“Merry Christmas?”
Matthew 2:13-23 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead." 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
There isn’t a much greater that we can experience than the birth of a child. There isn’t a much greater sadness that we can experience than the death of a child.
We have celebrated the joy of Christmas birth. Today, the sadness of death intrudes. The Holy Innocents, they are called. All the baby boys in Bethlehem two years old and under. Run through by bloodthirsty swords at the order of a fanatical king named Herod who would do whatever it takes to keep his throne – whether that meant killing family members, friends or even little children.
Perhaps it would be more “Christmassy” to ignore this story ... or at least talk about it some other time. Not the day after Christmas. But no. The church always proclaims the brutal reality of the truth. For only the truth about our sin and the truth about our Savior can give us the hope and joy that we crave.
It isn’t BB guns shooting your eye out that intrudes upon the Christmas story, but sin. The “Silent Night” we sang about a few nights ago is broken by the sound of soldiers marching boots. The wailing of Rachel weeping for her children replaces the heralding of the angels. The gleeful violence of a tyrannical king smashes the idyllic nativity scene we have in our homes. Not exactly a Hallmark moment.
But why are we surprised? Has not Satan always been at work in this way? Seeking to devour Christ and His Church? From Eden to Bethlehem to today, his track record is consistent. As soon as the light comes into the world, he tries to snuff it out. As soon as the life comes into the world, he tries to end it.
The birth of Jesus went unnoticed by many that first year in Bethlehem. But this event did not go by unnoticed by Satan. When your enemy enters the battlefield in flesh and blood, it is time to fight. And fight he did.
And from your own life you know that this is the way things are. The idealized and sentimentalized Christmas of the world is just not reality. Joy one day is met with sadness the next. One day you are filled with faith and the next you are filled with doubt. Love you thought would last dries up, friends betray you, and your strength turns to weakness. Because Satan does not cease to attack. Those little boys in Bethlehem were attacked simply because they resembled Christ; and that is why you, too, are attacked. Because you are connected to Christ by faith and clothed with His righteousness, you, too, are the enemy. The “Little Town of Bethlehem” of greeting cards and carols becomes the latest “ground zero” in Satan’s terrorist attack against Christ and His Church.
Yet, St. Paul proclaims to us in Galatians that all this happened “when the time had fully come,” which is another way of saying “at the perfect time.” The time when everything came together in God’s plan of salvation. But how could this possibly be the perfect time when everything seemed to be going wrong! A pregnancy before marriage, then taxes and a census, a difficult journey while very pregnant, no good place to stay, and now a death sentence issued against this child and a flight to Egypt? With perfect timing like this, who needs bad timing?!
Satan had found a trusted friend, a man he could rely on, someone he had used in the past with great success in good old King Herod. Today Satan enlists another tried and true ally, a traitor in our midst, to help him in his assault against us. He uses our sinful nature to try to kill the faith in our hearts. Satan whispers in our itching ear what our sinful nature wishes to hear, “See? I told you so. There’s no real ‘Joy to the world!” Then or now. Look at your life. Look at your Christmas. Look at all the commercialism, depression and busyness that robbed your Christmas of joy this year. Look at the poor timing. The poor health, the fighting with your spouse, the arguments with your children, the in-laws, the debt, the weather … Not a lot of peace on earth and good will toward men, is there? Forget about it. Forget about Him. It’s not worth it.”
Do not sell your birthright for the Deceiver’s bowl of porridge! Do not buy the myth of a “Charlie Brown Christmas” or “A Wonderful Life” and so miss the Christmas and life that Christ has come to bring for you. For what our world calls Christmas is but a cheap copy of the original. Their “joy” is but a glimpse of the true joy of Christ. The peace on earth that so many strive for this time of year is but a poor substitute for the true peace that Jesus will establish between heaven and earth, between God and man. This peace comes only through the forgiveness of our sins and our adoption as sons of God. For in God’s time, in the fullness of time, God honored the promise He had made to generations of believers. In God’s time, the Lord sent His Son to be born as one of us so Jesus might give His life to rescue and redeem the entire doomed and damned human race.
This is the peace, joy and hope that transcends the problems of this world and life; that doesn’t ignore them, but sees us through the struggles; that enables us to see God not as the source of these problems, but the One who has come to deliver us from evil.
It might seem unfair that these little boys died. It may appear that the baby boys of Bethlehem died in order to save Jesus – that they gave their blood that He might escape. It was actually the other way around. Jesus grew up to give His life and blood for them … and for all humanity – not to Herod, but on the cross. Though believing children who have died may no longer be cradled in the arms of their mothers, they are cradled in the arms of God. Though baptized infants may die, yet now they really live! A life even greater than the one they lost. A life that cannot be cut down in youth or old age, but the life of an eternal Christmas with the Father in heaven.
And so this Christmas it is not important what kind of sweaters, socks, video games or jewelry we had wrapped for us under the tree. Instead, we find our riches under the stable, in the manger, in the divinity of God wrapped in human flesh. Our riches are found in the Son of God becoming the adopted Son of Joseph so we might become the adopted sons and daughters of God. This adoption took place when we were marked with the cross as redeemed children of God in the holy waters of our Baptism. On that day we died to sin and were raised to a new life – a new life as a child of God, a Holy Innocent, in the forgiveness of our sins. A new life where each day is Christmas Day, as Christ is born in us and we in Him. A new life that however, whenever, and wherever our life here ends, we be cradled in the arms of our Father in heaven.
I guess you could say that wasn’t so much that sin intruded on the Christmas story as much as the Christmas story intruded on sin – the sin in the world and then the sin in our hearts. So that out of the Egypt of our sins, our Father would call us. To find our life not under the tree on which hangs lights and ornaments, but under the tree on which hangs the Son of God. To find our joy not in open presents, but in the open grave. And to find our peace not in family feasts, but in the feast of forgiveness, in the body and blood of Jesus, here given us to eat and to drink.
The Holy Innocents do not spoil the spirit of Christmas, but rather teach us something about Christmas. Though they do not sing like the angels or bring gifts like the Magi or worship like the shepherds – nevertheless, it is perhaps in them that we can most see ourselves in this story. We learn from them to fix our eyes on the Holy Innocent One – who will lay down His life and shed His blood that we might live. That we see the heel now wrapped in swaddling clothes will soon come down upon the serpent’s head, to set us free. That we look always with childlike eyes of faith and cry, Abba, Father! That we be changed as we prayed earlier: “transform us into the likeness of his glory.”
The Holy Innocent One transforms us into His Holy Innocent ones, willing to lay down our lives for Him, for He has laid down His life for us. That is where our Merry Christmas is found – not just now, but forever. Amen.
There isn’t a much greater that we can experience than the birth of a child. There isn’t a much greater sadness that we can experience than the death of a child.
We have celebrated the joy of Christmas birth. Today, the sadness of death intrudes. The Holy Innocents, they are called. All the baby boys in Bethlehem two years old and under. Run through by bloodthirsty swords at the order of a fanatical king named Herod who would do whatever it takes to keep his throne – whether that meant killing family members, friends or even little children.
Perhaps it would be more “Christmassy” to ignore this story ... or at least talk about it some other time. Not the day after Christmas. But no. The church always proclaims the brutal reality of the truth. For only the truth about our sin and the truth about our Savior can give us the hope and joy that we crave.
It isn’t BB guns shooting your eye out that intrudes upon the Christmas story, but sin. The “Silent Night” we sang about a few nights ago is broken by the sound of soldiers marching boots. The wailing of Rachel weeping for her children replaces the heralding of the angels. The gleeful violence of a tyrannical king smashes the idyllic nativity scene we have in our homes. Not exactly a Hallmark moment.
But why are we surprised? Has not Satan always been at work in this way? Seeking to devour Christ and His Church? From Eden to Bethlehem to today, his track record is consistent. As soon as the light comes into the world, he tries to snuff it out. As soon as the life comes into the world, he tries to end it.
The birth of Jesus went unnoticed by many that first year in Bethlehem. But this event did not go by unnoticed by Satan. When your enemy enters the battlefield in flesh and blood, it is time to fight. And fight he did.
And from your own life you know that this is the way things are. The idealized and sentimentalized Christmas of the world is just not reality. Joy one day is met with sadness the next. One day you are filled with faith and the next you are filled with doubt. Love you thought would last dries up, friends betray you, and your strength turns to weakness. Because Satan does not cease to attack. Those little boys in Bethlehem were attacked simply because they resembled Christ; and that is why you, too, are attacked. Because you are connected to Christ by faith and clothed with His righteousness, you, too, are the enemy. The “Little Town of Bethlehem” of greeting cards and carols becomes the latest “ground zero” in Satan’s terrorist attack against Christ and His Church.
Yet, St. Paul proclaims to us in Galatians that all this happened “when the time had fully come,” which is another way of saying “at the perfect time.” The time when everything came together in God’s plan of salvation. But how could this possibly be the perfect time when everything seemed to be going wrong! A pregnancy before marriage, then taxes and a census, a difficult journey while very pregnant, no good place to stay, and now a death sentence issued against this child and a flight to Egypt? With perfect timing like this, who needs bad timing?!
Satan had found a trusted friend, a man he could rely on, someone he had used in the past with great success in good old King Herod. Today Satan enlists another tried and true ally, a traitor in our midst, to help him in his assault against us. He uses our sinful nature to try to kill the faith in our hearts. Satan whispers in our itching ear what our sinful nature wishes to hear, “See? I told you so. There’s no real ‘Joy to the world!” Then or now. Look at your life. Look at your Christmas. Look at all the commercialism, depression and busyness that robbed your Christmas of joy this year. Look at the poor timing. The poor health, the fighting with your spouse, the arguments with your children, the in-laws, the debt, the weather … Not a lot of peace on earth and good will toward men, is there? Forget about it. Forget about Him. It’s not worth it.”
Do not sell your birthright for the Deceiver’s bowl of porridge! Do not buy the myth of a “Charlie Brown Christmas” or “A Wonderful Life” and so miss the Christmas and life that Christ has come to bring for you. For what our world calls Christmas is but a cheap copy of the original. Their “joy” is but a glimpse of the true joy of Christ. The peace on earth that so many strive for this time of year is but a poor substitute for the true peace that Jesus will establish between heaven and earth, between God and man. This peace comes only through the forgiveness of our sins and our adoption as sons of God. For in God’s time, in the fullness of time, God honored the promise He had made to generations of believers. In God’s time, the Lord sent His Son to be born as one of us so Jesus might give His life to rescue and redeem the entire doomed and damned human race.
This is the peace, joy and hope that transcends the problems of this world and life; that doesn’t ignore them, but sees us through the struggles; that enables us to see God not as the source of these problems, but the One who has come to deliver us from evil.
It might seem unfair that these little boys died. It may appear that the baby boys of Bethlehem died in order to save Jesus – that they gave their blood that He might escape. It was actually the other way around. Jesus grew up to give His life and blood for them … and for all humanity – not to Herod, but on the cross. Though believing children who have died may no longer be cradled in the arms of their mothers, they are cradled in the arms of God. Though baptized infants may die, yet now they really live! A life even greater than the one they lost. A life that cannot be cut down in youth or old age, but the life of an eternal Christmas with the Father in heaven.
And so this Christmas it is not important what kind of sweaters, socks, video games or jewelry we had wrapped for us under the tree. Instead, we find our riches under the stable, in the manger, in the divinity of God wrapped in human flesh. Our riches are found in the Son of God becoming the adopted Son of Joseph so we might become the adopted sons and daughters of God. This adoption took place when we were marked with the cross as redeemed children of God in the holy waters of our Baptism. On that day we died to sin and were raised to a new life – a new life as a child of God, a Holy Innocent, in the forgiveness of our sins. A new life where each day is Christmas Day, as Christ is born in us and we in Him. A new life that however, whenever, and wherever our life here ends, we be cradled in the arms of our Father in heaven.
I guess you could say that wasn’t so much that sin intruded on the Christmas story as much as the Christmas story intruded on sin – the sin in the world and then the sin in our hearts. So that out of the Egypt of our sins, our Father would call us. To find our life not under the tree on which hangs lights and ornaments, but under the tree on which hangs the Son of God. To find our joy not in open presents, but in the open grave. And to find our peace not in family feasts, but in the feast of forgiveness, in the body and blood of Jesus, here given us to eat and to drink.
The Holy Innocents do not spoil the spirit of Christmas, but rather teach us something about Christmas. Though they do not sing like the angels or bring gifts like the Magi or worship like the shepherds – nevertheless, it is perhaps in them that we can most see ourselves in this story. We learn from them to fix our eyes on the Holy Innocent One – who will lay down His life and shed His blood that we might live. That we see the heel now wrapped in swaddling clothes will soon come down upon the serpent’s head, to set us free. That we look always with childlike eyes of faith and cry, Abba, Father! That we be changed as we prayed earlier: “transform us into the likeness of his glory.”
The Holy Innocent One transforms us into His Holy Innocent ones, willing to lay down our lives for Him, for He has laid down His life for us. That is where our Merry Christmas is found – not just now, but forever. Amen.
I didn't know you were back. Great!
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