It all began as the Magi from the east came to Jerusalem in their search for the light to the world, as they saw the new star on the west sky, signaling the Epiphany of the newborn King in the Jewish nation. So, they came to Jerusalem, the holy capitol of the Jewish nation, and made an inquiry about the newborn King to Herod the Great, who was a king but nothing but a vassal king to Caesar in Rome (Matthew 2:1-2). As long as he lived and reigned the Jewish state under the Roman rule, Herod believed that he was the king of the Jews. And the power to rule the Jewish people was sanctioned by Caesar, the most powerful man on earth at that time, as long as he remained a vassal to the Roman Empire. So, the news about the newborn King of the Jews really troubled Herod, and all Jerusalem also reacted likewise with Herod, knowing what Herod’s rage could do to them (Matthew 2:3).
Herod
the Great just could not let someone other than him to be claimed as the king
of the Jews. So, he had to do something about it.
Then,
Herod called all the chief priests and the scribes and inquired them about the
newborn king’s birth place. In response, these religious leaders indicated to
him that it is in Bethlehem, citing Malachi 5:1 (Matthew 2:4-6). Because this
prophecy of Malachi is about the birth of the Messiah as the King, these chief
priests and scribes must have thought that the newborn King of the Jews,
mentioned by the Magi (Matthew 2:2) was actually the long-hoped Messiah-King to
rule the Jewish nation to be free from the Roman rule. Nevertheless, to Herod,
the newborn King was a threat to him and his power. So, he was already thinking
to “get rid of” this threat, whom the Magi called the newborn King of the Jews,
further inquiring the time of the star’s appearance from the Magi (Matthew
2:7). And he also asked the Magi to report to him where they find the newborn
King so that he would be able to make his homage to kill the King (Matthew
2:8). Not only from the religious leaders but also from the Magi, Herod was
trying to get necessary information to pin-point the time and the location of
the birth of the King to ensure to kill him. Herod had been killed so many
people, who had gotten in his way of seeking and keeping the power. So, his way
of killing was as methodical as this. And he even inserted his manipulative
charisma to Caesar and the Roman Senate in order to let the Roman power to sanction his power over the Jews as their king, rather
than fighting against Rome for the Jewish people and their freedom and complete
sovereignty, as the Maccabees fought against Seleucid Empire of Antiochus IV
Epiphanes (2 Maccabees 8:1-10:9). Thus, Herod was a pathologically
passive-aggressive narcissist over the Jewish people.
Sending
off the Magi to where they would find the newborn King, Herod the Great was
hoping to get all the necessary information to kill him (baby Jesus). However,
the Magi betrayed him as they did not return to him with their report on the
newborn King. Upon following the star and paying their homage to the newborn
King, offering gold, myrrh, and frankincense, to recognize him not only as the
King, but also as the Messiah and the divine being, the Magi took a different
route on their return to the east, as warned about Herod in a dream (Matthew
2:9-12).
The
Gospel Reading (Matthew 2:13-18) basically is to tell that Herod was so enraged
when he realized that the Magi betrayed him – not being able to find the exact
place of the newborn King of the Jews. And of his rage, he order to massacre
all boys of two years old or under in Bethlehem and its vicinity area (Matthew
2:16). In the meantime, when the Magi departed upon their homage, the angel of
the Lord warned Joseph in his cream to get up and take Jesus and Mary with him
to Egypt for safety and remain there until Herod the Great’s death, because of
Herod’s massacre plan (Matthew 2:13). So, Joseph did exactly as told by the
angel to save Jesus and his Holy Family from Herod’s murderous hands and
returned with Jesus and Mary upon Herod’s death (Matthew 2:14-15a).
So, this
is how many boys of age 2 and under living in Bethlehem, the birth place of
Jesus, and its vicinity were massacred, in place of Jesus. And the Church calls
and honors these little boys as the Holy Innocents Martyrs.
About 31
years later from this horrible bloody incident, it was Jesus who was killed as the
King of the Jews by the order of Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as conspired
by the Sanhedrin (John 19:33,39; 19:19).
There is
something so bloody about the King of the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2; John
19:33,39; 19:19), because for him, so many innocent children of Bethlehem and
its adjacent areas were massacred by Herod the Great, a Roman puppet king of
the Jews, and Jess, who was supposed to be killed by Herod, was killed as the
King of the Jews, by the order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, as
conspired by the Jewish religious leaders.
While so
many innocent children were massacred by Herod, Jesus in the Holy Family was
kept safe in Egypt and was able to return to Nazareth without fear. Matthew
sees this as fulfillment of Hosea 11:1b:
Out of Egypt, I called my Son (Matthew 2:15).
It was
because Jacob’s family, the Israel, sought a refuge in Egypt (, where one of
Jacob’s sons with Rachel, his beloved and preferred wife over Leah (Genesis
29:16-28), Joseph was the Pharaoh’s administrator. And this son of Rachel saved
the Israel from the starvation, while many in Canaan died (Genesis 42:1-47:28).
Matthew
sees the massacred children as children of Rachel, who is symbolically
representing as the mother of the Israel, the offspring of Jacob in saying that
the massacre of the Holy Innocent was fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15:
A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel seeping for her children, and she would
not be consoled, since they were no more (Matthew 2:18).
The
children of Rachel, the mother of the Jews, as the father of the Jews, Jacob,
is her husband, were the massacred Jewish children, in place of the newborn
King of the Jews. Representing the mothers whose little sons were killed by
Herod the Great, Rachel was weeping so loudly, and even heard in Ramah, which
is near Jerusalem and where weeping Jews in chains passed through as they were
taken into the Babylonian hostage (Jeremiah 40:1), because all her (and their)
children were all dead and no more. However, significance of Ramah to Rachel
was more for the fact that it is near where Rachel died upon giving her last
son, Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-20). And therefore, Ramah is also close to
Bethlehem, where these little boys of age 2 and under were massacred by Herod.
But,
what Rachel, who represents all these weeping mothers, whose sons were
massacred did not know was God’s plan to redeem the lives of these children
from the dead. And in juxtaposition to the post-exilic hope in Jeremiah’s
prophecy of God’s promise of redemption (Jeremiah 31:16-22), the king of the
Jews, who was saved from the massacre and safely brought back in fulfilling
Hosea 11:1 had to die and resurrect in order to redeem these Holy Innocent and
those who remain faithful to him.
So,
Rachel, Rachel, the mother of the Israelites, as God called your children out
of Egypt, electing Moses as the leader (Exodus 6:2-15:21), filled with mercy, as reflected in
Hosea 11:1, He will call your children out of Babylon, the state of the dead.
So, weep no more, though your grief now is too deep to be comforted. Your
little boys died in place of the Messiah King, the Son of God, who came to as
the newborn King of the Jews, but he is the King of the Universe, to redeem all
of your children. And, all of your lost children will be redeemed by the King
into the fellowship of light, for he is light to this dark world. The darkness
of Herod, the darkness of Babylon, the darkness of your grief, will be replaced
by the light of Christ. So, Rachel, the mother of the lost children, weep no
more. Your children are Holy Martyr Saints, to be redeemed and called to the
throne of the King (i.e. Revelation 7:1-17), who came as the newborn King of the Jews.
In contrast to the darkness of Herod, through the First Reading (1 John 1:5-2:2), John calls us to walk in the light of
Christ, who is the Parakletos (Advocate)(2:1),
while the Holy Spirit is another Parakletos
(Avocate) (John 14:16). Walking in the light of Christ also means to be in his
fellowship, as he is the light of the world (John 8:12). John calls us to be in
the fellowship with Christ the light so that we may not commit sin, slip into
the darkness. He also calls us not to pretend like hypocrites but be honest in
acknowledge our own sinfulness to let Christ the light to forgive us.
We read
this Johannine epistle on the fellowship in the light with Christ in remembering
the Holy Innocents, martyrs, massacred children of Rachel the mother of Israel in
place of the newborn King of the Jews, because there is a contrast of light and
darkness in this story.
The Magi
came to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews, led by the light. But,
these seekers of the light from the east met a man of darkness, Herod the
Great, the darkness tried to extinguish the light, in his attempt to kill the
newborn King. Because of this, many little boys of age 2 and under in the
Bethlehem region were massacred in place of the newborn King, resulting in the loud
inconsolable mourning weeping of their mother, represented with Rachel, the
favored wife of Jacob, the Israel. However, what Rachel did not know as she
kept crying was that the very newborn King, whose place her sons were killed,
are promised to be redeemed by this King, as promised by the Father of mercy,
redeemed into the light.
For us,
not to slip into the darkness of Herod, whose murderous intentions are
motivated with his narcissistic greed for power, we must walk with and in the
Christ the light, our Parakletos
(Advocate). And at the end, all those who are redeemed, Rachel’s lost children
and all the children of Mary, through Christ, shall be redeemed into the
eternal light of Christ the lamp (Revelation 21:23).
So,
Rachel, the mother of Israel, the mother of the lost children, weep no more.
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