SLAIN FOR CHRIST’S SAKE
‘Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth.’
The Festival of the Innocents dates as far back as the third century. Its celebration has been universally observed from the first. Dying so early, these little ones are called Innocentes, or Innocui—harmless babes. They were slain for Christ’s sake.
I. Herod’s disappointment.—Herod, surnamed the Great, was reigning as king over Judæa when Christ was born in Bethlehem; but he had often to struggle hard, both by craft and sword, to keep his throne; so that when he heard of the Magi from the Orient inquiring in Jerusalem for the new King of the Jews, the sceptre seemed already to have fallen from his aged hands. Warned of God in a dream, the Magi went back to their own country without revisiting Jerusalem; and when Herod heard they had done so, his wrath burned like fire, and he felt more determined and vengeful than ever.
II. His merciless edict.—Strange that he could find any one to execute his fiat, for it was a barbarous piece of work; but his soldiers were Romans, who hated the Jews. Inhuman monsters these men! but he was the greatest of them all who was their chief. So all the centuries have regarded him.
III. The bitter sorrow caused by Herod.—This is forcibly expressed by three touching words—‘lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning’—which had original fulfilment when Nebuzaradan, after destroying Jerusalem, brought all the prisoners to Ramah, and there disposed of them for the sword or captivity (Jeremiah 40:1). The prophecy had its complete fulfilment in connection with the slaughter of the Innocents; the lamentation, however, in this latter case was not borne from Ramah to Bethlehem, but from Bethlehem to Ramah.
Illustrations
(1) ‘The Massacre of the Innocents is profoundly in accordance with all that we know of Herod’s character. The master-passions of that able but wicked prince were an unbounded ambition and an excruciating jealousy. His whole career was red with the blood of murder. He had massacred priests and nobles; he had decimated the Sanhedrin; he had caused the High Priest, his brother-in-law, the young and noble Aristobulus, to be drowned in pretended sport before his eyes; he had ordered the strangulation of his favourite wife. Deaths by strangulation, deaths by burning, deaths by being cleft asunder, deaths by secret assassination, confessions forced by unutterable torture, acts of insolent and inhuman lust, mark the annals of a reign which was so cruel that, in the energetic language of the Jewish ambassadors to the Emperor Augustus, “the survivors during his lifetime were even more miserable than the sufferers.” And as in the case of Henry VIII., every dark and brutal instinct of his character seemed to acquire fresh intensity as his life drew towards its close.’
(2) ‘A great painter still living has painted a grand picture representing Joseph’s flight in the night time. Joseph is turning to look at the watch-fires of Herod’s soldiers; Mary is arranging her Babe’s garments. The infant Jesus sees what Mary and Joseph do not see—the souls of the little ones whom Herod’s men had slain marching in triumphal procession as angel children around Him. Is not this a beautiful fancy of the great painter? he tells us in his touching picture—the abundant reward of those who suffer with Christ.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
SIN AND SUFFERING
The sight before us is that of suffering falling on those who have done nothing whatever to deserve it. These suffering Innocents suffered because of another’s Sin:—because of a Sin they could have no share in. What was that Sin? Herod ordered their death. Why? Solely because of his selfish fears.
I. Herod’s sin.—Herod was afraid that his throne might be endangered by the child of whose birth the Magi spoke. The one only thing that Herod cared about was his throne. In all probability he neither knew nor cared anything about the hopes of a Messiah, or the nature of the Messiah. He regarded the Jewish Religion with utter indifference. Selfish aggrandisement was his one aim—his ruling passion. The very thought of a possible rival to his throne roused all his passions. His whole character was licentious, cruel, and impetuous. And so, this ruling passion of selfishness once touched, he acted as we see. Thus we learn how a sin spreads out, and works misery to other people. The Holy Innocents had to suffer because of Herod’s selfishness.
II. Not peace, but a sword.—Look at another consideration, namely, that the very first fruit of Christ’s Coming into the World was this sad history of the Mothers weeping for their children. Christ came into the World to bring peace and happiness and goodness. But the existence of Evil in the World brings sorrows out of blessings. Truly our Lord says, ‘Think ye that I am come to bring Peace into the World? I tell you nay, but rather Division.’ So long as there is Evil in the World, this will be so ever. The wicked naturally reject what is good. They hate it instinctively. Even without stopping to know anything about it, they hate it, they kick against it, they strive to get rid of it. Herod knew little or nothing about Christ. He was an unbeliever. But no sooner did Christ come into the World than he tried to get rid of Him. So always.
III. Suffering for God.—Learn again from this history to take it patiently when the World’s blows and persecutions fall apparently so wide of the mark, and others are involved in the sorrows which the World tries to bring on those who assault its supremacy. It is a blessed thing to suffer with Good. No doubt, it is still more blessed to suffer for Good. Most blessed of all, no doubt, are they who, like Stephen, know the cause for which they strive, know the danger which they run, and suffer to the last in full consciousness of all, feeling every blow, until at last Death carries them into His longed-for Presence. What are we to say to those who are thus wounded in what we may call the chance medley of the warfare of Evil against Good?—those who had taken no part in the strife, and yet are wounded, so to speak, by misadventure? The bare fact of the Church’s Commemoration of the Holy Innocents next after St. Stephen and St. John seems to give the answer. It has a message to all such. For what does this Commemoration do but testify that all such overflowings of Christ’s sufferings are guided by a Providence, and sanctify those they touch. The blows which fell upon the Holy Innocents were aimed at Christ. What an honour to those unconscious infants! What an honour to any one now to bear the like hostility to good!
Illustrations
(1) ‘What we see in Herod’s case we see every day in our own world and in our own times. You cannot indulge in any sin without spreading mischief. A man is guilty of selfish extravagance, or of selfish desire to grow rapidly rich; he becomes involved in speculation either to make up for his extravagance, or to hasten his fortune; and what is the consequence? In nine times out of ten he involves everybody connected with him in misfortune. They were innocent. But they suffer for his selfishness. Or a man is guilty of self-indulgence, and becomes a drunkard, or otherwise licentious. Everybody knows how the sins of the fathers are destructive of the children’s lives and prospects. In fact, it is a proverb that the innocent suffer for the guilty. But the reason is not that the guilty go unpunished, but that every sin committed has effects which go on widening and widening like the circles of the waves when you throw a stone into still water. Sin cannot help scattering misery all round it, and it breaks out where you would least expect it. There is no sin that you can commit that ends with you. You may never know in this life, you never can know in this life, how far the effects of your sins spread out. But they do spread.’
(2) ‘Years and years had to pass before our Lord was to begin His Ministry, but the powers of Evil were on the alert before He was well out of His cradle; and so it is now and ever will be until all Evil is overthrown. Yes, the Herods of this world understand their business, and they try always to stamp out the first beginnings of whatever is good, while it is yet only in the beginning. It is no reproach to what is Good that it always stirs up strife on its first entrance. The reproach is all the other way. If there had been no Herod there would have been no mourning at Bethlehem.’