Sermon Tone Analysis

“Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, 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, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’”[1]

In the liturgical calendar, Epiphany is assigned to January 6.

However, in the liturgical churches of the western world the observance is transferred to the Sunday nearest that date.

Hence, on January 3, the Feast of Epiphany commemorates the visit of the magi.

Epiphany is said to remind Christians that God’s salvation reached beyond the Jews.

Isaiah prophesied that Messiah would be “a light for the Gentiles.”

Moreover, He would bring “salvation to the ends of the earth” [*Isaiah 49:6*], certainly as far as those very magi had traveled.

However, after the magi departed things turned unimaginably dark.

Suddenly, we see that the Christmas story is more than the stylized Nativity scenes represented on Christmas cards.

Joseph was warned in a dream to take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt where he was to remain until called by God to return [*Matthew 2:13-15*].

The dream must have occurred during the night following the magi’s visit.

Likely, Joseph and his family left hurriedly the very next morning.

Having few goods with them, they would have been unimpeded in their departure.

Herod was a master in the art of assassination.

Upon coming to the throne, he annihilated the Sanhedrin.[2] Later, he slaughtered three hundred court officers out of hand.[3]

Later still, he murdered his wife Mariamne and her mother Alexandra together with his eldest son Antipater.[4]

Josephus also tells how Herod then murdered two other sons—Alexander and Aristobulus—because he imagined that they threatened his power.[5]

A pun attributed to the emperor Augustus, alluding to the Jewish avoidance of pork, noted that “it is better to be Herod’s swine (*/hus/*) than Herod’s son (*/huíos/*)!”

In the hour of his death, in March, 4 bc, this cruel monarch arranged for the slaughter of the notable men of Jerusalem because he wanted to ensure that people mourned his passing.

Salome, his sister, countermanded this diabolical plan, however.

In the painting “The Slaughter of the Innocents,” baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens attempted to depict the horror—a soldier smashing a child against a Roman column, another lancing a mother who tries to hide her babe.

The painting also shows a woman weeping over the body of her dead infant.

It’s a scene from the Bible none of us enjoy imagining.

In describing the atrocity, the Evangelist Matthew quoted the Prophet Jeremiah.

Early Christians, to whom Levi geared His account of the Master’s life, were almost exclusively Jewish.

Raised as Jews and thoroughly versed in Jewish tradition and familiar with the Scriptures, they would have known that Ramah was where Rachel died in the throes of childbirth before reaching the Promised Land [*Genesis 35:16-21*; *48:7*].

They also would have associated Ramah with the deportation of the Jews during the exile.

In that vicinity, the Babylonians ripped Israel’s children from their mother’s arms in order to carry them into slavery.

Thus, Jeremiah’s prophecy pointed forward to the deep sorrow Jewish mothers would experience and pointed farther forward yet to the sorrow that would attend the birth of the Messiah.

That evocative solo of Rachel weeping would have called forth the agony, the despair, and the tortured “Why,” of grieving parents points to the child who would be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” [*Isaiah 53:3*].

Thinking about this aspect of the Christmas story, we are reminded that Christmas isn’t the saccharine story we’ve created in the popular consciousness.

Satan unleashed a vicious counterattack [see *Revelation 12:4b*].

Satan’s assault attacked life at its most vulnerable stage.

The very first assault by the devil after the birth of Christ was against society’s weakest members—infants; he attacked the “least of these.”

Even today, the enemy’s mode of attack hasn’t changed much.

We are painfully aware of the ongoing slaughter of the unborn, the devaluation of the elderly, the vulnerability of the poor, the disabled and the prisoner.

Though we are Christians, and though we sometimes feel helpless in the face of the unrelenting assault against life perpetuated by a self-centred society, we are on the side of right.

Though our Faith proscribes us from employing violence against violent people, we do have powerful weapons at our disposal—righteousness, prayer and truth.

It is time that the people of God stood athwart the path of evil that seeks to destroy life even as the culture about us advances individual self-interest ahead of personal responsibility.

This third Sunday of January is a day set aside to commemorate the Sanctity of Life.

Throughout North America, churches observe this day, using it as an opportunity to instruct congregants in truths that are well nigh universally disregarded in this day.

It provides opportunity to remind churchgoers of the value of life—all life—and to instruct worshippers in righteousness that leads us to resist succumbing to the prevailing evil mindset within society.

The message this morning examines that dark day when Herod, enraged at the thought that his grip on power was threatened by the birth of a baby, order the slaughter of all male infants two years of age and under.

Join me in exploring these few verses from the opening pages of Matthew’s Gospel.

*Motive for the Attack* — In the text, we have a bare-bone account of Herod’s actions.

“Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, 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, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.”

Nevertheless, the text does suggest some insight into the motives behind his despicable action.

Let’s go back in our memories to the events that unfolded as the magi arrived in Jerusalem.

The evangelist relates the story.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

‘“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.”’

“Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.’

After listening to the king, they went on their way.

And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way” [*Matthew 2:1-12*].

The first indication of a problem is provided in verse 3, when we read that Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

The news of the birth of a child caused the king mental anguish.

And when the king was disturbed, you may be assured that the entire city was disturbed with him.

So, Herod devised a dastardly plan.

He would use the magi’s desire to honour the infant king to find the child; then he would kill Him because he saw Him as a threat to his power.

However, God intervened.

The magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.

Whether each of the magi dreamed similar dreams, or whether one dreamed and warned the others, the result was the same.

The magi left for their own country, travelling by another route that would avoid Jerusalem.

God does not inform us how long it was before Herod realised that he was tricked, but since Bethlehem was only about ten kilometres from Jerusalem, it could not have been more than a day or two.

The trickster was tricked, and in a fury, he ordered the slaughter of all male children two years of age or less.

His officials hastened to carry out the order, and so the infants in the environs of Bethlehem were murdered.

Likely there were no more than twenty infants killed, given the population of the region.

Nevertheless, it was a tragedy unprecedented in that ancient world.

No one would attack and kill the most vulnerable members of society.

Why did Herod order this dreadful deed?

What could motivate such a wicked, shameful act?

The answer appears to lie in the fact that he was utterly focused on his own interest to the exclusion of any consideration for others.

The king’s personal comfort, his personal position, superseded all other interests.

In theological terms, the king had placed himself at the centre of his life—he was firmly seated on the throne of his life.

That he was furious exposes the fact that he sought to fulfil his own desire, whatever the cost.

When it appeared that he was thwarted, he flew into a rage, expressing his fury through senseless slaughter.

May I remind you that the essence of sin is the exaltation of self.

When our first mother promoted her own desire over the revealed will of the Creator, she permitted herself to be deceived.

When the serpent questioned the will of God, Eve “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” [*Genesis 3:6*].

Thus misled—betrayed by her own desire—she sought to gain approval for her rebellion from the man for whom the Lord God had created her.

Adam willingly accepted her invitation to rebellion, choosing to side with her in opposing the will of God.

In their mad pursuit of self-fulfilment, they plunged the race into ruin and destruction.

Herod exemplified the selfsame character that increasingly marks contemporary society.

On the whole, ours is a society without restraint, a culture that defines what is good by the fleeting sense of happiness that comes from getting one’s own way.