December 31, 2023 Text: Matthew 2:13-18
Dear Friends in Christ,
Christmas can seem like a nice break from reality. We revel in tradition and leave our diet plan. Then it is over and back to the real world. The stress of work or school or family rears its ugly head.
We thank God this day that we don’t put our confidence in nostalgia or family gatherings where so often things go unsaid for the sake of harmony. Christmas is our comfort in the midst of all this. This week after Christmas on Dec. 26, 27, and 28 the church commemorates three martyrs who suffered and even died for the faith. It doesn’t ruin the holiday it just grounds us in reality. Tinsel and “Silver Bells” don’t take us away from suffering and death. It does remind us that Christmas joy comes in the One who conquered death: Jesus, our Emmanuel.
If Christmas is such a joyful time, why does the Church commemorate deaths of the faithful in December? Good question. Life is not all candy canes and being jolly. It is a reminder that . . .
“CHRISTMAS CAN BE BRUTAL”
The first of these martyrs is Stephen, remembered on Dec. 26. Stephen was chosen by the apostles to distribute food. It wasn’t his acts of mercy that enraged the church’s enemies. It was the fact that he confessed Jesus as Lord. He was charged with blasphemy, but he didn’t remain silent. He boldly gave a witness about the Righteous One and how Israel had rejected Him. A mob stoned him around A.D. 35. Stephen’s dying breath echoed Christ’s words on the cross: “Receive my spirit…Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Stephen was the first martyr after Christ’s ascension. Like Stephen today’s enemies of the Church aren’t bothered by the Church’s acts of mercy. Confess Jesus as the only truth and Savior of all and then see them squirm. Like Stephen we see heaven open. Jesus was not just a baby for us. He is a man standing for us at God’s right hand. He still cares for the Church and the saints. No raging foe can stop Him.
Dec. 27 is for St. John the Apostle. He was an eyewitness to the life and death of Jesus. He wrote a Gospel, three Epistles and the Book of Revelation. This witnessing didn’t bring death but isolation. He was exiled to the island of Patmos and died an old man in Ephesus around A.D. 100. John suffered for the faith.
John fits nicely with Christmas: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn. 1:14). His epistle proclaims Jesus, “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands.” (1 John 1:1) He reminds us Christmas is about love. Not love of traditions or love tarnished by broken promises, absent loved ones or dysfunctional family gatherings. God loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, and the blood of this Son cleanses us from all sin.
The last remembrance is a group and our text for today – we call them The Holy Innocents. They are the baby boys two years and under in Bethlehem who were killed on the orders of Herod. What senseless violence. Yet, it is as nonsensical as God becoming man or the King born in a stable, as tragic as creatures who kill their Creator and Savior. In our world, violence and evil continue, even during holidays. The killing of children unborn and born continues and it should give us pause. We once dwelt in a crib and a womb. That could have been us. Christ sanctified all life by His conception and birth. It could have been Him: in fact, that was the whole idea.
These babies died for the One who came to die for them. Their deaths show how cruel man can be and the lengths the world will go to stop Christ and the Christian faith. This is the world we find ourselves in. Peace on earth is found only in Jesus’ blood. His death was the true martyrdom, bearing witness that our salvation is accomplished.
Christmas for all its joy, can be brutal. The days following can be even harder. We thank God this day that Christ is the center of our Christmas. God in the flesh who redeemed us by His blood. If not for that, how could we stand up to the real world? We have such a Savior and because of that we don’t fear dark days, in-laws or even a martyr’s death.
Amen.