Modern day Herods keep the Devil's mission moving forward.
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule[a] all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.
The Coventry carol is that sad lament to the horrifying crime commemorated this day when Herod the Great's envy and bloodlust ordered the slaughter of all boys 2 years and under. Just as the joy and miracle of Christmas reverberate through time, so sadly, does Herod's atrocity.
Matthew's account of it bristles with sorrow:
16 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.17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “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.”
She refused to be consoled is the part that send shudder through me. Have you experienced this? A grief so deep that even the very idea of consolation is absurd.
Just how many children were lost that day is lost to history. What remains is the lesson of the malice of the devil in the hands of cruel hearts who are willing tools for him.
The slaughter of the innocents is commemorated just 3 days after the birth of Christ. Such a downer right in the middle of the octave of Christmas seems to counter the whole joy of the Christmas message.
It doesn't.
The Christmas message is not that the darkness disappears but that the people who walk in the darkness see a great light. The darkness remains. It is not to be removed; it is to be conquered. It is a life-long battle for each of us.
The Herods were supposedly the leaders of Jerusalem. Sadly, they valued nothing but their own power and ego. The same is true with political leaders today. Trump is no different.
He sold us out long ago.
The fight for babies, the fight for a just world, goes on.
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