The Holy Gospel according to Matthew, chapter
2. 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 he 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, 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 a 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.
This is the gospel of the Lord. Grace and peace
to you from the one who has died for us all,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. There's a true story
about a village and how goodness happened there.
The story takes place during the most terrible
years of World War II, where whole ethnicities
of people, especially Jews, were singled out,
hunted down, taken to concentration camps, and
murdered. In the midst of this violence, a miraculous
event took place in a small Protestant town in
southern France called Le Chambon. There, quietly,
peacefully, in full view of a government determined
to exterminate human beings, including children,
Le Chambon's villagers and their clergy organized
to save thousands of Jewish children and adults
from certain death. This profound story is found
in the book called Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed,
written by Philip Halley. It is well worth the
read, but what I want to share with you is in
the introduction of the book, where the author
writes about a lecture and discussion that took
place a few years after it was published. He
was speaking to a group of women in Minneapolis
who were all leading fundraisers for the United
Jewish Appeal. When his lecture was over, he
asked for questions or comments. A woman in the
back of the room stood up and asked him if the
village of Les Chambord was in the department
of Haute -Loire in south -central Florence, where
the great Loire River has its origin. Philip
confirmed that it was the village that he was
talking about. He writes, She stood there silent
for what seemed to be a long time, and then she
said, Well, You have been speaking about the
village that saved the lives of all three of
my children. She came to the front of the room,
turned to face the audience and said, the Holocaust
was storm, lightning, thunder, wind, rain, yes.
And Les Chambas was the rainbow. Perhaps the
rainbow in our gospel reading for the first Sunday
after Christmas is the dream God gave Joseph
that saved the Christ child. Get up, take the
child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and remain
there until I tell you, for Herod is about to
search for the child to destroy him. Joseph gets
up, takes the child and his mother by night,
goes to Egypt, and remains there until the death
of Herod. In this story, the infant Jesus is
spared, but a cruel foreshadowing looms. He will
not be spared on the cross. Jesus is saved here
from certain death in order that he might save
the whole world. But there were many others who
were not saved that day. All the infants and
toddlers under the age of two in and around Bethlehem
were murdered. Is there anything we can imagine
that is worse than infants being ripped from
their parents' arms and slaughtered? This is
the part of the Christmas story we don't want
to hear or face. Jesus is born into a world where
innocents die. Within a few short days, we go
from the angels' joyful Hallelujah and peace
on earth to unconsolable weeping. Verse 18 in
the Gospel of Matthew quotes Jeremiah chapter
31 verse 15. 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. The context of this verse in
Jeremiah rises up out of the exile of the Jewish
people to Babylon. Ramah was a gathering place
for people of Judah who were being deported to
Babylon after Jerusalem was conquered. Rachel
weeps for all of her people who live under the
boot of the powerful. If Jacob is the father
of Israel, then Rachel is its mother and matriarch.
Rachel weeps again for the babies and toddlers
whose lives were cut short because of a power
-hungry puppet king. When I spoke to my 10 -year
-old about this story, he paused for a long moment
and said, Herod killed all those babies and didn't
get anything out of it. He dies anyway. And isn't
this the leveling we all need to face? Death
itself. In the end, even God's Son is not spared
from death. Pastor Roger Nelson, in the most
recent issue of the Christian Century magazine,
writes this, The outlandish claim of the Gospels
is that God became flesh, not in the world of
nativity snow globes, shiny happy people, and
naive spirituality, but in the world where tyrants
kill babies and parents can't be consoled. If
the Incarnation has any meaning at all, then
God came into the darkest realities of this world.
Many theologians believe that the saving act
of God is the incarnation, the birth of Christ
into the world. For in being born, he will surely
die. And this is the good news for each of us
and for the world. Jesus brings deliverance when
everything seems bleak. We live in a world where
death, violence, and war happen because people
love power and wealth more than God and neighbor,
where the Herods are not held accountable. Jesus
shows us a different way of being in the world.
Instead of grasping for power, Jesus empties
himself even to the point of death on a cross.
Instead of condemning sinners, he forgives. Instead
of ignoring the sick, he heals. Instead of hating
enemies, he pours out his love and dies. And
this is so different than Herod's fear -driven
life as Jesus ushers in to the kingdom of God
here on earth. The good news is not front and
center on this day in the season of Christmas
in which we observe the slaughter of the innocents.
It feels like a lot of law where human beings
literally get away with murder. This story leaves
us at the foot of the manger and also the cross
in need of a savior, God made flesh. We need
Jesus. This world God loves so much needs Christ.
What I've had to admit about this story is that
Herod needs a savior too. That the awful truth,
which is also the good news, is that Jesus was
born and died for Herod, just as he was born
and died for you and me, and certainly the children
who met their end far too soon in Bethlehem.
Pastor Nelson continues in the Christian Century
magazine. The mystery of Christmas is that Jesus
is born into the world as it stands. The world
to which we wake again and again. The world of
school shootings, terrorist states, rulers who
feel threatened, and parents who bury children.
The world in which Rachel weeps. God doesn't
rise above, whisk away, or shrug off this world.
From cradle to cross, God enters it. shares and
bears our pain. Our hope, even in the Nativity,
is that God in Christ is resurrecting monuments
of stone and overthrowing tyrants, and we are
not alone. It is true that Christ promises to
be with us always, and we also have one another.
I marvel at the story of Les Chambons, the people
who peacefully and steadfastly lived out the
kingdom of God, saving life after life. They
did not let the Herods of the world get away
with murder. They lived as if every life was
precious to God, even at the risk of their own.
I wonder what the Holy Family found in Egypt.
It is absolutely clear in the Gospel of Matthew
that Jesus and his parents were refugees, fleeing
to Egypt to escape death. I imagine This exile
shaped and formed our Lord in significant ways.
I wonder if he grew up learning that he was the
only child to survive a massacre. I wonder if
he brought to mind the children killed by Herod's
order when later in his ministry in Matthew chapter
19 he says, Let the little children come to me,
and do not stop them, for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of heaven belongs. I wonder
how Jesus' experience of being A refugee influenced
what he had to say in Matthew 25, where he says,
Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit
the kingdom. For I was hungry, you gave me food.
I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was
naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick,
and you took care of me. I was in prison, and
you visited me. Jesus knew what it felt like
to flee with only the clothes on his back, to
watch his parents make a life for him in a new
place, in a new language. Were they welcomed
or turned away? Matthew chapter 2 reminds us
that the Christmas story does not only encompass
a star and a manger and angels singing, Mary
pondering, and shepherds and wise men worshiping,
but equally important is God's guidance through
dreams, Rachel's tears, Jesus' life threatened
before he could walk, and a ruthless king who
would even kill babies to hold onto his power.
Today the Church remembers the children Herod
slaughtered. December 28th is the day we commemorate
the Holy Innocents. Verse 6 in hymn number 430
in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship Book memorializes
the little ones who died. All praise for infant
martyrs, whom you with tenderest love received
from Herod's bloodshed, to share your home above.
O Rachel, cease your weeping. They rest. from
earthbound cares, nor grant us hearts as guileless
and crowns as bright as theirs. How strange it
is to read a story such as this in the Gospel
of Matthew on the first Sunday of Christmas,
but I for one am glad for it. Sorrow is not without
joy, and joy is not without sorrow. We can be
singing Christmas hymns and yet lament that all
our relationships are not reconciled. or that
this Christmas is the first without a loved one,
or that children go to bed hungry, or the gap
between the rich and the poor keeps widening,
or the political polarization keeps us from loving
our neighbors as we ought. It turns out we still
need a Savior. It turns out we need reminding
that God speaks to us through dreams, and God
makes a way where there seems to be none. It
turns out... Villages like Le Chambon truly exude
the kingdom of God in this world and make a difference
for many. Philip Halley concludes in his introduction
to the book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed. The
rainbow reminds God and humankind that life is
precious to God, that God offers not only sentimental
hope, but a promise that living will have the
last word, not killing. Isn't this the good news,
dear people of God? That God has the last word,
and God's word is life for you and for the world.
In this season of Christmas, we celebrate Jesus
our light, the light no darkness can overcome.
And for this we say, thanks be to God.