Tomorrow is Holy Innocents Day.  This day commemorates the slaughter of all the male children under the age of two in the town of Bethlehem.  This atrocity was ordered by King Herod, upon learning of the star from the Magi that indicated the birth of the king of the Jews.

Herod held the job of ‘king of the Jews,’ and he considered it a job worth killing for as he demonstrated through numerous acts of ruthless cruelty to maintain his hold on power.  Even on his deathbed, he ordered the execution of his own son who had been involved in an attempted coup.

Herod couldn’t be sure the Magi were right, but he took no chances.  He reasoned that if you kill all the male children in Bethlehem, you’re likely to eliminate the one who might someday steal your job.

The children who were killed are venerated as martyrs because they died for Christ, literally dying in the place of the one who would die for them.

Dear reader, I can hear your objections:

‘Why, why, why do we have to think about this today?  Why is this commemoration on December 28, right after the joy of Christmas?  It’s not even chronologically appropriate.  We won’t celebrate the coming of the Magi until January 6, so why remember this horror before the Magi arrive with their gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  Okay, so this is on some liturgical calendar somewhere, but why does our pastor dredge up this horror when visions of sugar plums are still dancing in our heads?’

Because the meaning of the Incarnation is not that humanity is magically transformed by the birth of Jesus.  Remember the creed.  We affirm that he was “born of the virgin Mary.  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.”

God comes among us as a baby who grew up and was tortured to death.  Christ didn’t eradicate the evil and violence of this world; he absorbed it.  He suffered with us.  He came so that even the suffering of the mothers of Bethlehem could not separate them from the loving presence of God.

Christ came to share your real life, the one with chemo and bankruptcy.  He is present in moments of spiritual bliss, but no less present when you’re too depressed to roll out of bed.  In all our living and in all the ways we die, God has been joined to humanity.

He’s present in the slaughtered innocents and in the guy who makes your coffee and the person you see in the mirror.

Prayer: Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask you to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray.  Amen.

Collect for the Day from Lesser Feasts and Fasts (2018)
We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.