Advent Dec 18
~Bye bye, lully, lullay.
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.~ Matthew 2:16
Oh, the dangers of thinking you are right. Herod thought he was right. Hitler thought he was right. Both incidences resulted in slaugher of innocents. Can you imagine having that kind of authority? That you could command such atrocities in the name of self preservation and wounded pride? That other people would unquestioningly commit such atrocities upon your mandate? Weird. Gross. Sad.
Do you know this song? A lullaby for the boys cut down by the swords of Herod’s megalomania? It seems a bit out of place to me. “Hey honey, let’s grab a hot toddy and sit by the fire as we enjoy the carol about Rachel weeping over her dead children.”
A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning… so haunting….
And what does the killing of babies have to do with Christmas? I think many people coming from this day and age are shocked at how much violence is in The Bible. It’s a book about war and murder and blood and madness and wrath. A book documenting how countless authority figures abused their position to indulge hubris and dispose of anyone in the way of their particular perogative. It’s a record of the unjust misery and demise of many lives. It contains of a few thousand examples of the trillions of wicked and selfish actions human beings have perpetrated on other human beings. It is evidence of how cruel humanity is at heart. An indictment of our depravity.
I think you and I can smugly sit back and look at Herod’s behavior around the first Christmas and mutter indignantly, “Disgusting.” But do we ever act like that?
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
~Matt 5: 21-22
Do we ever burn with a Herodian sense of fevered entitlement: How dare anyone defy, disrespect, deny, or degrade our (I’m using the royal we here) opinion/preference/petty predilections? Obey your local emporer who happens to me regarding the issue of X!
Do we (Now I mean the plural we) slaughter the innocents in our own bouts of personal outrage? Probably not if we’re talking about literally killing literal infants. But does our prideful conceit and brutal, exacting retribution in store for anyone who treads on our hallowed rights and priviledges do damage to the people all around us?
Are we in danger of hellfire, as Jesus warns, by merely declaring our neighbor to be a cotton headed ninny muggins? Do mean words = murder? And do we spew them like spears at the dummies all around us when anything undermines the palatial human fondness for not being inconvenienced or hassled? And what kind of collatoral damage is that causing?
Herod the king, in his raging,
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
The power of life and death are in the tongue. You aren’t a totalitarian ruler or a king. Probably. But you do have influence. Maybe even subordinates. You do have the power to wound or heal. Kill pride. Speak Life.