“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 had 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.” Matthew 2:13 – 18

“The mothers of Bethlehem that evening fed porridge to their children, rocked the cradles, and went to sleep themselves without a care. The next morning there was not a household in Bethlehem in which there was not one child dead, or two or three. The children were taken straight to heaven as blessed martyrs, but what about the parents who would not be comforted? They did not understand….” (A Christian sermon translated by Roland H. Bainton, Martin Luther (1483 – 1546), “For All The Saints” volume III, p. 152 – 153)

It is hard for us to understand what is passed down to us as the story of the “slaughter of the innocents”. Herod’s paranoia led him to make the decision to kill those children in and around Bethlehem. But Herod the coward did not carry the act out himself. Matthew notes that Herod “sent and killed” those children. Those who were sent by Herod to carry out these acts are not even identified. These nameless, voiceless individuals are absent from the story. Who were these people sent by Herod to kill the innocent children of Bethlehem? Most likely they were soldiers. Herod did have Roman soldiers under his command earlier in his career. By the time of Jesus’ birth, he may have only had soldiers who were from Judea, with perhaps a small number of foreign soldiers at his disposal. These soldiers, locals now mind you, made their way to Bethlehem with clear orders: kill every male child two years of age and younger. Can we imagine walking that journey — walking alongside those soldiers, knowing what we had to do, and what might happen to us, and perhaps our family, if we failed to carry out the order?

The story of the history of our planet tells us over and over again that people often will do inhumane things to others simply because someone who they perceive to be an authority figure tells them to do it. Germans who carried out the atrocities of the Holocaust, soldiers who participated in the My Lai massacre during the Viet Nam war are just two contemporary acts of such atrocities. These stories remind us that we may be able to judge others and say “How could they have done such and such?” – but until we are faced with the same circumstances, we may not know how we will act or react.

We are called to be “workers for the kingdom.” We pray that our faith and our trust in G-d’s love will enable us to keep our perspective and be people of mercy and grace.

Pastor Dave

“Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” Luke 2:41 – 52

“Joseph and Mary search for Jesus for “three days.” When an early Christian heard the phrase “for three days,” one of their first associations would have been to think about Jesus and the “resurrection.” Jesus had been raised from the dead after “three days.” Virtually every first century Christian would have made this association automatically. Could this then indicate that the story of Joseph and Mary’s search for Jesus should be understood and seen in light of the resurrection story?

Joseph and Mary are searching for Jesus for three days which could indeed be a precursor of Jesus’ followers coming to the tomb after he lay there three days. In both searches, those who find Jesus meet something they did not expect. His parents find Jesus in the Temple where, he tells them, he should be. And when the women meet “two men in dazzling clothes” outside the tomb, they are told “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

In his early life, Jesus is telling his family that their search for him should begin in G-d’s house. Today, we believe the same. The search initially begins in G-d’s house, but once found, we learn that Jesus is, in fact, everywhere. We are taught to find him in the presence of believers, in the word, in the sacrament, in the Holy Spirit that blows throughout this world. Jesus is found in the face of suffering, in the homes of the oppressed, in the struggle of poverty, in the cries of the despairing. And, we hope, Jesus is found in the worship centers around the world. We still go to church expecting to meet Jesus – but we do not leave Jesus there. Jesus cannot be shut up in a church, or a box of theological principles, or in our minds.

My friends, there are many people in this world who feel like the parents of Jesus, searching and searching everywhere to find him. They are afraid to go to church to find him, because they think they will find all kinds of other things, but not Jesus. It should not take people three days, three years, or three decades to find Jesus – we should all expect to see Jesus, well, everywhere. When you and I are the hands and feet of Christ, we bear the image of Christ to others – and, hopefully, help others to find Jesus.

Pastor Dave