verse4today: "How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you." (II Samuel 7:22)
Posted on 2012-04-30 via Twitter
This past Sunday I preached on Jesus' flight to Egypt and the slaughter of the two-year-old and younger boys of Bethlehem. For more three decades of preaching, I have stayed away—intentionally or unintentionally, I am not sure—from that tragic story, but this year there was no getting around it. I had chosen—I trust by the leading of the Spirit—to begin the new year with a series of sermons from the Gospel of Matthew. I labeled the series “Following Jesus: From the Womb to the Tomb and Beyond.” It is my intention to swim around in the Gospel of Matthew until Easter, and a couple weeks beyond. I was led to the Gospel of Matthew by the Common Lectionary and I am not sure how I came to the idea of following Jesus footsteps as chronicled by Matthew. That decision led me to address Jesus’ journey from Bethlehem to Egypt.
On top of that, the circumstances of my life drove me deeper into the text. Just two weeks ago, Debbie and I had enjoyed four days in Colorado Springs with our children and two grandsons, both of whom are under the age of two. The joy of that experience clashed dramatically with the Gospel. I couldn’t imagine the pain of those parents and grandparents in Bethlehem who lost their loved ones to the tyranny of Herod. And even now I wonder how those adults made sense of it all, though I am guessing that they were not singing “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
After a few days in the text, my sermon preparation led me to the big “So what?” question. I wanted to offer my congregation more than a history lesson on the first of many martyrs, as significant as that is. I wanted to offer them more than an historical-critical review of Matthew’s desire to cast Jesus as both the fulfillment of prophecy and as a new Moses. In the process of wrestling with the big question, someone led me to this simple truth: good news is always bad news for somebody and it is for that reason that good news always has enemies.
Take the story of Moses as an example. He brought good news to the children of Israel: they would be delivered from slavery in Egypt. But when Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard that message, he heard bad news and became an enemy of Moses. The same pattern is seen in the New Testament. Stephen received the goods news of the forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus Christ but met a martyr’s death at the hands of unbelievers who hated the good news of the Apostles. And in the Gospel of Matthew, the good news of Christ’s birth, given to the Magi, was bad news for Herod. Good news is always bad news for somebody. We don’t like to talk about this principle, especially during the Advent-Christmas season. We would rather sanitize the Incarnation of Jesus Christ with stories of perpetual peace and joy. Yet the principle is true—just ask the children of Bethlehem who had the privilege of being mistaken for Jesus Christ.
I love everything about Christmas, especially the celebration of the good news that “unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be on his shoulders, and he will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.’” But I am also thankful for the reminder of the river of blood and tears that was created when Herod came to destroy Jesus. And as I enter a new year, with hopes of faithfully following Jesus, I also hope to recognize that the degree to which I follow Christ and that I, and all who follow him, will meet what Christ met from the moment of his birth.
Dr. Hamstra, my Sunday school lesson with my 4 and 5 years old this week was on this Scripture text. Not exactly an easy lesson to teach PreK and Kindergartners! The lesson called for discussing how Herod “hurt” the boys. I just couldn’t teach something so watered down and I told the children the truth, that Herod killed all the boys 2 and under in Egypt. One little boy looked straight at me and said, “Miss Adina, I want to be a girl in Bethlehem.” While his comment made me want to chuckle, it also made me realize that this child grasped the seriousness of the situation in Bethlehem.
Thank you for this post and for the reminder that with the good news there is bad news but Thank God that He is in control of all news.
Thanks for your commitment to teaching the whole Word of God, even to children, and for the story from your classroom experience. From the mouths of children!
It should remind us that God will hold kings and and nations accountable for the lives of the innocent. How many unborn children have been slaughtered in our country in the name of elective abortion? Surely God will judge our nationfor having permitted this to be done among us.