In today’s reading, the author Matthew makes his purpose plain. His aim is to prove that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament predictions concerning the coming of the Messiah who was long awaited by the Jews. In the first chapter of his Gospel, Matthew specifically ties Jesus of Nazareth in with the line of David which would have been crucial for the Jewish followers of his day. By telling of the flight of the baby Jesus from Bethlehem to Egypt and the return of the infant from Egypt back to Nazareth, Matthew sees four Old Testament prophecies fulfilled – these four prophecies converged on the infant child Jesus so there can be no dispute that Christ is indeed the Messiah as promised of old.
Notice, in the first chapter of Matthew, Joseph was told to take Mary for his wife, however in today’s reading the angel says to Joseph to take the child and the mother of the child to Egypt. Joseph, having witnessed and now understood the work of the Holy Spirit, receives the divine command to protect the mother and child. This change in the way Mary was addressed from wife to mother of the child gives distance in the relationship between Mary and Joseph and focuses the relationship between them to one of protector and protected rather than one of husband and wife.
Today I want to focus upon one of the prophecies contained in this reading. By killing all the male children two-years-old or under that were in Bethlehem and in all her borders, Herod fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that “a voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are no more”.
Rama is a place in Palestine of high elevation – the name itself means “high”. This place fell by lot to the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was a son of Rachel. Rachel herself was buried in Bethlehem. By the use of the word Rachel the prophet Jeremiah in fact means the city of Bethlehem. What the prophet Jeremiah (655 BC – 586 BC) is saying is that Bethlehem would weep for her children. Remember, in chapter 2 of Luke’s Gospel we are told that the first census took place and that everyone had to be registered to their own city of birth. We are told that Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and travel to the city of David, also called Bethlehem which was in Judea, as he was of the house and lineage of David. So all of the male children two years or younger, and descendants from the house of David, were put to death. No wonder Rachel, or Bethlehem, could not be consoled. Indeed the children were no more because they had been killed. This would have been a time of great lamentation in Bethlehem. How can you console a mother who has had her male infant torn from her arms and killed before her?
Holy tradition records that there were 14,000 infants killed by Herod in Jerusalem. Indeed, our church remembers them and commemorates their feast day tomorrow on the 29th of December.
The question that I want to tackle is why did God permit the slaying of these innocents? This is a very deep question and no clear answer as to why evil exists in God’s world has been given. Rather I want to share some insights with you.
The choice between evil and good was given to us by God. Humanity has not always chosen wisely. One only has to look at the choice of Adam and Eve which resulted in our expulsion from Paradise to know that just as people’s choices can result in good, people’s choices can also result in the not good. Choice is what defines us as human beings. Human beings who are made in the image of God and who struggle to the good conform to his likeness.
The fact that this prophecy was made by Jeremiah means that God had foreknowledge of what would occur. But let us not confuse ourselves that foreknowledge is predetermination. Prophecies can only be fulfilled by people. It is only when a person does an act that one can say, looking back, yes a prophecy has been fulfilled. This prophecy could have been fulfilled at any time in the course of human history. The fact that the slaughter of the innocents occurred together with the coming together of all other prophecies at the same point in time in world history enabled Matthew, looking back, to say, yes the prophecies were fulfilled and this child is indeed the Messiah. God, through his prophets, can tell us what will happen but it is us as people who make it happen – not God.
God, the creator of heaven and earth and of all things seen and unseen bestows life on us all. It is his gift to each one of us. We all know that that gift will be withdrawn – we will all die – however as to when and how is not for us to say. This is a matter for God and God only. All we need to remember is that if our heavenly Father can clothe the grass of the field in glory today and tomorrow that same grass is thrown into the fire how much more will be care for us. Life is a gift – it is not a contract. That said, there is a difference between the activity of God and the evil deeds of people. Life is not given by others and therefore cannot be taken by others. In the taking of human life lies the evil – and the evil of others is something that confronts us constantly. Evil cannot exist in a vacuum. It can only exist in people and has existed since the time of Cain who killed his brother Abel because Abel’s offering was more pleasing to God.
Ultimately life can only make sense if one accepts that the evil of others can always do us harm even to the point of death. Death will come to each one of us . Then there is the judgement, and if we believe then this dictates how we should or shouldn’t act in this world. This world tests us, but it tests us for our permanent home – the kingdom of heaven and the important question, the real question, is where we will live once we have fallen asleep in this world.
So, in the killing of the 14,000 infants, the evil of Herod manifested itself. These 14,000 innocents received their crowns of glory and are remembered by our church as martyrs tomorrow. Who remembers Herod? So, let us continue to live our lives as best we can as followers of Christ. Let us return good for evil – let us do good to others even if they want to cause us harm. After all, we have the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world as our model for our behaviour. Let us follow him like true sheep into the next kingdom. Amen.