There is a part of the Christmas story that doesn't fit into our nicely packaged Nativity scenes. A part of the story for which no songs are written. A part of the story that we skip over on our Christmas morning readings. A part we'd rather not think about...
Yet Scripture includes it, and prophets prophesied about it and it is, in fact, part of the story:
Yet Scripture includes it, and prophets prophesied about it and it is, in fact, part of the story:
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
We leave it out because it stands in stark contrast to the joy of the season. It makes us uncomfortable. There are no warm fuzzies attached to it. There are no theological statements that make the uncomfortable questions in our minds cease.
But maybe, just maybe, we do ourselves a disservice by leaving it out. Maybe the sweet, perfect picture we paint ends up excluding the harsh reality of the world that Jesus willing chose to come into. And we could stop and say, "That's not fair. Why didn't the angel warn all the mothers? Did God only care for His own son?"
But we know there is more to the story and that there is a point when God does not spare His own Son and does let Him fully live out the depths of the evilness of this world. And we forget that Joseph and Mary did, in fact, need to flee. Immediately before this passage in Matthew 2:13-15 Joseph has to flee in the middle of the night with Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Jesus did not live in a magical bubble where no sadness, fear or pain never crossed His path. No, God came down in flesh, to live with us, Emmanuel, to share in our burdens, our trails and our pain so we could trust Him, so we could turn to Him in our deepest moments of need, so that we could know that He truly does care:
Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
This part of the story shows that God is fully aware of the darkness this world contains. This part of the story, reminds us that the intersection between humanity & God's full redemption is still being worked out. This part of the story reminds us that Jesus walked in the real world, our world and that somehow in God's mystery that even in the darkest of nights, Emmanuel, is with us. It reminds us that there is a reason why Jesus came. Finally it reminds us that today, in our darkest night, God is with us, and that the last chapter is yet to be written.
In the midst of the Christmas story,
Innocence is lost.
Shining eyes - this world no longer sees.
A cry pierces the silent night,
"God don't you see?"
It echoes on and on...
A sweet baby rests on His mother's chest
as in the chill of the night he is whisked
away to safety.
Does He too know that there will be a day
when He says,
"God, why have you forsaken me?"
A cry pierces the silent night,
"God don't you see?"
It echoes on and on...
till it reaches
Calvary.
In Christ,
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