On the first Sunday of the new year, usually, the Bible versions we hear in the mass or service are on the story of the three wise men from the east. As is well known, these wise men, by observing the stars, realized the King of the Jews would be born and visited King Herod, who ruled the region at that time.
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The story is pretty familiar, and yet, recalling my childhood memories, I always remember a sort of argument I had with my church friends.
Hearing the news from these three wise men, King Herod was scared that the new King would threaten his position. Pretending he would also greet this newly born King, he asked about the place and time this special birth would happen. And, of course, as we all know, Herod’s intent was never to greet but to kill this newborn baby so that he could eliminate any possible threat to his position and authority.
Yet, as these wise men, after greeting and offering the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, heard God’s warning in a dream, they decided not to report to Herod but returned to their hometown, which made Herod very angry.
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After this, the first cruel incident in the Gospels happened, perhaps shocking even to readers. The incident is called the Massacre of the Innocents. Since Herod could no longer identify the newborn child he was supposed to find and kill, he instead decided to kill all children who were born around the same year and in the same area.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2:16)
While reading this section together with my friends in the church at that time, we were all young students and became frustrated with the description and storyline. What is the point of all these innocent children having to be massacred by the insane cruelty of King Herod? Was it a story created to emphasize the cruel character of Herod? Or is it based even partially on a historical fact that a huge number of children were killed during those times?
Suppose this could be partly based on a historical incident with a cruel king at that time—what could be the point of this massacre happening as a result of the news of the birth of Jesus Christ?
It is understood that His birth was such a humble event in the manger in the remote town of Bethlehem, which symbolizes the humble nature of God lowering Himself in His love, different from any worldly values but akin to heaven.
In the same line of symbolism, however, what is the point that such a terrible massacre of innocents needed to take place and be associated with the humble, sacred birth of the child? For our young, rationalism-inclined minds and naive, justice-oriented hearts, this massacre was insanely cruel, unfair, and enigmatic.
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Studying theological explanations, we could see various “reasonings” to understand the message of this massacre.
Some say this story touches the realm of our free will. It’s something we often hear: God created us in His image and doesn’t treat us like puppets or robots.
As He loves us, He does not control us; hence, we have our free will, from which various sins, including the disobedience of Adam and Eve, emerged. Therefore, the redemption of God Himself—the Death on the Cross of Jesus Christ—was needed. From this perspective, we could also say that the death of all those innocent children was a sort of first martyrdom of Christianity.
Others say this is an archetype of human suffering beyond the superficial notions of good or bad karma or superficial (as we often mistakenly believe) “God’s intervention.”
We often face this kind of challenging situation: a newborn baby dies without seeing the face of the mother, staying in this world for only hours. Some people suffer from severe illnesses or disabilities throughout their lives. Or people of good hearts suffer while cruel, greedy people thrive. The rich get richer; the poor get poorer.
There are numerous things and countless perspectives that make us feel like life is unfair. And we ask the question: Why did God allow this to happen?
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Going back to the story, why did God allow these three wise men to meet Herod in the first place? And why did God warn them not to report to Herod about the birth? This seemed to protect the Holy Child at the moment, like advising Joseph to go to Egypt, because of this, however, countless innocent children were killed.
There could have been a better way to avoid this, to protect not only the child Jesus but all those innocent children together. What a stupid move! We, as young students, used to get angry at this storyline.
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Our frustration peaks when we read this section where the verses from Jeremiah 31:15 in the Old Testament are quoted:
In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. (Matthew 2:18)
Rachel is one of the key figures in Genesis. Jacob’s wife, while his other wife Leah had many children, Rachel had to wait for a long period until God finally allowed her to have children: Joseph, who became the leader of Egypt later in life, and Benjamin, whose birth caused Rachel’s death. The tribe of Benjamin is known as the one from which Apostle Paul came.
There could be many hidden symbolic meanings around her life, and in this way, she is considered the mother of the Jews. Rachel herself didn’t suffer the loss of her children “personally” according to the record, and yet her weeping indeed implied the fundamental sufferings of the people of Israel.
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While our (young) rational minds can’t be fully convinced, this citation of Rachel’s weeping could be one of the keys for us to understand—or more appropriately embrace—the message of this tragedy of the Massacre of the Innocents.
As we live our lives, we often feel like life is suffering; not just suffering but extremely, even painfully, unfair and cruel. Innocent hearts often suffer and die mercilessly, and the causes are varied: natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and storms suddenly destroy peaceful families. We still remember well a lot of sad stories caused by the pandemic like Covid-19.
Ideologies also played their cruel roles; in fact, “massacre” is the political word for the brutal acts of dictators. Millions of people have died due to insane, often stupid, decisions and reasons. Even at our everyday lives, we are not exempted from this kind of thing.
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And we often feel like there is no God. The world, the universe, is absurd. Pessimistically, we confess our lamentations with those of the Preacher:
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
With this extreme pessimism and despair, the Gospel author, Matthew, juxtaposed the story of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus Christ. That is to say, the light shines in the darkness. The light cannot be recognized unless and until we experience the darkness.
Yes, the death of countless innocent children is the darkest of the dark. In it, there is light that shines, even though it is beyond our earthly comprehension.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5)
Image: Photo captured by the author.
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