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 2.16-18).I think a lot these days about this part of the first Christmas narrative. I wonder how it speaks for God -- or not for God -- because the day we observe their murder (December 28th every year) strikes a very strange cord in relationship to the symphony around the culture's Christmas celebrations.
Yet, truth be told, this part of Jesus' birth story rings more true for most of the world.
Perhaps no event in the gospel more determinatively challenges the sentimental depiction of Christmas than the death of these children. Jesus is born into a world in which children are killed, and continue to be killed, to protect the power of tyrants. Christians are tempted to believe that the death of the children of Bethlehem can be redeemed by Jesus' birth, death and resurrection. Such a reading of the gospels, in particular the destruction of the innocents of Bethlehem, is perverse. The victory of the resurrection does not mean that these children are any less dead or their parents any less bereaved, but rather resurrection makes it possible for followers of Jesus not to lie about the world that we believe has been redeemed.
That, it seems to me, is a cause for prayer. Much as Rachel weeping for her children, and the parents of those children in Bethlehem weeping for their children, and the parents of children slaughtered daily throughout the world weeping now for their children ...
If Christmas teaches us anything, it teaches us to work and pray for peace in a world that knows so much violence.