Remembering the Holy Innocents

Massacre of the Holy Innocents
Matteo di Giovanni, 1488

Christmastide is not all sweetness and light.  Later in his life, Jesus would say "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34 - NIV).  For humanity is all too fond of protecting its turf, and the powerful take offense at the stumbling block that is the teaching of Jesus, the Christ.

December 28 marked the remembrance of the massacre of innocent babies in Bethlehem and area, by Herod, "The Great", in an attempt to protect his "power" over the region from the reported birth of one referred to as the King of the Jews.

Herod's actions were not new, nor did that behaviour stop with him -- as colonial history in Canada, involving our own Anglican church, makes only too clear.  

And today, "Herod" exists on the southern border of the United States, and in far too many other places around the globe.

So...for the Holy Innocents, and for all of us...another poem from Malcolm Guite:


Refugee

We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,

Or cosy in a crib beside the font,

But he is with a million displaced people

On the long road of weariness and want.

For even as we sing our final carol

His family is up and on that road,

Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,

Glancing behind and shouldering their load.

Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower

Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,

The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,

And death squads spread their curse across the world.

But every Herod dies, and comes alone

To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.

-- Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons, Canterbury Press, 2012.

To listen to the poet read his sonnet aloud, click HERE.

Nativity 2019
Photo: Claremont United Methodist Church
Claremont, California