When Tragedy Strikes
13 Now when they had gone, behold,
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 going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
14 So Joseph got up and took the
Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He
remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had
been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out
of Egypt I called My Son.”
16 Then when Herod saw that he had
been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the
male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old
and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17
Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she refused to be comforted,
Because they were no more.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an
angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 “Get
up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those
who sought the Child’s life are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the
Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when
he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he
left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city
called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the
prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew
2:13-23
INTRODUCTION
We often celebrate this time of year focusing on
a new born babe in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger surrounded by animals,
angels, shepherds, majestic wise men, Joseph and Mary. The scene is often paraded as a moment of
divine holiness and hushed amazement.
While I am sure to a degree that when the shepherds found Him on that
day and later when the magi bowed before Him there may have been a true sense
of awe, but awe must end. Once I made
the statement that Christmas was as much bathed in blood as it is in majestic
magnetism. When I said that people were
appalled and nobody spoke to me after the lesson. It’s a thought that we just don’t want to
come to grips with.
VIOLENCE AND THE CHRISTMAS STORY
Anyone who is familiar with the Christmas story
knows that the story presented in Luke captures what most of us are familiar
with. The announcement of the conception
from Gabriel the archangel to Mary the virgin; the discovery that she is with
child; the reason for the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem; the birth of the
Christ Child; the angels’ announcement of the birth to the shepherds and their
journey to Bethlehem finding the Child laying in the manger.[1] But Matthew presents a story of
conflict. We have Joseph who is engaged
to Mary thinking about privately divorcing Mary when he discovers that she is
pregnant; until God intervenes and reassures Joseph that everything is okay.[2] We have a troubled king and city when the
magi appear announcing that they have arrived to worship the new born King,
giving the idea that He has already been born.[3] Then there was the conspiracy to assassinate
this new born once the location was discovered.[4] Finally the fateful night when an angry king
ordered his men to go to the small town of Bethlehem, only ten miles from
Jerusalem, and kill all the male children two years old and under. But God had warned Joseph to run for it. He along with Mary and the Child hid away in
Egypt for a time before returning to Nazareth.
That night the Christmas story was bathed in blood.
Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15 where the prophet Jeremiah foresaw this
awful event:
Thus says the Lord,
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”
As
I set here and attempt to write this my mind continues to go back to the
horrible moment that the students and staff faced at the elementary school at Newtown,
Connecticut last Friday, December 14th, 2012. So much is so fresh and yet my heart goes out
to the morning parents of twenty dear children who saw the horror and felt the
pain of death before they felt the loving arms of a God who created them and
loves them. My heart sinks deep as I
hear of the heroism of teachers, aids, and administrative staff who knew they
were facing death but did what they could to comfort and hide children as a mad
man took what appears to be anger against his mother out on a school full of
children. It is unspeakable to discuss the
sickness and sadness that I feel for the families when I read and hear these
stories. We can go the distance to
discuss all the different things that went on that day and all the terror that
was experience; but ultimately we are helpless to prevent such activities and
cannot bring back those who have been lost. These parents find themselves in
the same helpless situation and we as spectators find ourselves in the same disturbing
trance unable to help in anyway.
MERRY CHRISTMAS?
So
can we have a Merry Christmas after all of this? With our country tearing apart at the seams
and such senseless violence how can we?
This is where faith comes in with the comfort of the scriptures. The Psalmist writes, “Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”[7] The rod and staff were instruments which shepherds used to correct sheep and fend off enemies. In the same way we find comfort in God through His word as He discusses His work in the world. We also see that He controls events that go beyond our understanding for His purposes. We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when Matthew quotes Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet. God is clearly in control and what He does is always in conjunction with who He is.
I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”[7] The rod and staff were instruments which shepherds used to correct sheep and fend off enemies. In the same way we find comfort in God through His word as He discusses His work in the world. We also see that He controls events that go beyond our understanding for His purposes. We see this in the Gospel of Matthew when Matthew quotes Jeremiah the Old Testament prophet. God is clearly in control and what He does is always in conjunction with who He is.
So
can we have a Merry Christmas? Yes, we
can. Because Christmas is much more than
a story of a baby in a cradle, rather it is a story of the God who would become
the Man who would be born of a virgin. By
entering this world salvation would come through His death on the cross and His
bodily resurrection from the dead. Without
that Christmas morning salvation could never come to the souls of those who turn
to Him to escape from the damnation of their sins. Christmas means hope, even when tragedy
strikes.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Steven Swaim
President and Founder, Be
Devoted Ministries
All Bible passages are from
the New American Standard Version (NASB)
