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S. Holy Innocents.25 Matt. 2:13-18

‘Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the magicians, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under…’

Meanwhile: ‘In the bleak midwinter… angels and archangels may have gathered there; cherubim and seraphim thronged the air. But only his mother, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the Beloved with… a kiss.’

What a different way Herod has of ‘worshiping’ the Christ Child than Mary!

That Herod was tricked by magicians should not have surprised him, or made him quite so angry. It’s what magicians do. He should have just tipped his hat and gone: “Hey, Magi! You just gotta do ‘you’!” But more on the Magi Wednesday, some of my favorite guys…

Herod’s way of ‘worship’ reminds me of the beautiful scene in “Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail”, when Indy and his dad (Sean Connery 😉 are tied up in the Nazi castle of Baron What’s-His-Name?, about to be incinerated, and Elsa, the beautiful Nazi who seduced them both, is saying goodbye. She goes to Indy, caresses his cheek and says “this is how we say goodbye in Austria” and gives him a long, lovely kiss. Then a Nazi thug comes up to Indy and says “and this is how we say goodbye in Germany” and punches him hard, in the face. [Nazis like more of this—fists balled up, and less of this—Jesus’ arms extended in embrace on the cross]

Indy shakes out the cobwebs and says: “I like the Austrian way better”.

We like Mary’s way of worshiping the Beloved with a kiss better, too. That’s why we’re here, again, to ‘kiss the Son’, the way of worship preferred by his father David in Psalm 2 and on offer for you today, here at his Table. Best Christmas present, ever! But at the beginning of the second Psalm, David lets us know that we should not be surprised at Herod’s murderous way of ‘worshiping the Son’ anymore than Herod should have been surprised at being tricked by professional magicians… 😉

David begins Psalm 2 with this: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Christ saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us’.”

The cords of love that bind us to Jesus, like Mary and Joseph, with a kiss, are hateful to the Kings and Emperors of this world. They simply cannot stand that anyone should be greater than they are. They’ll bow to no one, especially not to a little baby in a manger! Because they are the Ubermensches, the Supermen who go their lonely, selfish, arrogant Nihilist-Nazi way and would far rather reign in hell than serve in Heaven.

David wrote that Psalm 1,000 years before it happened so that we should not be surprised that our love for Christ Jesus is a minority report—just like Elijah’s love for Christ—as the LORD himself told Elijah made him a 1%er, even in Israel, 7,000 out of nearly a million! I guess that’s better than 1 in a million (?), so we should see the glass as half full…?

But we don’t see it that way, do we? It surprises us every Christmas, doesn’t it?—that so few of us, in a dark world (!), love the Light of Christ, yearn for him as we do. The world tricks us again and again, like the Magi tricked Herod, doesn’t it?

For that one magical moment, in the dark of Christmas midnight, you think we’re not alone in reciprocating the love Christ Jesus had for a lost and fallen world. The stores close, the traffic thins, the streets are nearly empty as we drive home from Christmas Eve service. Christmas lights decorate many homes. All is calm, all is bright, little tots dream of sugar plums and fairies and gifts are exchanged and you think the world will greet him with a kiss as his mother, Joseph and we do, right?

And then the drone of the Machine whirrs-up, again. Malls are jammed with returns, the airports are crowded with people pushing and shoving and you think: “Wow! That didn’t last long!” The news of the world drowns out all the angel voices, and the betting line on this weekend’s NFL bash-fest consumes our attention.

Because there’s a part in us too!, (called the ‘Old Adam’) that would rather reign in hell than serve in Heaven (!)—that does not reciprocate Christ’s love for our lost and fallen world, that jumps right back into the rat race, hurrying, scurrying to win the brass ring rather than basking in the love of the Christ child, desiring only the Son’s kiss, a manly hug, and a final, non-ironic “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your LORD!”

But… in that disappointed day-after-Christmas let down—as the news of more Holy Innocents massacred fills the airwaves, we get a little taste of how Jesus himself must feel, every day, at being punched in the face by a world that simply does not reciprocate his love, that rages and plots in vain how to to burst that bond of the Christ child’s love sealed with his mother’s tender kiss…

It is not difficult to break that bond—as we see daily, in this world of sin and pain and sorrow. But if it were impossible to break that tender bond, it would not be a bond of love, anymore. And much as it pains him that his love is reciprocated with a fist and a sword and the massacre of more innocents, if he forced the world to love and serve him, it would not be love or mercy or the Peaceable Kingdom. No; it would be… just another day on the chain-gang, in the gulag, getting water-boarded in the detention cell, sniffing the Zyclon B as it fills the gas chambers of the world…

Now we see how tender the Christ child’s love truly is. How fragile we are. If the rose were not so easily crushed, would it be as lovely? I don’t know. I guess… not?

Rachel’s voice is still heard in Ramah (especially these days!) weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted…

And just as we must refuse to respond in rage like the nations at that, perhaps we should refuse to be comforted, too?—maybe for a little bit, share Rachel’s tears, just as we share Mary’s adoring kiss? and her faith in the resurrection of the dead…

Or, maybe, like Joseph, we simply rise, wearily, from our reverie and follow the LORD’s directions? Like Joseph, scoop up the child in our arms, a quick kiss on his head, throw our stuff in the rucksack, and hit the road in haste for parts unknown?

And, in that desperate journey, find the love of the Christ Child more wonderful—like the scent of a flower we’ve not yet found, news from a Country we’ve never yet visited, growing stronger in our hearts along with his Peace that surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.