Matthew 2:13-18
Christmas 1
“Mercy for Those Who Suffer”
Certain feast and festival days are
observed by the Lutheran Church, in the freedom of the Gospel, but
with appreciation of our connection to the universal Christian, or
catholic, church throughout history. If you look in the front of
your hymnal, you'll see a list of those that we have retained –
certainly a much shorter selection than that of our Roman Catholic
friends, who count thousands of saints and have various individuals
in commemoration every day of the calendar.
But the first few days after Christmas
have an interesting trio of occasions appointed. December 26, 27,
and 28 mark the commemorations of St. Stephen, the first martyr, St.
John the Apostle, and then the 28th recalls the Holy
Innocents. It is this observance that I'd like us to focus today.
And to remind us of the story, I share the following reading from
Matthew chapter 2. This happens just after the wise men visit Jesus:
__
The Flight to Egypt
13 Now when they had departed, behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise,
take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there
until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to
destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by
night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of
Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,
“Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Herod Kills the Children
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had
been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed
all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were
two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained
from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the
prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
__
Jesus is born. The wise men come, stop
by Herod and ask about the new king. But the old king doesn't take
kindly to it. He schemes to snuff out this possible threat to his
throne. He snookers the wise men, tries to co-opt them into his
scheme. But warned by the angel, they take a detour on their way
home, far away from wily old Herod. Herod is enraged. He will not
be outplayed! And so, in a grisly bout of literal over-kill, he
orders all the young boys, 2 and under, in Bethlehem to be killed.
And no doubt the soldiers carried out his twisted orders like
soldiers do.
And while many of Herod's wicked deeds
are recorded outside of Scripture, this one probably didn't raise an
eyebrow for historians. After all Bethlehem was a small town, and
some have guessed the number of children killed was only in the
dozens, perhaps. Not so noticeable by historical standards. But the
evangelist Matthew notices. Just as God notices when even a sparrow
falls to the ground. He certainly regards, especially regards the
little ones. And the church notices, too, and commemorates the event
on December 28th every year.
Some have even said that these “Holy
Innocents” were the first Christian martyrs, the first ones to shed
their blood for Christ, though not of their own will. We call them
the Holy Innocents, though, not because they were innocent of sin –
that would violate the doctrine of Original Sin. But humanly
speaking, these little ones had done nothing wrong but to be born in
the wrong place at the wrong time. And by the blood that they shed,
they pointed forward to the blood that Christ would shed – though
he was the only one of their number to escape – he was preserved
for his future sacrifice at the cross.
It should not surprise us, the cruelty
of Herod. It should not surprise us who live in this grisly world of
violence, even upon the most innocent and helpless of our day. Young
and old, persecuted and oppressed. We see the strong preying upon
the weak, the powerful on the powerless. Selfish sinners have always
been out for themselves, first. And this brings great suffering.
You don't need me to point to the suffering
in this world – the evils and
brokenness. This text, might, however, draw us to think of the
slaughter of innocents in our day – in the abortion mills under the
cloak of “choice”. A modern day scale of murder that Herod
himself might even find shocking.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has special
regard for the lowly, the outcast, the widow and orphan, the poor and
humble. It is always in the heart of God to show such mercy. He
shows mercy, first of all, to poor sinners. This is why the
Christmas angels sang glory to God, for his favor that rests on men.
This is the thing that has happened, that the shepherds found amazing
and had to make known. This is the birth of the Savior, the King
born in Bethlehem that the wise men came to see. Jesus is the
embodiment of God's mercy to the world, and to you. He takes the
cross you deserve, the suffering with your name on it, and he brings
God's peace and love.
The church, however, as the Body of
Christ in this world, sees the weak and oppressed, the lowly and
humble, the needy and suffering – and we see them with the eyes of
Christ. We regard them with mercy. This is why the Christian church
has established so many hospitals and orphanages. The church that
led the charge for justice in so many spheres – freeing slaves,
working against racism, caring for the poor, the refugee, the
persecuted. Even today, when disasters like hurricanes and
earthquakes strike near and far – it is the Church that reaches out
with Christ's mercy to those who suffer.
The Church does so on the macro-level,
through national and district efforts, showing mercy to those even on
the other side of the world. It does so on the individual level, as
each Christian serves other individuals in our particular vocations.
But we also do so as a congregation,
uniting our resources and efforts together to bring the mercy of
Christ to those in our own community. We have shown mercy at Messiah
in many ways over the years – through a benevolence fund, through
helping immigrants, through showing mercy through our swaddling
clothes ministry and angel tree gifts.
Today, we formalize a new way of
showing the mercy of Christ as a congregation, through the churchly
office of a deaconess. Pamela, you will be working on our behalf,
with our blessing and support and prayers, as you show seek to bring
the mercy of Christ to the vulnerable ones in our midst. We can't
all be there to visit with the lonely, share our time and lend our
ear. But you will do so with all of us behind you. You will help us
help them, and embody our Christian love as you serve.
As Christians, we love because God
first loved us in Christ. We love those who suffer, because God
cares for those who suffer.
And we can remind those who suffer, and
ourselves when we suffer, that God's love for us endures nonetheless.
God's love even for those innocents of Bethlehem, and for all
innocents who suffer, is seen in the cross, and in the suffering of
Jesus.
All of us, to one extent or another,
share in the sufferings of Christ. But all of us, even in our
sufferings, can find comfort in Christ:
“But rejoice insofar as you share
Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his
glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13
“For as we share abundantly
in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in
comfort too.” 2 Cor. 1:5
We find comfort, in knowing our sins
are forgiven. We find comfort, in knowing that the present
sufferings aren't worth comparing to the glory that waits for us
beyond death. We find comfort, knowing that Christ has suffered all
for us, and sympathizes with us in our weaknesses.
And we also know that suffering
produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character,
hope. And hope does not fail. In the midst of our suffering, even
as at all times, God works for the good of those who love him, who
are called according to his purpose.
We rest assured in his promises, so
that as dark as these days get, as much as the wicked seem to prosper
and the powerful abuse the powerless, as bad as it seems and truly is
– even in the midst of weeping and lamentation - there is a hope on
the horizon. There is a new day coming, and it will dawn with his
reappearing. It has, in a way, already begun. For we are heirs of
the kingdom of God. And he will not forget us, and he will never
forsake us.
Lowly beggars that we are, we have a
God of mercy. We have a Christ that came for sinners. We have a
Jesus who suffered and died so that our suffering has meaning and our
death is not without hope.
This babe of Bethlehem is not just the
best hope for a fallen world, he's our only hope. But what a hope he
is. He who shed his own, holy, innocent blood – to make us holy,
and to declare us eternally innocent before God. This is Jesus –
born for you! Born to show you God's mercy. Now go and echo that
mercy, children of God. Amen.
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