Massacre of the Holy Innocents

Massacre of the Innocents, Rubens

What a horrid story St Matthew tells us in the Gospel reading set for today (Matthew 2:13-23)!

The lectionary has the reading out of order. The story comes after the wise men from the East, the Magi, have departed - but they will not arrive until Epiphany on January 6^th!

The background is this. The wise men, as we all know, had been following a star to pay homage to a child, born to be king of the Jews. When they reached Jerusalem, King Herod directed them to search for the child in Bethlehem, where the chief priests said the Messiah would be born. Herod slyly asked them to bring word back to him, so that he too could pay homage - but Herod, afraid of a rival king to his dynasty, had other, murderous ideas. The wise men went on to Bethlehem, where they were overwhelmed by joy to find Jesus with Mary his mother and Joseph. They knelt down, paid homage and presented their gifts. But they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.

Joseph too is a dreamer. But he is also a man of action, determined to protect his family. After the wise men leave, Joseph dreams that King Herod will seek to kill the newborn Jesus, so he takes Mary and Jesus and they flee to Egypt as refugees. He is right to be afraid. Herod is infuriated that the wise men had tricked him by not returning - he doesn’t know which child the wise men came to worship, which child to murder. So he orders the massacre of every child two years old and under in and around Bethlehem – every one.

Safe in Egypt when Herod dies, Joseph dreams again that it is safe to return, and he does so with Mary and Jesus. But in yet another dream he realises that Herod’s son Archelaus, who is now king of Judea, may harm them, so he settles the family at Nazareth in Galilee.

It is a nasty tale of brutal force and the massacre of innocent children, echoing the terrible events we have been seeing in Gaza. Why should we be asked to think about massacring innocents immediately after the joy of Christmas? Where is God in this?

The answer is that Christmas is not just about the joyful birth of a child, however special.

There is more to Christmas than the baby Jesus, with his soft skin smelling of milk, nursed by his young mother Mary, with Joseph close at hand. More than the choirs of angels prompting rough shepherds to come to the crib where Jesus lay and to glorify God. More than the Magi, the wise men from the East, led by a star to give homage to Jesus and present symbolic presents.

Christmas is about God made flesh in human form as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. St John calls him the true light, the ‘Word’: ‘The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth’. But Jesus is born of Mary into a world in which great beauty is mixed with hideous ugliness.

The massacre of the innocents reminds us that Jesus Christ was born into a world just like ours, a world that is horribly broken. A world where deadly force is used to kill the innocent. A world where families are forced to flee as refugees, where they must rely on the kindness of strangers. A world where the greed of the rich and powerful impoverishes the poor and ravishes creation. A world in which Christ is crucified.

Jesus Christ came into this broken world to save it, and us.

By his life and ministry, death and resurrection, he shows us how to confront and overcome evil. He teaches us to listen to his good news. He assures us that if we repent, if we change our bad behaviour, God will forgive us. In the Christmas stories, he shows us signs that the kingdom of God has come near. In God’s kingdom, the broken world will be put back together to reflect the glory of the love of God. It is not fully with us yet, but it is near - we can see signs of it if we look with the eyes of faith, just as the shepherds and the wise men did.

Our task as Christians is to follow Jesus and work to make his kingdom, God’s kingdom, a reality. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit will be with us to help us and guide us. Like Joseph we must dream dreams to understand what must be done. And like Joseph we must act on those dreams.

I shall finish in prayer with a Collect of the Word

Almighty God, 
you have shed upon us the light of your incarnate Word:
may this light, kindled in our hearts, shine forth in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Trusting in God

An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins,
each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = greed; snake = envy; lion = wrath;
snail = sloth; pig = greed; goat = lust; peacock = pride)

Reflection at Morning Worship with the Community of Brendan the Navigator on Tuesday 9th December 2025

Psalm 56, which we have just heard, is set for this Tuesday in the Common Lectionary. It is an urgent plea for God to deliver us from our adversaries.

Heaven knows, there are all too many people in the world today who cry out with the psalmist, ‘My adversaries trample over me all the day long; many are they that make proud war against me’. Those in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Sudan, and all the other war torn parts of the world, who shelter in terror, or flee in fear. Those in the United States of America, who dread armed and masked ICE agents placing a hand on their shoulder. For the most part we in peaceful Ireland feel safe from such violence, but even here immigrants on the street, and refugees in IPAS centres, fear attack by racist thugs. It is a harsh indictment of our broken world that so many are trampled over, assaulted, and oppressed.

But our adversaries are not just wicked human beings. They include the economic forces that damage this God given, fruitful planet, and the social conditions that engender the poverty and disadvantage that mar our society.

And our adversaries are not just outside ourselves. They are also within us: the seven deadly sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Perhaps my own most pernicious adversary is self-pity, as my aging body and increasing frailty limits what I would wish to do to resist the evil forces that ‘assault and oppress me’.

But our loving Father God does not will any adversary to cause pain to any of his children, and is faithful in his love for us. Through the eyes of his Son he sees our distress, and his Holy Spirit gently wipes our tears away. He ‘counts up (our) groaning, puts (our) tears into his bottle’, in the psalmist’s words.

The psalmist declares, ‘To you, O God, will I fulfil my vows; to you will I present my offerings of thanks, for you will deliver my soul from death and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living’. When we place our trust in God, his Holy Spirit will lift our spirit up, so that we can endure any assault, and so overcome any adversary.