“THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS”
December 18, 2011 ~ The Rev. David Moore
Scripture: Matthew 2:13-21 | PDF print version

Modern thinkers tend to dismiss the idea of real evil. Really evil folks get analyzed, poked and mentally prodded so their evil can be explained as a result of a childhood issues, rejection by peers growing up, any number of things. The problem with the point of view that there is no evil is that it stands in opposition to what Scripture says, that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of this world.

I have been thinking about this sermon, and really not wanting to preach it. We’re a week out from Christmas, a day of joy and hope, a day of fun and laughter and great food, and yet our text today is not that at all. I hope I won’t discolor Christmas for you. I’m trusting not. Today we’re going to look at Herod, his actions, and Joseph getting the family away from the people who want to kill Christ. I don’t want to talk about evil today. I don’t know that there ever is a good time to take on such a serious topic, but it really shouldn’t be today. And yet it is. At Christ’s birth forces were unleashed to try and kill the Son of God, even before His ministry ever got off the ground. We’re going to look at this today, and in advance, I’m really sorry. I’m sorry for the kids that died, I’m sorry to put a damper on the Christmas spirit as we remember the evil done to these innocent kids. But evil is real, it is the reason Christ came and died for us. Christ didn’t come to give us healthy psyches, but to take away the evil that resides in each of us, and to replace it with Himself so that in the end our place is with Him in heaven, rather than away from Him in the depths of eternal blackness.

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.”

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Let’s pray.

I always like to start off with a little context, so we’re all on the same page. Matthew and Luke are the two gospels that have stories of Jesus’ birth in them; Mark just begins with Jesus being baptized, fully grown, and John starts the story of Jesus not with His earthly birth, but at the beginning of time, to show us that Jesus was with God in the very beginning of everything. So we have just Matthew and Luke, who come at Jesus birth in two very different vantage points. Luke was a Gentile, a non-Jew, and he focuses on issues of interest to non-Jews. In Luke many characters have an opposite gender match. There is a prophet in named Simeon who prophecy is recorded for us; and at the same time there is a prophetess named Anna, who is also highlighted. Zechariah has a song in Luke, but so does his wife Elizabeth. Luke has this egalitarian aspect, whereas Matthew was a Jew, and his gospel is focused on reaching his people, the Jews. Matthew focuses on the Jewish male, Joseph. We see the many times angels speak to and direct Joseph; there is nothing about Mary at all. No angel talking to her, the focus on her acceptance of God’s will is not in Matt at all.

Also, you might notice there are no quotes of OT in Luke, but in Matthew, they are everywhere. So you get it by now, Matthew, very Jewish in orientation. I also wanted to give you a better understanding of Herod the Great, because I’ve heard people say this didn’t happen because no one would really do this. Herod was called ‘The Great’ not because he was a super person, but because he was a builder of all sorts of things, great buildings, public buildings. Herod came to power by saving one of the Caesar’s…there was a great sea battle, the Caesar was losing, and then Herod and his fleet showed up at the last second, saved the Emperor and won the battle.

On his deathbed, Herod went into a coma. His oldest son took this as his cue, and he declared himself ruler. Herod recovered a bit, found out what had happened, had his son killed, and then died himself. That was the third son he had killed. Caesar Augustus said, famously, “It was better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” He had his favorite wife put to death so that she would not survive him and take another husband. He made a decree that at his death the best, smartest 10,000 people in Israel were to be rounded up and slaughtered so that then Herod would be mourned, because he knew the people of Israel wouldn’t mourn him without some outside help. What happened was the people were rounded up, but then let go. Herod the great was a ruler who was not a nice man, not by a long shot. He was a maniac with absolute power. He was the vessel of evil during Jesus’ birth. One of the commentators said the Magi from last week were an example of outsiders, or just people, under the direction of God. In contrast, we have an insider, Herod, under the influence of sin and evil. I think he’s got something there.

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.”

Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

Again, Joseph is a good listener and very obedient. The angel says flee, Joseph doesn’t argue but gets the family going immediately. In the middle of the night. They had to go to another country to get away from Herod, away from Herod’s power and authority. Egypt has always loomed large for Israel…they came out of Israel as you remember. They tried to make alliances with Egypt as Babylon closed in to capture Jerusalem and enslave the people in 685…Egypt the land of many gods, in contrast to little Israel with its one God. Most importantly for Jesus and Joseph, Egypt was still within the Roman Empire, but it was ruled by a different appointee from Rome. And of course, as Matthew points out, the Son was to come out of Egypt. God called the Israelites out of Egypt as He began to shape them into His people, and God called Jesus out of Egypt as well, and He too, continues to shape the People of God into God’s image.

I am always humbled as I reread the birth stories; the pain and suffering endured to bring the Son of God to us, the obstacles that stood in His way…to change the world was not an easy thing. To change someone, even me, is no small thing either. So when I think about all that had to take place so that my sins could be taken away…the birth of Christ, His ministry, His death, His rising, the start of the Church…I am humbled, and at the same time, aware of my need for Christ to take away my sins. I hope this reminds us all of the deep love God has for us when we see and hear and remember all that Jesus went through at His birth, during His ministry and sitting at the right hand of God continuing to pray for us, continuing to advocate on our behalf. God went to extraordinary lengths to bring you and me to Himself. Dwell on that for a moment in the midst of the hectic lives we lead. You are precious. God went to great lengths to bring you to Himself.

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

There are some doubting folks who will say this never happened simply because there is no corroborating evidence. No mention of this slaughter of the innocents in history books, in other literature. Only here in Matthew. Well, let’s think about that for a moment. We know Bethlehem today is a pretty big city, but around the birth of Christ it was not. It was a relatively small village, with estimates of its population going from 300 people on up to 1000. That’s not a lot of folks. Then you have to think about how many kids might have been, well not just kids, but boys, under the age of 2. I’ve seen a number of estimates, the fewest being 12 kids and then obviously on up.

I obviously don’t know how many boys were killed. But in light of what we know about Herod, the many people he had killed, the many important people, perhaps it isn’t really surprising that some kids killed in a small village wouldn’t make whatever passed for the newspaper in Jerusalem. I’d guess Herod didn’t proclaim to everyone that he was ordering troops to kill a bunch of babies in Bethlehem. I’d guess he tried to keep it as quiet as possible. So two things, the relatively small number, although each child killed was a tragedy and awful, in comparison to the other things Herod did, maybe smaller potatoes, and then perhaps the desire to keep it quiet, and it doesn’t surprise me that there are no collaborating writers out there in the secular society. The Bible has continued to surprise its critics century after century with the accuracy of its reports about what happened where and when. In light of all that, I don’t find it hard to believe at all that this crazy powerful king ordered the killings of a couple dozen kids. There is real evil in this world, both done by people and by powers and principalities, and Herod was really evil, and I think he was used by evil to try and kill Jesus.

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

So Joseph hears from angels 3 times in dreams, each time when it is time to do something, and then once Joseph was warned in a dream, doesn’t say how or by whom. I read online as I was doing a little research into Herod Archelaus that he put down a rebellion by the Pharisee by killing 3000 of them. Chip off the old block, I guess. I’d guess if it was me, I’d also be wary of returning with the Christ child to a place ruled by Herod Archelaus, who many have heard of the wise men that came looking for the King of the Jews. I’d guess that given the opportunity, Herod Archelaus would also have killed Jesus if Jesus were discovered.

Again, perhaps Matthew had in mind to set up this contrast for us: the cruelty and murder of the Jewish kings, and the worship of the outsider wise men. In any case, I am always stunned at the casualness of the killing in those days. But then again, I’m stunned by the casualness of killings in many places in the world. Innocents are still slaughtered. 50 million people died as a direct result of World War II, to say nothing of genocides in Armenia during World War I, the genocides in Yugoslavia and Albania, Rwanda, the Jews that were targeted by Hitler, the killing fields of Cambodia and I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple, which is tragic as well. All those people killed, for no really good reason. Because evil exists, and even though we think we are better people than folks 2000 years ago, we really aren’t. Humanity is really no better or worse, behaviorally, or morally, unfortunately, than folks were back then.

They battled the evil in their hearts, and we battle the evil in ours. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said there is a line through each person’s heart, evil vs. good. There is still evil, both against us, and evil that beckons us to behave in ways that separate us from God, sin. One of the things about sin is that the more we sin, the more inclined we are to sin. Sin becomes incidental, then occasional, then habitual over time. Thanks be to God, the opposite is true as well. When we make Godly decisions, those decisions also become habitual over time. Many people think that our beliefs effect our actions. Well, they do of course, but the opposite is true as well. Our actions effect what we believe. Sometimes it will be necessary to live into what we believe until we believe it. If we can take the Christmas spirit and stretch it out into the rest of the year, little by little, then the spirit of generosity we have now gradually turns us into generous people. If we catch a bit of the joy that we have at Christmas, and start to stretch that into the rest of the year, we slowly become joyful people.

And as I said, the opposite is true. If we start to lie a little, and then lying becomes not a big deal to us and eventually we become liars. If we don’t forgive and harbor anger, repeatedly, then we become angry, vengeful people. You may know people who over time become more and more their sin, until there is almost nothing left of them except their sin; their pride, their anger, their greed, whatever it might be. The Christian walk with Christ is a transforming walk over time, into the people we are supposed to be.

Let me say a little more about evil. I don’t want us to be afraid of evil. Jesus has overcome evil, and dethroned the devil in this world. Jesus tells us not to be afraid, that He has over come the world. That doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer, a quick study through the New Testament will show every book and letter has something about suffering in it. But we are not ignorant that real evil exists in this world, and has since Adam and Eve.

The Apostle Paul points us in a helpful direction. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, in the sixth chapter, Paul tells us about how to handle evil, to put on the whole armor of God…to wear truth like belt, to cover our hearts with righteousness, take our shield of faith, the knowledge of our salvation protects our minds, and hang onto the Word of God. And having done all that, we stand. We don’t attack, but we stand steady, our lives built on the solid rock that our feet are planted on. Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord, so that when evil comes, our defenses come naturally.

I was talking to a friend this week who described her mother-in-law as someone who continually gave her trouble, always testing her faith to see when she would snap, and when she prayed about the situation, my friend said she felt strongly God was telling her to stand, to persevere, to love her mother-in-law despite the constant attacks. On her death bed, her mother-in-law made her, not her own daughters or sons, but her daughter in law the medical decider, and asked her to pray for her soul on her deathbed. My friend had broken through the evil with love. It wasn’t easy, but she withstood the attacks because she was grounded in prayer, grounded in faith, grounded in God’s Word so that when attacks came, she responded lovingly, rather than in anger, vengeance, bitterness or retreat.

Despite how it may look to us at any particular point, we know how evil ends up. I’ve read the Revelation of John. Evil gets banished, and God wins. Someday evil will be destroyed forever, and we look forward to that time with great anticipation, even as we live in the morass of today. Evil will always be our challenge, but it will never be our conqueror as long as we walk with Christ. We remember this as we remember that Jesus survived Herod, and began the process of reuniting us with God through His death on the cross.