Thursday, December 15

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Matthew 2:16-18
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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“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.”

In 1963 pop singer Andy Williams recorded one of the most frequently played Christmas songs of all time, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Most of you immediately started to hear the tune in your heads as you read those words. And some of you will now be singing it to yourself the rest of the day – and I’m sorry about that! But when we start hearing that song on the radio or in shopping centers, we know that the Christmas season has begun.

In many ways, the song is right! Christmas is a wonderful time of the year – for many reasons. As Christians, we see Christmas as a time to remember and celebrate the coming of the God who took on flesh in the form of Jesus, who would then grow up to be our Lord and Savior. As a culture, Christmas gives us an opportunity to take time off from work and school and to gather as families to give and receive gifts as tangible symbols of our love for each other.

But, the truth is, Christmas is not always wonderful for everyone. In fact, I have learned over the years that the holidays, for many, tend to accentuate feelings of loneliness, sadness and even depression. Over the years I have even encouraged the other pastors on our staff to reserve some extra time in January and February to deal with some of these issues that people inevitably experience. While I can’t say for sure, I think something about the expectations that the Christmas season will bring joy and happiness ends up being very disappointing for people who are experiencing pain in their lives or in their homes.

That’s why I’m glad Matthew includes this painful part of the story in his telling of the birth of Jesus. In his account, the story does not end with the joyous chorus of angels celebrating the miraculous birth of God into the world. It ends with mothers weeping over their murdered little boys.

Traditionally called “the slaughter of the innocents,” this is the story of Herod’s pitiless rage. Crazed by his own delusions of grandeur and furious at being duped by the Magi – Herod decided to eliminate all possibility of a threat to his throne. He killed every little boy in the region who had the bad fortune to be two years old or younger. Some historians estimate that, due to the population of the region where Mary and Joseph lived, this would have been 20-30 boys. The result, of course, was “weeping and great mourning.”

The slaughter of the innocents, of course, didn’t stop with Herod’s cowardly act. It has been repeated over and over again through the centuries and continues today through realities like child soldiers in Africa; children forced into the sex trade in Asia; children abused sexually in our own land by people they trust; unborn children aborted by the millions. And there is weeping and great mourning.

Where do we turn when the weeping and great mourning touches us? Where is God when innocence is slaughtered and when it seems that evil and pain have triumphed over good and life?

Read again these from the prophet Isaiah that describe the child born to Mary:

Isaiah 53:3-5

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

I hope with everything in me that this Christmas will be for you, “the most wonderful time of the year!” If it is – I hope you will celebrate Christ’s presence in your life and home with great joy. But if your joy is muted this Christmas by grief or loneliness or pain of some kind – I pray you will find comfort in the One who has taken up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. His name is Immanuel, God with us.

Pastor Brian Coffey