A sermon on Matthew 2:13-18 for Holy Innocents. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.
One of the things my four-year-old daughter is really into right now is making plans. When she has a vision for the immediate future, she’ll say, “Okay, Dad, here’s the plan. I’ll eat my supper and then I can have cotton candy ice cream.” And she always says it with such power and assertiveness like she’s the one in control, like she gets to decide what the plan is. But her plans are generally pretty short-sighted and don’t have terribly many steps. So I can take her plan and integrate it into the bigger plan for the evening. “Sure,” I say, “we can finish dinner and then have cotton candy ice cream, but then we’re going to brush teeth and read books and get ready for bed.” I have the power to integrate that plan into my plan. The big plan is flexible enough to allow for those kinds of things to happen. But the big plan is what’s important.
Today, as we remember the Holy Innocents, the babies slaughtered in Bethlehem by King Herod, we see two opposite and contradictory plans: Herod’s plan and God’s plan. We might question how these two plans can coexist and wonder how it’s even possible for God’s plan to allow for Herod’s. But we see that the big plan is what’s important and we can receive some comfort seeing how God’s plan interacts with the wicked plans of this world.
I. Herod’s Plan
The peace and the joy of Christmas didn’t last undisturbed for very long. Just a few days after Christmas, we are drawn to see suffering and bloodshed.
This Gospel account is taken a little bit out of order. Eight days after Jesus was born He was circumcised, which we’ll read about on New Years and then, 40 days after His birth, He’s brought to the temple, which we’ll read a portion of next Sunday. Then He’s visited by the wise men, which we’ll cover in our midweek Epiphany service after that. And this account takes place after the magi have left. The holy family has been living peacefully in Bethlehem for a while, but that is put to an end by the wicked plan of King Herod.
Herod told the wise men to report back to him when they had found the Child, but when they don’t, he flies into a murderous rage and orders the slaughter of every boy in Bethlehem two years old and under.
This is a wicked, heartbreaking plan. Instead of seeking after the Child to worship Him, Herod wants to get rid of Him. He can’t have a pretender to the throne. Herod had risen to power in a bit of a bloodbath himself and he wasn’t eager to repeat that. Bethlehem was a small town, some estimate the total number of casualties in this event to be 15 to 20, which pales in comparison to some of his other atrocities. To him it’s not really a big deal, an inconvenience, a problem that needs to be dealt with.
And as we see Herod’s wretched plan, we’re left with some painful questions. Why would God allow this to happen? We see angels all over the place in Christmas and the surrounding events, why wouldn’t God put a stop to this? And these questions don’t stay contained to this text but flow over into what we see and experience.
There are 200,000 abortions every single day. The wickedness of Herod continues as human life is discarded as an inconvenience. And it’s heartbreaking. Why? Herod’s plan was to wipe out Christ. We see the persecution of Christians all over the world, how the devil and the world are enemies of Christ and His Church. Why? We struggle and suffer and grow tired and weary. Why?
Where’s God’s hand in all of this? How can He allow this suffering to happen? Is He really in control, does He really care? It’s hard to see the bigger picture, it’s hard to see God’s plan when we are surrounded by suffering. We become dismayed and discouraged as the wicked plans of the world triumph. Why?
II. God’s Plan
Knowing the mind of God is impossible for us. We’re never going to see everything He does, the entire plan wouldn’t make sense to us. But we do see three motivating concerns that maybe don’t give a complete answer, but they do help us address these questions and provide us with comfort and encouragement.
The first is that God always has a clearly-defined purpose. Although the massacre of the innocents is really the focus this day, we see that Matthew puts it in context for us. He gives us the bigger plan before the bloody details. That in spite of Herod’s wickedness and evil intentions, Herod was not successful. He did not win. The Child he was after survived.
It was not time for Jesus to die. That would come, but not yet. By warning Joseph in a dream and sending the holy family to Egypt, God was accomplishing the plan of salvation and ensuring that that plan would stay intact.
And by the prophecy that Matthew puts before us, we see how that plan would take shape. “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” This originally referred to God’s deliverance of the Israelites, but now we see Jesus taking the place of His people. And He does this every step of the way.
He takes the place of His people by fleeing to Egypt as a helpless babe. As this Child grew, He lived a perfect life for His people, in their place, being perfectly innocent where we have failed. And the time did come for Him to die, to take our place in death and suffer the punishment we deserve. Christ is the unlikely king on the cross. He would be unjustly murdered, but not yet. God has this glorious purpose, the deliverance of His people, to accomplish your redemption.
This plan of salvation is the big plan, the big picture. Even in the midst of human wickedness, we see that God keeps this plan intact. This shows us our second aspect, that God permits affliction but never loses control.
It’s not like God was scrambling to react to Herod’s plan. But He allowed it and even incorporated it into the bigger plan. And here’s where the “whys” come up that we don’t have complete answers to. But we can say a few things to these questions.
The children that died in Bethlehem, died within the grace of God’s covenant. He spared them from the wickedness that they would have to endure in this world and brought them home to Him right away. They died for Christ unknowingly and Christ would die for them.
We can see this in hindsight, because Matthew gives us a glimpse of God’s bigger plan. So although we don’t have those specifics for the wicked plans that we see and endure, we know that God is in control. Evil does not mean that He has lost power, but He can allow for it and still accomplish His greater purpose. We are never asked to carry more than we are able, we have His promise that He will provide us the strength to carry that load. In our suffering, in our dismay, we look to God and trust that He is in control.
The third and final concern is that God is concerned about His Word. He sends the Child Jesus into Egypt “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” We see God’s plan and God’s will, manifested and revealed in Scripture. But also, when evil human plans seem to succeed, “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet.” Even evil plans fulfill Scripture.
But we see a marked difference between these two Old Testament quotations. The first, dealing directly with the plan of salvation, was the express will of God, with the purpose of fulfilling prophecy, “that it might be fulfilled.” The second is not God’s will, in a certain sense; something that God permits or allows to happen, instead of something He wants to happen or actively wills. “Then was fulfilled,” the evil plan fulfills Scripture as God accommodates it into the big plan.
Because we see God’s concern for Scripture, we know that His promises are true and we can hold Him to them. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you” (Ps 50:15). God permits trouble to come, but gives us the promise of deliverance, that He is in control, that His plan will be accomplished.
This seems like a grim thing to dwell on in the days immediately after Christmas. It doesn’t quite fit in the timeline of the other Scriptural events we’ll cover, but the Holy Innocents show us something about Christ. Christ’s appearance brings joy, which we see in its purity at Christmas. But He also brings a call to witness, sacrifice, and even martyrdom. The shedding of their innocent blood signals Jesus’ purpose, that this King came to shed His blood and give His own life for His people. This is God’s plan, His purpose of salvation, that no tyrant can overturn, no evil can overcome. The world will not succeed, but God’s plan is accomplished and Christ is victorious. Amen.
