The First Sunday After Christmas

This First Sunday after Christmas calls for John’s prologue of his Gospel. It is deep in theology and imagery. However, just as I did last year, I choose to observe the eve of the feast of the Holy Innocents which occurs tomorrow. The Massacre of the Holy Innocents. is the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to the Messiah whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi.

Since the evidence that such an event occurred is found only in the Gospel of Matthew, New Testament scholars have said that its accuracy is an open question that probably can never be definitively decided. The number of infants killed is not stated; the Holy Innocents, although Jewish, have been claimed as martyrs for Christianity and their deaths observed on this 28^th day of December. In olden times it called for purple vestments, a symbol of mourning; later to red for the blood shed of their martyrdom, but today the festive gold to honor their Christmastide sainthood.

In Matthew's account, magi from the east go to Judea in search of the newborn king of the Jews, having "seen his star in the east". The King, Herod the Great, directs them to Bethlehem, and asks them to let him know who this king is when they find him. They find Jesus and honor him, but an angel tells them not to alert Herod, and they return home by another way.

Scholars argue that the story may have its origins in Herod's murder of his own sons, an act which made a deep impression at the time and suggests that the Gospel story contains nothing that is historically impossible. Matthew's purpose here is to present Jesus as the Messiah, and the Massacre of the Innocents as the fulfillment of passages in the Hebrew Scriptures. The story may also be patterned on the Exodus account of the birth of Moses and the tenth plague, which involved the killing of all firstborns by Pharaoh.

The story assumed an important place in later Christian tradition. Byzantine liturgy estimated 14,000 Holy Innocents while an early Syrian list of saints stated the number at 64,000. Coptic sources raise the number to 144,000. However, New Testament scholars argue that, based on Bethlehem's estimated population of 1,000 at the time, the largest number of infants that could have been killed would have been about twenty.

Christmas celebrates the vulnerability of God who took the risk to be born as a fragile infant and to assume whatever else being mortal implied. For God to take that risk rather than coming among us as a thundering avenger is the strange and wondrous paradox of Christmas.

The presumed value of  children is also a paradox, for despite all the emphasis society and its culture put on family, 11.4 million children in the United States live in poverty which increases the risk of mortality. and the slow, grinding force of poverty takes a child's life every fifty-three minutes.

We see the tortured faces of children in Gaza who have lost parents and parents who have lost children. The same tragic scenario is present in the Ukraine and other war-torn places.

There are children abused by pornographers, victims of violence inflicted by those who should love and cherish them, children murdered by parents, massacred in their classrooms, children who are targets of bullying, especially around sexual orientation and gender confusion which has led to many self-inflicted deaths.

We have a neglected educational system and an appalling rate of infant mortality in a country of economic and medical advantage. There is a huge lack of mental and behavioral health services available for our kids. Rising medical costs can be prohibitive. The innocents of our day still have plenty of “Herods” to fear.

The Holy Innocents remind us of the indefinable preciousness of children, for at times our world does little to value or protect them. We may look back at Herod’s massacre and wonder how such a heartbreaking event could ever happen.

Sadly, we don’t have to wonder too long. We know. Hatred, greed, jealousy, narcissism, total lack of respect for human life are all at the root of it. We need to look into the eyes of the children of today—and love them. And we need to find the means to change the trajectory that causes them to suffer.

Some years ago, I was at a concert in Boston given by a small group of men living with HIV/AIDS. One of the original songs they sang is one I’ve never forgotten, probably a song they may wish a parent might have sung to them. What if this song were sung to every child born today. I’ll share the lyrics.

"We have cleared off the table, The leftovers saved. Washed the dishes, and put them away. I have told you a story, And tucked you in tight. At the end of your knockabout day, as the moon sets its sail. To carry you to sleep, Over the midnight sea, I will sing you a song no one sang to me. May it keep you good company. Don't be rattled by names, by taunts or games, But seek out spirits true. If you give your friends the best part of yourself, They will give the same back to you. You can be anybody that you want to be, You can love whomever you will, You can travel any country where your heart leads, And know I will love you still. You can live by yourself, You can gather friends around, You can choose one special one, But the only measure of your words and your deeds Will be the love you leave behind when you're gone. Oh yes, the love you leave behind when you're gone"

Would that the world could make this guarantee to the innocents of our time.