Christmas unwrapped – the slaughter of the innocents.
This is the fifth in a series of Christmas studies.
When Herod realised 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.
Matthew 2:16 (NIVUK)
Christmas is all about angels appearing, shepherds tending their flocks, a baby being born who is the saviour of the world, and innocent children being murdered. Hold on, children being murdered, that’s not part of the nativity story we want to hear about. Dead babies and Mary and Joseph fleeing with Jesus for their lives are far too gory as we enjoy Christmas lunch and open our presents. Nevertheless, this is part of Matthew’s birth narrative, so what do we make of it?
Theologically Matthew is making two points by including this awful account. First, he draws a parallel with Moses who escaped the murder of the Israelite babies, this time it is Jesus who escaped the murderous intentions of the ruling authorities. Moses was saved to lead the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and bring them into the Promised Land. Jesus, prophesied by Moses to be, ‘…like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites… listen to him’ (Deuteronomy 18:15), was also saved from slaughter for a greater deliverance: to lead all people out of the bondage of sin and death and lead them into the Promised Land of his eternal kingdom. Matthew is showing that the one greater than Moses is here.
Secondly, Matthew draws our attention to Rachel crying for her children (Matthew 2:17-18; Jeremiah 31:15). Rachel, the wife of Jacob, died in childbirth and was buried at Ramah sometime around 1600 B.C. In 587 B.C. Ramah was the gathering place for the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. Jeremiah, who was there at the deportation, depicts Rachel symbolically weeping inconsolably at the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar’s armies and the slaughter that ensued. By quoting Jeremiah, Matthew makes the connection of the story of the exile, with his story of Jesus, for Jesus is himself about to become an exile, a refugee, as he is taken from his home into Egypt.
Jesus’s birth is recapitulating Israel’s history: he is the true Israel, who comes out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15) and out of exile, leading his people into a new kingdom.
Beyond the theology of Matthew’s account lies the sad truth that when Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Herod wakes up in Jerusalem. The good news always has enemies. The darkness always tries to snuff out the light, and often it’s a bloody conflict which culminates in the shed blood of Jesus on the cross: the ultimate slaughter of the innocent.
Yet the good news is the darkness could not overcome the light (John 1:5). Israel escaped Egyptian slavery and they returned from exile, and Jesus’s death has freed us and brought us home. All are included in what Jesus achieved, even those innocent children killed around the time of his birth – although they died because of Jesus, they will live again because of him too.
This is the hope of the good news of Jesus.
Prayer
Loving Father, we thank you that even in the senseless killing of these young lives at Jesus’s birth there is hope for them because of that same birth. Thank you that the deliverance Jesus brings means we, and they, can be at home with you for all eternity. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Barry Robinson
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International
and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales
Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA
Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm
Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church