Jeremiah 31.15-17; 1 Corinthians 1.26-29; Matthew 2.13-18
A very difficult day for a sermon! There is all the great joy and angels singing praises on the first Christmas Day and then - 10 or 20 children killed in Bethlehem. The killing is in keeping with the character of King Herod, in many ways a great King but utterly ruthless when it came to people trying to usurp his leadership. He executed two of his sons and his favourite wife Mariamne. True, he was grief stricken about Mariamme, building a tower to her memory - but he did have her murdered.
Matthew’s story contains two historical references but comparison with Luke’s account raises many difficulties. That would require an hour’s University Lecture to deal with, so, today, just a word about the historical references. Matthew likes Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled, it is a favourite theme of his. The first prophecy in today’s reading is
“A voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children.”
Rachel, as you may remember, was the favourite wife of Jacob and after being childless for some time eventually gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph was waylaid by his brothers who sold him into slavery but they told his Father and Mother Rachel that he had been killed. So Rachel grieved for her son. But that was only one child, why “children” in the prophecy? According to Jewish tradition, Rachel was the mother of the whole tribe of Benjamin. And Benjamin, as part of the Northern Kingdom, was destroyed by the Assyrians before the time of Jeremiah the prophet, so, in that sense, many of Rachel’s children died. Ramah was a town near Jerusalem, about 15 or 20 miles north of Bethlehem and, at the time of the Assyrian invasion and later of Jesus, was inhabited by many from the tribe of Benjamin. Consequently, in the prophecy, Rachel is weeping for all killed in Ramah both by the Assyrians and by Herod. Then Matthew quotes,
“Out of Egypt have I called my son”.
This comes from Hosea originally referring to the Exodus when the Jews escaped from Egypt under Moses. Matthew believes the prophecy is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
So much for the details of the Gospel but the reading raises a much more serious question for us Christians. Why did God save Jesus from the wrath of Herod but let the children of Bethlehem, probably as I said between 10 and 20 of them, be killed by Herod causing huge grief to their parents especially the mothers? Couldn’t God, a God of mercy and love, have saved them as well as Jesus, from that fate? We are faced with the same problem today. According to Save the Cjhildren, 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza and according to the UN 21,000 disabled with children still being killed. And this despite our prayers for peace to Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Add to that the children killed in other wars and dying in refugee camps. It’s a reason and a very cogent reason why some people do not believe there is a God. Again, to answer such questions in a short sermon is not possible - if you want to pursue them further go to Marton on the 13th January and ask the Bishop. But I will end with what I have found to be true for myself.
When I was in my teens, I took the decision to follow Jesus - I did think hard about other religions but decided, as I had been bought up a Christian, that I would give Christianity first choice. I have to admit I was an arrogant teenager and made a bargain with God. If, after two years, I have found my faith a help, I will carry on, if not I will try another faith. I really did want to make sense of the world because, without faith, there is nothing. As time went on I found that my decision was right - there were a number of times when God was very real, some prayers were answered quite specifically and over the course of time, despite some setbacks, I have experienced three or four real miracles. So I came to be sure that God was there and that Jesus had truly risen from the dead. That doesn’t mean I have always had things easy. I have seen great suffering both personally and in the lives of others as a Parish priest. And I have to admit there are many circumstances where I ask God, as I did literally one time, “God, what on earth are you playing at?”
But, knowing Jesus rose from the dead, we can trust both his actions and his words about the future. Just as Jesus worked with people to bring something of God’s Kingdom into their lives, so we are called to do loving things, working with God. Those loving things, though you may not realise it, are like the works of Jesus. They have eternal significance and are part of the building up of God’s Kingdom here in our own time. And the future? Jesus was born into this world to save the world. Save, not just us human beings but the world, the whole of creation.
To go back to the prophecy about Ramah, Matthew doesn’t complete the verses in Jeremiah.The last words are quite inspiring for they read:
“There is hope for your future,’ says the Lord: “your children shall come back to you.”
We simply can’t imagine what this future will be, what God’s plan is for this earth and ourselves. But we do know it is one of resurrection, of triumph and great glory. The message of Christmas Day triumphs over the message of the Holy Innocents, over the pain of the world, Jesus, our Saviour, - saviour of the whole world - was born. God was working his purpose out. And as Julian of Norwich prophesied despite the huge suffering her world was experiencing at her time; “All shall be well.”
Revd Colin Hurford