Matthew 2:13-18
Holy Innocents
March 16, 2014
This morning, we’re going to look at a passage which comes from the Christmas story, but is readily avoided during the Christmas season. It’s a passage of scripture I’ve never preached from and is maybe one of the least preached on passages in the Bible.
As we lead up to the joy of Easter, each message leading up to that great day, will focus on some aspect of tears, but hopefully, I won’t leave you in tears, I’ll lead you to the joy of Christ. So, if you would turn in your Bibles to the first book of the New Testament, in the gospel of Matthew 2, we read the story about the wise men coming to see Jesus.
If we go back to the time when Jesus was born — the wise men came to the home where Jesus was. We don’t know how old Jesus was, all we know is that He was under 2 years old. Matthew 2 tells us ~ 1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews?
That starts the story about the wise men, who then find the star and come and bring gifts to Jesus. The story ends this way, in verses 13-18 ~
13 Now when the wise men departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, 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.”
14 And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt
15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem
and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
As you can see, this is not a passage most want to talk about. But there is important truth which surrounds this passage which I believe can bring us hope. Even in the midst of grief and sorrow.
Let’s take this in stages. What happened is pretty obvious.
Now, you need to know this about Herod, he was a paranoid, scared ruler. He was not a nice guy. For example, he had 3 of his sons executed, one of his wives, a mother in law and 2 brother in laws. That’s who we know. I’m sure the list goes on. He even thought that when he died the people wouldn’t grieve his death, so he wanted 70 men killed, so people would grieve. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
When Herod heard about a rival king of the Jews being born, he freaked out, and everyone with him. Something had to be done. He tried to get information from the wise men, but they played dumb. Eventually, the wise men found Jesus, worshiped Him, then left on the back roads and Herod had no clue where this new rival king was, so this paranoid, evil man, did the only thing he could think of, he ordered his soldiers to go into the region around Bethlehem and kill all boys under 2 years of age.
I can’t imagine the wailing and screaming of what was happening on those days. So, even though we are moving towards Easter, the sounds weren’t all happy and celebratory. There was also anguish and terror and great loss. Matthew recounts what was said through the prophet Jeremiah ~
Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.
In Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah talking about Rachel, who was considered to be the mother of the Israelite nation; crying and grieving over the captivity and exile of the Israelites. Ultimately, God said the people of Israel would return from exile.
Yet, we can’t remove the fact that there was death for others, death for these innocent children, babies, who hadn’t been given a chance to live. The life of the Man of Sorrows also began with the sound of weeping in the streets of Bethlehem.
So many times we think that if we draw closer to Christ, then all of our troubles will disappear. And wouldn’t that be a nice thought. I wonder how many of us have had that thought at one time or another? Or, because I believe, no problems, at least not big ones should come my way, or to my loved ones? But we know that doesn’t always hold true.
We hear Jesus telling us if we want to follow Him, we must pick up our cross, too. We learn that faith, trust and following Christ, does not necessarily lead to the easy life we would hope for. The fact is, the closer we get to Jesus, it could mean more trouble and sorrow. If we’re going to follow this Man of Sorrows, our Savior to His cross, it may mean a cross for us too. Jesus told the disciples in John 16:33 ~ In the world you will have tribulation.
Eli Weisel was a survivor of a German concentration camp and Jewish author. He wrote the book entitled, "Night." In that book, he told of a horrific execution at the hands of the German guards. They were forced to watch these executions, and as the last person died, one of the men behind Weisel cried out, "You say there is a God? Then where is He? Where is He now?" Weisel said, "I turned back and looked at him and said, "There He is. He is hanging at the end of a rope."
It’s part of the Christmas and Easter message in one. Our God came into the world, our God came for us, our God is not above and beyond the stars, far away in the heavens. Our God came to be with us, suffering with us, hurting with us, bleeding with us. But our God did more than that, too. He not only did that with us, but He suffered for us, hurt for us, was rejected for us, and bled for us and died for us! That’s the message of Christmas and it’s the message of Easter.
We also know there is uncertainty in our world, but God came to see us through it, to lead us through the uncertainty to what is certain. He came to lead us from the temporary to the permanent.
Think of the uncertainty in the lives of Mary and Joseph as they packed up their meager belongings to leave Bethlehem and headed for Egypt. When we travel, we make plans and know what hotel or with what family we’re going to stay. We plan the route on our GPS, but Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt, not knowing where they would stay. They didn’t know what the future held for them. All they knew was that God was leading the way.
An angel told them, Jesus was the Savior, He would save His people from their sins. But what was their responsibility in this? How were they to raise the Son of God? How do you raise the Son of God? There was so much uncertainty?
Our lives are uncertain too. Our kids wonder about their futures? Graduating, careers, the opposite sex, family? Adults wonder about careers, job security, health? Retirees wonder about health, income, independence, their kids and grandkids. It never ends, does it? We’re wondering. We’re always wondering.
You see, life is uncertain. But Mary and Joseph had one great advantage. They knew God was leading the way, and He would take care of them. This little boy would one day tell the people how God cared for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. "And if God would feed the birds of the air and clothe the lilies of the field, then we must realize how great a value we have in God’s kingdom. Because He loves you.”
And as Christians, we have the advantage of knowing that while we don’t know what tomorrow holds, we do know who holds our tomorrows.
There is uncertainty, but there is a God who leads us through that uncertainty.
And we all know there is death in our world, but God came to overcome it."
There was death on that night so long ago in Bethlehem when the cries of children and parents pierced the night air - innocent children, victims of selfishness.
But there was one child who was saved, one child who was carried off into Egypt. The one child who was saved would one day become a victim Himself, but His death would be different than any other. He would die on a cross, not for His own sins, but for the sins of others.
And because Jesus Christ became the offering, the ransom, the sacrifice for all our sins, death was defeated, overcome by God. There is death in our world, but there is a God who has overcome it.
In that same verse that’s on the screen, I only showed the first half. Jesus told the disciples in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation . . . But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Ah, the Good news! Yes, there is tribulation, there is trouble, there are trials, there are temptations. But there is victory in Jesus, because He overcame the world.
As we read in Psalm 34 ~
15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and His ears toward their cry.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Friends, in the midst of the weeping of Rachel over her children, the children of Israel and all the innocent ones who have been killed, God offers us His hope. A hope that never ends. It never has to, no matter what we are going through, have been through or will go through.
For God sent His Son, His only Son into the world, so that whoever believes in Him, would not perish, but would have eternal life. And God did not sent His Son, Jesus, into the world, to condemn the world, but that the world would be saved through Him.
We would be saved eternally; and we would be saved through our relationship with Jesus. In Revelation 21, when John sees the new earth and heaven, he As John tells us this ~
3 I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
We long for that day, but until then, take heart, know that the Lord is with you. So, when trouble comes, call out to the Lord, He will hear you and respond to you! He loves you!!
