Today is Christmas and for many it’s a time of great rejoicing. Our society celebrates because it’s a time of family and egg nog, cookies and music, taxable giving and end of year profits. In the church, we rejoice because this is the season our savior was born! However, there is another side of the Christmas story.
The triumphant narrative of Christmas is the A side, but the massacre at Bethlehem in Matthew 2 is the B side. After Jesus was born, Herod tried to kill him. The verses below tell us that Herod sent out the wise men to locate Jesus and after they didn’t return, Herod decided to kill every boy under the age of two in Bethlehem. Parents are screaming, blood is in the streets as toddlers are being killed. While Jesus is being heralded, children are dying.
In our country today, there is a B-side to all the celebrating and gift-opening. For a community in Conneticut, there has been a massacre. For citizens of major cities like Chicago*, there have been years of massacres. There is drear instead of cheer. This may be the first Christmas...
- without a loved one
- without a job
- without a home
- since a divorce
- since a separation
- since a diagnosis
- since the sentencing
- since the deployment
These losses are what make this the time of year where suicide and depression rates surge. The charge to us as believers is to remember those who are struggling during this holiday season. To reach out, make a call, send a card or email to let someone know you are concerned. As we rejoice, let's remember to be present with those facing the B-side of Christmas.
Lord, thank You for the witness of scripture. Thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation. For unto us has been born a Savior. While we cheer Christ's birth, let us consider our brothers and sisters who are on the other side this Christmas. Those who are sick, imprisoned, in war, or at funerals. We're grateful for the reminder of the massacre at Bethlehem. Please comfort the families of all who face this season with loss. We have hope because of You. In Christ's name, Amen.
Turning the tape,
j.a.g.
*Click link to see the murder statistics for the city of Chicago. The city approaches 500 murders as the year ends. In spite of the national media coverage, gun restrictions have been a major issue in this country long before now.
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Matthew 2:11-16 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,
15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
