The Feast of the Holy Innocents, Tuesday, December 28, 2021

I’m feeling a little better this evening.  Thank you for your prayers!  

Matthew 2:13-18

When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.  When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.

So soon after the glory of Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents — a time of horror, long ago, that led to glory.  We rightly wonder about why God would allow this atrocity of infanticide.  But while the murder of helpless babies and small children fills us with indignation and sickness of heart, we also recall their life now in heaven.  Without suffering the hardship, disease, and bitterness of a normal life on earth, they have attained the greatest goal any human could hope for — the vision of Almighty God.  In their way, they took the place of Jesus in their dying so that Jesus might take the place of us all in bearing our sins and expiating our guilt on the Cross.  The innocent children die so that the innocent Jesus might lay down his life for us.  Herod’s cruel heart was relieved to hear that the children had been killed, for he assumed the the King of whom the Magi spoke would have been one of them.  He did not send out his butchers beyond Bethlehem because he saw no need to do so, allowing Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to hurry to Egypt, where his claws could not reach.  

The Birth of the Lord, and then the Massacre of the Innocents, and finally the return to Israel is mirrored by the Lord’s Transfiguration and then, a few weeks later, his Passion and Death, followed by his Resurrection and Ascension — the Lord’s return home.  Seeing the Massacre in this context helps us to understand that it was not a pointless, horrible event but a prelude to everlasting joy.  

Although many scholars think that the Holy Family took refuge within the large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt, many ancient local traditions tell us that they moved about quite a bit, staying for no more than a few months at any given time over the next three years.  These local traditions speak of miracles performed by Jesus — making fresh water come out of a rock, for instance.  Other traditions involve caves where the Holy Family stayed and spots where Mary washed her little Son or his clothes.  Another tradition speaks of Jesus leaving his palm print on a mountain on the east bank of the Nile River.  Churches and monasteries were eventually built on these sites.

The Traditional Collect for this Feast:

O God, Whose praise the Innocents, Your martyrs, this day proclaimed, not by speaking, but by dying, put to death in us all the wickedness of sin, so that Your faith which our tongue professes may be proclaimed also by our life.  Through Christ our Lord.