’t “lucky” to escape Herod. God made it possible for the Holy Family to survive. That’s how we tell the story. God had a purpose for Jesus’ life, even though Jesus would eventually die at the hands of the same dynastic Herodian family.
Yet, ever since I was a child, I have wondered, “Why didn’t God save those other children? Weren’t they ‘precious in his sight,’ as we sing in Sunday School?” Didn’t God love those little ones? Doesn’t God love the children of Ukraine? Doesn’t God love the children of Ethiopia? Of Yemen? Of Afghanistan? Of Myanmar? Of Mexico? Of the US? Is God sending angels into fathers’ dreams to warn them? God, I hope so.
On the fourth Sunday in Advent, we experienced the children of Pinnacle portraying a sweet retelling of the Christmas story. It happens every year, but this year, I was touched when all the children gathered around the baby Jesus: Mary, Joseph, shepherds, camels, angels, wisemen, and townspeople. Tears came to my eyes, as I remembered how precious life is, seeing these rag-tag assemblage of children, telling a very adult story: God’s saving act in the birth of Jesus. God became so vulnerable! Very soon after this pacific gathering, violence would erupt into the lives of Bethlehemites. Weeping would be heard in Ramah, calling out to God, “Where are you?”
We take this day to remember the lives of the millions of innocents throughout history who lost their lives too soon. We look to God for comfort in our grief, even as we wonder if God really cares.
Scripture assures us that God knows if even one sparrow falls from the sky. God knows and God cares about each of us, God’s own creation. And God calls us to pray for all those in harm’s way and to play our part in making the world safer for those whom he calls holy and innocent. Most likely violence will erupt during our Christmas season. Ever has it been so. Pray to the God who restores all things, that it be otherwise. And may God's mercy, love, peace, hope and joy surprise us when we least expect it. Amen.
