SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
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.” [Matthew 2:16-18, Jeremiah 31:15]
I could not avoid this passage, even though I saw Jesus more clearly elsewhere.
Try to put yourself in the place of all the families grieving their murdered sons.
Christmas for these families would always be a miserable occasion.
The thought of the messiah’s birth would add salt to an open wound.
Weeping, great mourning, refusing to be comforted…
Where is God’s love, where is Jesus in this?

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves. [Luke 17:1-3]
We need to see the misery of Matthew 2 in light of all the misery and murder in the history of the world – this is nothing new.
And we need to remember that God remains angry at these atrocities, and those who commit them without regard for justice or live or God’s will.
There may be mercy for those that repent, but those that refuse will one day have to give an account for what they did.
And for them – for Herod – it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to face God.
Jesus uses this extreme illustration to make a point.

God’s love in Jesus is not the soft, mushy kind of niceness that overlooks every injustice and crime; it addresses these atrocities head on.
Though Rachel was weeping and refusing to be comforted, God was not ignoring her tears or the crimes committed against her.
There will be justice, and all sins will be punished, one way or another.
Either our sins are punished in Christ on the cross – and we need to repent and admit our crimes for this to happen – or they are punished in us, on judgment day.
The repeated call to repent is an essential part of the good news of God’s love.
This means that I have to come clean before God and admit that I have hurt Him and others, lied, stolen that which did not belong to me, lusted, cheated, abused, etc.
I have caused people to stumble too, and this should make me sad, and serious.
So watch yourselves.
It’s not enough to say ‘Herod was a bad, bad person’ (which he was), I also need to look within my own heart, for I will stand before the Judge one day too.
God weeps with those who weep, and one day He will address their hurt, and the crimes committed against them, as well as the crimes they committed.
So watch yourselves – this is a reminder for all of us to fall to our knees at the cross!

PRAYER:
Lord, it’s not my opinion of my sins that matters, but Yours. Help me to see where I have caused others to stumble, and help me to genuinely repent.