Today is marked in the Church calendar as the day to
remember the “Holy Innocents.” Matthew’s
gospel tells us that King Herod was so disturbed and frightened by word of the
birth of “the king of the Jews” – a potential rival for the throne that he
occupied – that he ordered his soldiers to kill all the boys 2 years old and
younger in Bethlehem
and the surrounding area.
St. Augustine
called these slaughtered children “the first buds of the church killed by
the first frost of persecution,” and said that they died not only for
Christ, but in his stead.”
This is a story that haunts me. Every time I read it, am struck by its
cruelty and horror. Though it is
recorded in just a few brief words in Matthew’s infancy narrative, its impact
is staggering.
One tradition, from Greece , asserts that 14,000 boys
were murdered in this campaign against the newborn king of the Jews. Other
traditions say 64,000 children were slaughtered, and some Medieval writers
claimed as many as 144,000 died. This is, of course, extravagant and unreasonably
outrageous. Bethlehem
was only a small hamlet and was of little importance. Few people would have
lived there at that time, perhaps only 200 or so. Modern estimates of the
number of innocents killed by Herod range from 6 to 20 boys. But that does not
in any way diminish the cruelty of King Herod the Great, the evil genius of the
Judean nation. Even one state sponsored murder is one too many.
The Slaughter of the Innocents
When the soldiers came with sharpened swords
obeying orders from a paranoid and murderous king
the holy family fled across the sands to a pagan land.
Mothers screamed into the silent starry night
as their tiny infants bled out and died.
Rachel weeping for her children would not be comforted.
When heavy booted solders come again with rifles and grenades
obeying orders as patriotic soldiers always do,
when refugees flee across barb-wired borders
when innocents are crushed beneath the rubble
when mothers scream into satellite skies how will they be comforted?
O Lord, have pity on those today who live in rough and ragged places as you did; have mercy on those who, because of persecution and violence have sought refuge and shelter in a foreign land. We know that you care for them because you yourself were once one of them. Help us to care too. Show us how we may help them. Amen.
I recorded this for KJLY radio in Blue Earth, Minnesota. It should be broadcast this morning at about 8:40 AM. I thought I'd post it here for those who are not within the listening area of that station.
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