Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Note: In an ordinary year, I would have likely observed the First Sunday after Christmas on the day this sermon was preached, 12/28/08. However, I will be away from Immanuel next Sunday and over the Epiphany holiday, consequently we are transferring Epiphany to the preceding Sunday, thus missing the readings for Christmas II, which also treats the Holy Innocents (as well as the flight into Egypt). Thus, we observed Holy Innocents this past Sunday.
Christmas pageants are cute because they don’t tell you the whole story. They usually end with the wise men leaving, and the kiddos coming out for the big finish. What they don’t tell you is that after the wise men leave, soldiers come. Soldiers sent by Herod the Great.
Now what Herod the Great lacked in good morals, he made up for by an unbounded viciousness. For example, after Antony, at the request of Cleopatra, intervened in Herod’s choice for high priest, Herod had that priest, called Aristobulus, drowned in his swimming pool. He was ruthless in executing rivals, some by beheading. As Herod grew older, he feared that his wife, Mariamme, would marry another upon his death. Despite his passionate love for her, he twice left orders for her death should he not return from a dangerous mission. Their relationship consequently grew bitter, and there was also hatred between Herod’s wife and sister, Salome. In B.C. 29, Herod finally ordered the execution of his own wife. Beset by grief over his action, Herod grew mad. He would call out to her, and order his servants to summon his executed wife. Herod’s sons could not forgive him for the murder of their mother; tensions and intrigue became the daily bread of the palace.
The murder of his own beloved wife demonstrates for us the deep tragedy of Herod; he was unable to deal responsibly with threats to his person and office. And so it was that, when Herod learned of another threat to his rule from a baby boy in the region of Bethlehem, the response that seems so outrageous to us was perfectly in keeping with Herod’s character. A child is born, worshipped as king of the Jews? Send the army, and simply execute every boy two years and under you find in the district of Bethlehem. Completely lacking in subtlety; efficient; mad; cruel – that was Herod the Great.
And so part of the story that the Gospel of Matthew begins to unfold after the birth of Jesus is the radical difference in the two kings, Jesus and Herod. Jesus has come to serve, and will give His life in service. Herod will do anything to maintain his own power, including slaughtering helpless children. The same holds true today. The majority of rulers in our nation, including our incoming president, obtained power by insisting they would absolutely uphold the free and open slaughter of unborn children. In Illinois, those opposed to the fundamental right to life and liberty have fought to ensure medical care is denied to infant survivors of abortion. It is easy to be horrified at the gruesome murders of Herod so long ago, but the gruesome murders continue today, endorsed by the leaders that we as a people have elected. The kings of this earth will stop at nothing to get and maintain power, but this gospel shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ’s kingdom will come in spite of the rage and sins of men.
Now the kingdom of Jesus is a threat to everything that the kingdoms of this earth stand for. The true ruler of this world is the devil, and as much as Herod is threatened by the thought of a new-born king, the devil is threatened more. When Satan saw the Magi worshipping Jesus as God, he saw that Jesus could be his undoing. So he sought to get the jump on Jesus in His infancy.
But our Lord Jesus Christ’s mission from the Father was not to die as a Child, but to learn obedience through suffering, to do good to others by healing and forgiving sins, and to preach the Gospel of the Father’s love and free grace to mankind. Only after He has done all these things, gathered His Church, ordained her ministers, and instituted the Holy Supper, does He suffer death for our sakes.
So being warned in a dream, Joseph takes the Child and His mother to Egypt, in order that Scripture should be fulfilled. He is safe – for now.
But the children remaining in Bethlehem are not safe. And that, for me, is the hardest part of this Gospel. It is horrific beyond imagination, the brutality of the order, and the sadness that must have come to the poor parents of the slaughtered baby boys. What are we do make of it? Why does God allow this madness?
It was already anticipated in the prophetic words Matthew recalls from the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” “They are no more.” When a child dies, the child is gone – no more. Many people know this sadness; from miscarried children who die unheld, abortions that mothers later lament, to children who against nature precede their parents in death. And in this life there is no hope. But the LORD gave comfort through Jeremiah that there is hope for your future, your children shall come back; and in this he tells prophetically of the resurrection, which is accomplished through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What we learn in this Gospel, then, is that where Christ is revealed, there the cross and suffering comes. There is never an easy answer to the question, “Why?” when it comes to you or those you love. In His wisdom, surpassing our comprehension, God allows His people to suffer, and He works it for their good. The best words of comfort I found in wrestling with this passage are from C.F.W. Walther, one of the “founding fathers” of orthodox Lutheranism in America. His words are so rich, they need to be repeated verbatim:
There is a very rich comfort to be derived from the murder of the children of Bethlehem. We can, indeed, be comforted when God allows our dear children to suffer much, for this shows us that God wants to glorify Himself by their sufferings. They, too, become martyrs of Christ, bearing the cross for their Savior. By their suffering, they, too, will enter into glory. When you look upon the sickbed of your dear little one and your weak heart wants to break because of his suffering, do not murmur against your God! He, the all-loving heavenly Father, loves your children as much as you do, and precisely for that reason, He often lets them suffer greatly and bitterly here on earth. They now sow with many tears, but they will one day harvest with much joy. They may now experience great misery, but one day they will be very glorious. You cry over them now, but you will rejoice with them in eternity. Therefore you should say: “Lord, as You will. Your will be done!”
When we suffer much and are troubled by the thought that God is angry with us, we should remember this comfort from the suffering of the Bethlehem children. God often lays great suffering upon the unbelieving world in wrath for the punishment of its sins, but He also allows His dear children to suffer out of love that He may be glorified in them. The bloody end of the Bethlehem children was not a punishment but a glorious deliverance and the greatest grace God could show them. Therefore, we who believe in Christ cannot doubt God’s fatherly love, even when He lays upon us much suffering in this life. God punishes and disciplines those whom He loves, knowing that one day He will make them glorious. He may let them struggle here, but He will one day bring them to a celebration of eternal victory. Those who mourn now will find eternal comfort.
The LORD does not consider it a light or trivial thing to have one of His own suffer death. He highly prizes them, and so continues to value them even in death. Death does not tear the child of God away from Him. He has made a promise, an oath, in the OT sacrament of circumcision, or in the NT Sacrament of baptism, and He will fulfill His promise. The saint continues to belong to the LORD even in death, and He will bring that person to the resurrection unto life on the last day. The little Child that is spared today, our Lord Jesus, is only spared temporarily, until the fulness of time comes, when the right times comes for His death in our place.
That is our great comfort in this vale of tears, living in a world where people seek power at others’ expense, suffering with the consequences of our own sins, the sins of others, and the corruption that is in the world through sin. But through it all the LORD promises to be with you.
The Angel of the Lord told Joseph to stay in Egypt “until I bring you word.” That must have been great comfort to Joseph, that God had a plan for their rescue, and the holy angels would be watching over them. A similar promise is given to you. God already has in place the plan for your rescue, He already has won the pardon for your sins, and you have the protection of the holy angels. So each day, even the days of suffering, are passed in confidence that in His righteousness He will deliver us.
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