Matthew 2:13-23
My son Joshua has played a variety of parts in many different
pageants. He was the baby Jesus when he
was 8 months old, then a sheep for a few years.
When he was 2 ½, he was a reluctant sheep. He was in a very outspoken and independent
phase. I was terrified of an
outburst. But he did fine and then the
pageant directors surprised me a little.
They added an epilogue which included the story of Jesus returning from
Egypt with his parents. Jesus would have been about 3 when he returned from
Egypt, so they put Joshua in the place of Jesus. Joshua wandered back center
stage looking extremely confused and a little scared and I found myself tearing
up. They weren’t really happy tears. It was the first time I imagined Jesus as a
scared child being taken out of the only home he had known (which was Egypt)
and brought back to a land his parents had fled because their son’s life had
been at risk. It must have been
traumatic for them all.
It was unsettling to feel that grief in the
midst of a Christmas Eve pageant.
However, I think that being
unsettled can sometimes be good, even at Christmas. Christmas is wonderful and joyful day, but
there can also be a small (or even large) degree of grief in the midst of it. It might be a parent or a spouse who has
recently died, a child who can’t share the holiday with you, a family that is a
little fractured…every loss feels that much bigger on Christmas. So while it’s not typical or comfortable,
today we are hearing the story of the sadness and the loss that happened on the
very first Christmas.
This
story from our Gospel today is referred to as the slaughter or massacre of the
innocents. Typically the reading leaves
out the part about Herod killing the children under the age of 2 in and around
Bethlehem, but I put it back in. I think the people who put the lectionary
together were trying to keep the focus on God’s saving act rather than the
actions of a corrupt and power hungry ruler.
However,
the author of Matthew put this story in his Gospel for a reason. Many biblical scholars have pointed out that
there are no historical accounts of this mass killing of children under the age
of two, but others have suggested that it was not an unexpected act from a man
like Herod. He had killed his wife and three sons to protect his power, what
was a few dozen children to him when it meant he could protect himself from the
future king?
This all started with the devoted magi who
brought gifts to Jesus and his parents.
We all know that story.
Unfortunately since they were following a star, which never provide
exact locations, they first went to Jerusalem and told people that they had
observed a star and were looking for “the king of the Jews.” This might seem a
little far fetched to us, but it was common for people to associate the birth
of kings or great men with the appearance of stars. When Herod heard that these wise men had come
from far away in search of a king, he sensed a potential threat. He sought the
counsel of his own advisors and they told him that the prophets said that this
messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. He called the wise men to him and shared
this helpful information with the request that they tell him once they found
him so he too could worship him.
Fortunately the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
so they didn’t.
That
is where our story picks up today. Joseph
was warned by an angel in a dream to flee to Egypt. The angel doesn’t tell him why, but Joseph
obeyed. (He was very good at following angelic directions.) The family fled in
the middle of the night and traveled all the way to Egypt. Egypt was part of the Roman Empire at the
time, but Herod had no control there. We
don’t know why this fleeing was necessary until we hear of Herod’s response to
the realization that the wise men didn’t return to him and tell him exactly
where this baby was. Herod ordered the
execution of children age two and under. Fortunately, by the time he realized
this and ordered this slaughter, Jesus and his parents had already fled, but
Herod didn’t know this. Unfortunately,
many children were still killed, leaving families heartbroken in Bethlehem.
Then there is this strange reference to Jeremiah: ‘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.” There is only one Rachel in the Bible and she is in Genesis. She was married to Jacob and bore two children—Joseph and Benjamin. Neither of them died before she did, thus, leaving people confused by this reference. It is believed that Matthew included these verses because Rachel is considered one of the matriarchs of the Jewish people. This reference to her weeping is a reminder of the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon. No doubt, countless people died. Even though Rachel had died by the time the Babylonian exile happened and by the time Jesus was born, Rachel still wept for all those children who died. It was a way to recognize the loss.
The
author of Matthew loved to find ways to connect the story of Jesus to the story
of the Jewish people. Matthew is
essentially resurrecting these lost voices of the mothers and fathers who lost
their children long ago. By including
this in the birth story of Jesus, Matthew isn’t only providing a connection to
the story of the Hebrew people, he’s also acknowledging the losses that have
happened over the centuries…lives that have been lost through war and
tyranny. Every one of those lives was
precious. Every one of those people who
died was a child of God (that includes all the people of Israel and Palestine—all
the people of the world). History
forgets, but God never does.
Why does this story of atrocity
appear in the Gospel of Matthew? Is it
to show that Jesus escaped through God’s divine intervention? If so, what does that say about the children
who died? Why would Matthew even tell this story? I think he knew it was important what kind of
environment Jesus was born into--the fear that gripped his family from the
moment he was born.
Just like
families today who are forced to flee their homes looking for a place free of
persecution, Jesus was part of a family that left their home looking for
safety. That is something that everyone
deserves...to be safe. Fortunately, Herod’s reach was limited and they were
able to find a place they could stay, even for a while. It’s ironic that we focus so much around
Christmas about the story from Luke and no room in the inn, when the bigger
story is where they were welcomed. They
were welcomed in a foreign land for years.
Foreigners welcome Jesus and his family.
Once
Herod died, they were able to return to their home…but not quite. They still had to change course. They
couldn’t go to the place they planned because of another corrupt leader. They
shifted course one more time thanks to Joseph’s willingness to listen to God
and follow where God guided him.
While part of me finds it strange to have this
story of heartbreak and violence so close to the Christmas story, another part
of me sees that it is consistent with who Jesus was and who he still is. He is
committed to not just serving the least of these, but being with the least of
these, with the persecuted and the forgotten.
But there is another piece of this story that
we can overlook if we focus on the violence and persecution. Joseph listened to
God every step of the way. It was his
faithfulness and devotion that allowed him to hear God’s word and allow it to
guide them through life. I understand the importance of action and protest….but
as Christians, we can’t skip the step where we listen for the wisdom of
God. Because if we listen, God will
guide us on the right path. We won’t be
guaranteed success---at least not success as the world sees it. Jesus was still crucified even after all that
listening and protecting Joseph did. But
if we listen and lay down our pride and need for control, God will work through
us. One of the words we hear on Christmas Eve is Emmanuel, which means, God
with us. After Christmas, we need to
focus on a different preposition---God through us. How can we help other by allowing God to work
through us?
I used a lot of information from this article for this sermon: Eugene Park, “Rachel’s Cry for Her Children: Matthew’s Treatment of the Infanticide by Herod,” CBQ 75 (2013): 473–85.
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