“Now after they had left, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, 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.’” (Matthew 2:13)
After all the joy and festivity of
Christmas, the Revised Common Lectionary leads us out of the calendar year with
this disturbing story of jealousy, oppression, and mass murder (Matthew
2:13-23). I’m not sure I really blame the folks who decide to sleep in on
Christmas 1. This story, known as The Massacre of the Innocents, is really a
buzz kill, isn’t it? After “Peace on earth, good will to men,” we end the year
getting reminded that this world we live in is still a pretty sick place.
Now, should it make you feel any better, I
could tell you that the story of King Herod murdering all these little boys
under age 2 in order to wipe out Jesus as his competition is believed by many historians to be apocryphal.
Of course, it’s not that hard to believe that a ruler might use his
governmental power to destroy a rival, is it? And we know historically that
Herod the Great had no trouble murdering members of his own family in order to
secure his throne. It’s not very hard to believe that he’d want Jesus dead,
too.
The Gospel isn’t going to let us off easy
with just a message of Joy to the World. Christmas 1 reminds us that suffering
still abounds, and innocent children are still victims. This past year alone
100 children have been victims of gun violence in the city of Philadelphia.
Between 2009 and 2018 there have been over 180 shootings in K-12 schools in the
United States, resulting in 356 youngsters killed or wounded, and countless
others scarred by the experience. Over 400,000 children are in foster care in this
country. At this moment there are still over 700 children separated from their
parents and detained at the US border. 35 million children are living in the
world as refugees from violence, war, persecution, and starvation.
Our Gospel lesson should remind us of
these suffering innocents because the Most Innocent, was, according to this
story, a refugee from violence and oppression himself.
It’s kind of hard to know how to preach on
a passage like this, so I’ll defer to the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who
penned this poem (which later became a Christmas carol) during the bleak days
of the Civil War:
I heard the
bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Tillringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
Our Gospel
lesson tells us two things: the world is sick, but God is still active in
healing it. God desires wellness in our land, in our world, and in ourselves.
It’s appropriate that we at Faith Lutheran of Philadelphia observe a healing
liturgy on this last Sunday of the year. As the sands ebb out on 2019, we can
come before God with all that troubles us and all that troubles God. We can
pray for deliverance, but we can also recount how we, like the Holy Family,
have been delivered and rescued. We can take that deliverance as a source of
strength as we go forward to do our part—however small that may seem—for the
healing of the world.
The poet
said, “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.” Take heart. Have hope. Go on.
May God
give you courage and peace in the New Year.
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