Morning Devotion for Christmas
December 29, 2021
The Holy Innocents
The Invitatory
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: Matthew 2:13-18
Now after they had left, 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 about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
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.’
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
I truly hope that you have had a joyful Christmas … so far. But what a downer this reading of the Holy Innocents is.. Ah, life, as we consider the rich paradox of celebrating the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the context of Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Setting Joseph’s dreams that saved the baby Jesus in the presence of “Rachel weeping for her children” places the announcement of God-with-us in a realistic universe because it is our own. Ours is a world filled with sorrows.
And into the madness of want and evil, God comes to give life. For that reason, focus on the Holy Innocents is a strong, if unexpected, or even unwelcome way to proclaim the gospel. The image of salvation in the midst of cruelty is accurate. It is crucial rather than something to avoid. Do not be afraid of it. What overpowers the bloody spectacles human beings create is the overwhelming truth that God gives not only a means for responding to evil but also a reason: God’s creation is holy, intended for good.
In addition, Matthew’s account lets us focus on Joseph. He is given four crucial dreams in the first two chapters, and then we don’t hear about him anymore. His role is not only to protect Mary and Jesus but to serve as one whose actions respond to God’s desire for Joseph’s family’s safety. God speaks and Joseph listens.
We cannot avoid noticing that the parents of the children targeted by Herod do not receive an angel’s message. This, again, is a reality in our world, and it is a circumstance worthy of our prayer and mourning. We do not understand it. Not everyone is saved from others’ evil deeds.
There is the evil that we see all around us (and within us) and name it for those for whom it is a stumbling block. Those whose image of God is Superman (a power always intervening) have little patience with the God who does not make life perfect for everyone. By their insistence that the world be made right, they are, however, kept from seeing the goodness and beauty of God-made-human. This Jesus, born in the midst of Herod’s brutality, knows our suffering, comes to the frightened and persecuted and heals, and teaches the presence of God’s power wherever there are tears.
We hear of only one of Joseph’s dreams. Yet, it embodies all the dreams Joseph received, carrying the same message: Do not fear anything: not Mary’s pregnancy, not even the king. Dreams come when we no longer cling to social convention or hide behind niceties, when we are unconscious, when we are dead to ourselves.
Perhaps that is why dreams are everywhere in scripture with angels (messengers) who bear the Word of God to those who need to hear. In the prophet Isaiah’s words, God “lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” God’s word of rescue sets us on a journey toward what is whole and healed. At the fork in the road, we receive an unexpected directive - go to Egypt and then to Galilee.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
