It's interesting to the point of fascination that three of the first five days of Christmas are days we celebrate martyrs: Stephen on the Second Day, the Holy Innocents on the Fourth Day, and Thomas Becket on the Fifth Day of Christmas. In a homily for Stephen’s Feast, Fulgentius proclaimed: “And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven.”
Indeed, we are saved by love. One of the best-known verses of scripture is John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” It is only through Jesus Christ that anyone is saved.
Indeed, we are saved by love. One of the best-known verses of scripture is John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” It is only through Jesus Christ that anyone is saved.
Herod unleashed lethal violence against the children of Bethlehem to kill a potential rival the magi told him had been born there. He was fearful that this rival would take his kingdom from him. Maybe he called to mind the prophet Samuel anointing the boy David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, to become king, replacing the equally jealous Saul.
David, too, came from Bethlehem. Saul’s efforts to kill David all failed. David, even when he had the chance, refused to harm, let alone kill, Saul. Just so, Jesus posed no threat to Herod. In the end, Herod was the enemy of Herod.
On the Fourth Day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the holy innocents. Specifically, we remember those children of ancient Bethlehem, who were killed on Herod’s order. Today, we should also call to mind those innocent children who have suffered terribly throughout the ages, including those children who even now are victims of violence, abuse, and war.
Saint Quodvuldeus, in a sermon delivered on this feast, declared: “The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself.” This is “the kind of kingdom” Jesus came to establish. It is a kingdom of the meek and lowly, of the vulnerable and defenseless. This is why the Lord teaches we must become like children to enter God’s kingdom.
In Stephen and the Holy Innocents, we see how God’s deliverance works and how Jesus saves. These witnesses show us in a stark and dramatic way the central paradox of Christian faith, taught by Jesus later in Matthew’s Gospel: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Herod and the Magi
Now, let’s be clear, God did not cause or will the violent death of innocent children either then or now. Neither was the Father complicit in or responsible for the death of his beloved Son. As theologian Owen Cummings observed:
God did not predetermine that Jesus would have to suffer on the cross, just as God does not predetermine that any of us has to suffer on our own crosses. That would turn God into a cruel tyrant [and us into something like marionettes acting out a script]. What God did in the whole event of Jesus, in the incarnation and crucifixion, was to enter into the messy details of our world, a world marked by arbitrariness and unpredictability. The God who is nothing but unconditional Love, embodied and made visible in Jesus, lets the consequences of being Love in our flawed human world happen without evasion or avoidanceThis why even though God did not predestine it, the scriptures from the beginning taught that the Messiah would suffer, die, and rise. And so, it was Herod who willed and caused the massacre of the infant boys in Bethlehem. In his infinite love and mercy, God can and often does bring good from our evil. What else can resurrection be about?
Bringing good from evil is what our first reading, taken from 1 John’s, is about. To receive forgiveness for your sins, you must acknowledge and confess them. The inspired author calls our all-too-human bluff by boldly stating that if you deny you are a sinner you are a liar. Such a denial, all too common today, may be the worst sin.
By contrast, if we acknowledge our sins, through Jesus Christ, God mercifully forgives us. By definition, a sin is a deliberately willed thought, word, action, or inaction that is contrary to the love of God and love of neighbor. Because sin is wrong, when confessing it, we must make “a firm purpose of amendment,” which is why we say in confession, “I firmly intend, with [God’s] help, to sin no more and to avoid whatever leads me to sin.”
Herod’s heart was proud, vain, and fearful. As a result, he became wicked. You put your own heart at risk when you deny your sins and refuse to examine your conscience. This is nothing less than to reject your need for God’s grace given through Christ. This, too, smacks of vanity, pride, and perhaps fear. Someone who insists that her/his sins are greater than God’s mercy, whether they know it or not, far from being humble, is prideful on a rather grand scale.
As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn learned from his experience of the Soviet Gulag: “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart - and through all human hearts.” This is why you should examine your heart regularly, even daily.
Keep in mind the theses and antitheses from Jesus’ teaching collected in the Sermon on the Mount, also found in Matthew’s Gospel. Here’s the first one to jog your memory: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”
Often we like to think our anger is if not righteous then at least just. Most of the time, my friends, it is not. If Jesus and Stephen could not be angry with those who murdered them for doing God’s will, then what justification do you have? You can disapprove of something someone has done and not be angry with that person. You are supposed to even love your enemies. An enemy is someone who actively seeks to injure you. “Do not be overcome by evil,” Saint Paul teaches, “but overcome evil with good.”
As Jesus shows us over and over, it is always a matter of the heart. We need to look to his Sacred Heart, pierced but still on fire with love, lest we too fall into the habits of jealousy, pride, and vanity, like Herod.
No comments:
Post a Comment