Jesus and the Holy Innocents

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.