Holy Innocents

Who wants to think about violence during Christmas?

Happy fourth day of Christmas!

We’ll get back to Luke 2 tomorrow, but today is a recognized holiday on the Christian calendar, set aside to remember the children massacred by Herod as he sought to eliminate the threat of a messiah.

Known as the Feast of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas, it’s observed each December 28th.¹

People generally know about the massacre of the infants told only in Matthew 2:13-18. But it’s not often that Christians think about it during the Christmas season (who wants to ruin all the joy with that death?). But for Matthew, it is a crucial part of the story, telling of the brutality of the Jews’ various overseeing authorities.

There is little to no evidence outside of Matthew’s gospel concerning the massacre. This could be because there were few children who fit the description in Bethlehem at the time. Regardless, it would have been devastating even to one family.

In Matthew’s account, Joseph and Mary were sent by a messenger of God to Egypt to escape the violence, which is an under-appreciated part of the story of Jesus’ early life. That would be quite a journey and formational for the whole family. Where did they stay? What resources did they have? What was their experience as a refugee family in a foreign land?

It’s yet another aspect of the God-becoming-human story that shapes Jesus’ life as one for the depths of the human experience.

Matthew 2:13-18

When the magi had departed, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon search for the child in order to kill him.” Joseph got up and, during the night, took the child and his mother to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod died. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I have called my son out of Egypt.

When Herod knew the magi had fooled him, he grew very angry. He sent soldiers to kill all the children in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding territory who were two years old and younger, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. This fulfilled the word spoken through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much grieving. Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were no more.

Prayer

God,

It’s pretty hard for most of us to identify with the martyrdom of children in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago, so insulated we are from such violence today. Many point out that violence has hit Bethlehem again today, if not in actuality, certainly in proximity.

I have to believe that the death of children shows forth their love for you not by speaking, but by dying. What tragedy. So I pray for children anywhere and everywhere who would suffer. Meet their suffering with justice. Call your people to attention and action.

In this season of Christmas, may the light of Christ shine upon all who are lost in the darkness of this world.

By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.

1. The names of holidays like Christmas and Childermas are simply the combination of words - Christ’s Mass and Children’s Mass. Mass is a term for the gathering of the Church or “gathering around.” Also forthcoming on February 2 is Candlemas.