Advent reading

(This is what I submitted for inclusion in Blacknall's 2018 Advent devotional guide.)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are glad you came down to us, bringing the light of God into our dark world.

Those familiar with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings will remember the Orcs. They were “foot soldiers” of the Dark Lord.  Horrible.  Ordered to sabotage Frodo and his Fellowship’s journey to destroy the Ring, the Orcs stir horror in those they battle.

In contrast, the sublime retelling of the birth and early childhood of our Lord Jesus includes no mention of war and conflict… until after the visit of the Magi (the kings from the East):

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to [King] Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

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.” 

[Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 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.”

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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”[1]

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[1] Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, verses 12-18

How horrible!  Would a king really order such horror to insure his grip on the local throne?  Much as Saruman attempted to destroy Frodo’s mission, Herod tried to destroy the Messiah Jesus. Herod was unsuccessful because he was outwitted by the stronger power of the living God.  God rescued the child Jesus and preserved him until as an adult Jesus would give up himself as a ransom for all and become God’s Great Champion.

We can only imagine the weeping and great mourning of those who lost little ones to Herod’s terror.  Today horrible opposition to Jesus Christ’s authority still shows up in oppression, persecution, or cruelties both subtle and obvious. Are we equally horrified as Bethlehem, “weeping for her children”?

<<< Leon Coginet “Slaughter of the Innocents”

Prayer: We admit, Almighty God our Father, that we are insensitive to the horrors in our city, nation or world. Cultivate in us your compassion so to reflect the light of Jesus’ unfailing kindness.

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[1] Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, verses 12-18