The Massacre of the Innocents
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...
- Matthew 2:16
This text is my least favorite of the Christmas story. It seems that I’m not alone, as it is rarely included in any telling of the Christmas story. It doesn’t make the Christmas program. It’s nice to stop with Magi giving presents to Jesus and simply tricking that mean old King Herod. But it’s in Matthew 2, nonetheless. King Herod, known as a paranoid tyrant, casts an evil shadow on the otherwise quaint narrative. He was so worried for his own power that any threat was met with the harshest response. A baby has been born who some Magi have called ‘the king of the Jews’? Let’s kill that would-be king. We don’t know where he is exactly? Let’s kill all the baby boys two-years-old and under. While scholars estimate that the massacre likely totaled to fewer than 20 deaths, it was a grotesque evil. It is made more disturbing when we realize that one of Herod’s own sons was murdered as a result of the edict (yet this was a man who had two of his grown sons strangled due to rumors of mutiny).
But Matthew was not afraid to include this in his story. Other writers and historians don’t make mention of it (in part, because this sort of horrifying evil was hardly a blip on the radar of Herod’s atrocities). For Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, it was important to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was important to make a strong case that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah foretold.
Yet something else stands out when reading this bit in the birth narrative. There is such strong juxtaposition between these two kings, Herod and Jesus. One manic, evil, and dark; the other vulnerable, dependent, and perfect. The one grasped for power; the other didn’t consider equality with God something to be grasped. The one despised life, cheapening it by unnecessary murders; the other validated and elevated the worth of human life by giving up his own.
This is how Jesus came into the world—in contrast to it. Bright, like a shining star on a dark night. He entered a chaotic and dangerous world, but would bring peace. He still stands in stark contrast to our world. As his followers, so do we. In a world that rants and raves, clings to power and independence, may we shine. May we live in the light of Christ. Things were not perfect when Christ came, nor are they perfect today. They were and are violent and ugly and terrifying. Let us point toward the true and perfect King. In some ways, he’s easy to see, because he stands out in such stark contrast. But people need to know where to look. So let us point the way.
~ Pastor Tim