“He ordered the massacre of all the boys in
Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the
time he had ascertained from the magi.” – Mt. 2:16
As I enjoyed Christmas with my family in
Indiana this year, familiar sights, sounds and smells of the holidays filled
the air as food was being prepared, presents were being wrapped, and my
screaming nephews were running around the house. All the while, as is
typical in my family, the TV was on in the background. It so happened a news
program was on doing a retrospective of 2015 with all its good and bad news.
What struck me the most, perhaps because it
was in stark contrast to this season of “peace and goodwill toward all”, were the
striking images of death and violence that permeated the news this past year:
innocent children slaughtered in their school rooms; innocent people beheaded
on youtube; racial tensions leading to the murder of innocent citizens and
policemen; young people killing themselves because of public shaming and
bullying; terrorist attacks around the globe striking down innocent lives on
purpose; and the refugee crisis symbolized by the lifeless body of innocent Aylan Kurdi
washed up on a Turkish beach.
All of this a sharp reminder that the crib
leads to the cross! We live in a world where suffering is as real as it was
when Jesus was born and people are still longing for something or someone
to help make sense of their suffering and the real struggles and
injustices they face. And what Herod and the infanticide story reveals is a God
who’s love is so pure that he chooses to enter our world as
it actually exists and not as the world we often wish it would be.
In our current socio-political climate, we
simply can’t afford any more Christian sentimentality to mask the messiness of
what it means to be human and rely on God’s providence. Sure, let’s keep
“Christ in Christmas”, but maybe we also need to remember to keep “Herod in
Christmas” as well because I don’t believe emotional idealism is the reason God
chose to become a weak, defenseless baby, in need of our constant
care and attention. God did not enter the world of our nostalgic
silent-night, snow-blanketed, peace-on-earth, sugar cookie, suspended-reality
of Christmas. God slipped into the vulnerability of mortal flesh and entered a
world as violent and disturbing as our own to give meaning and provide hope
amidst the difficult and messy realities of our lives. And we do this with an
openness, tenderness, and fearlessness, to continue loving despite the
darkness that surrounds us, with Jesus at our side.
How is God inviting you to move from “the crib
to the cross” in your own spiritual journey? What real images/events from your
own life this past year feel like “innocence lost” and you would rather avoid,
but are being invited to face instead, with fearlessness?
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