Matthew 2.16-18


The massacre of the innocents. What a revolting scene. Why would I include
this in a series of sermons on the celebration of the Advent of our Lord. A
better question is why would Matthew include it in his Gospel. An even
better question is why the Spirit would include it. After all, the other
Gospel accounts don't include it, and they seem to work okay. But here it
is, right after the beautiful scene of the wise men worshiping the infant
Jesus. Why? Obviously, there is a good reason why it's here. So, let's think
through what is happening so that we might hear what the Spirit has to teach
us from this text.

Herod had received the Magi and heard their impolitic question, 'Where is he
who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him.' Herod was not happy when he heard this news. He
wasn't interested in having some rival lurking in the shadows. After all, he
was the king of the Jews. So, his plan was to have the magi play the role of
his unwitting spies. They were to investigate this newborn King born in
Bethlehem and report back to him so that he too might worship him – or so he
said. But, being foiled in this by a dream Herod decided to take no chances.
Calling in the captain of his guard, this petty tyrant describes for him his
mission. 'Yes, all the male children, up to two years of age.' Picture it.
Soldiers going from house to house throughout the tiny hamlet of Bethlehem,
looking. And when they find some little toddler they run him through. As
word spread, the soldiers find the tiny children being clutched by their
mothers in their vain attempts at protection. But these frantic mothers were
no match. The soldiers simply tore the infants from their mothers and then
hacked away, leaving a bloody corpse and a wailing mother as they moved on
to the next house. You women, imagine that you are there. You are the
mothers. You witness this violent murder of your child and what you see is
burned into your memory for the rest of your days. You men, imagine coming
home to find your wife in hysterics as she holds the lifeless body of your
child. That's our text. That's what happened. And it's part of Scripture
because the Spirit wanted it to be.

Now, back to our question. Why is this here? Someone might answer that by
saying, 'Well, it's included because it happened. It's part of the history.'
But there's much that happened in those days that was never recorded in any
of the Gospels. We need to do better than that. Why is it here? What is the
Spirit saying by this passage? Our text is not a mistake, a throw away
portion of Scripture. No, rather it is a vivid reminder placed here for our
sake. It is a reminder of the world that Jesus was born into. It is a
picture of how bleak, ugly, sickening and painful our world is. Ours is a
world filled with darkness. And it is that way because of sin. Can you think
of a better picture than this to portray that, at least in this context? One
baby is born, bringing hope, and what happens in this ugly place? Other
babies are murdered. The darkness is real. But why do we need to be reminded
of such a picture of our world? Why did Matthew have to include something as
ugly as this in his Gospel? And why do I need to bring it up, particularly
at this festive time of year? The reason is not complicated. If you do not
have some sort of appreciation of the real nature of our world, its
bleakness and ugliness and darkness, then you will never really understand
why Jesus had to come. You will never really understand what He came to do.
Closing your eyes to the deep ugliness of sin in this world is, at the same
time, closing your eyes to the wonder of the Gospel. And a lack of wonder at
what Jesus has come to do will result in a cold, dead, and powerless church.
We need our text.

Now, some might reply, 'But things aren't that bad any more. Things have
gotten better, more civilized.' Really? I debated with myself about how
graphic to get at this point. I opted for a simple list instead of saying
more. So, consider many lawless parts of sub-Saharan Africa where marauding
bands of men go from village to village, raping as they go. Think of someone
in a car filled with explosives, driving to a market square filled with
people simply doing their daily shopping and pressing the detonator. And to
bring it home, think of a particularly barbarous act in our own land,
partial-birth abortions, where babies are murdered in an especially gruesome
manner. Our world is still a very evil and ugly place. There is still much
sin. The darkness has not gone away.

There is more. You also need to see that the darkness is not just out there.
The darkness is also within us. So, given the right circumstances, we can
and will commit any sin that you can imagine. Any sin. I remember one day at
the oil change place where I worked when one of the guys came up to me, with
a couple of others watching. He had a proposition. He would give me twenty
dollars if I would take the quart of oil in his hand and pour it down my
pants. He was serious. I declined. But it is worth noting that I actually
thought about it first. I certainly could have used that twenty dollars. I
was tempted. It was at that moment that I had a little better understanding
of why prostitutes do what they do. None of us is immune. Given the right
circumstances, we will commit any sin. The darkness is within as well.

This is why Jesus came. The world lay in darkness, the darkness of sin. Our
souls were also consumed by that darkness. And so, Matthew also writes,
'...the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those
dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.'
[Matthew 4:16] You will not understand the light of the grace of God in the
face of Jesus if you do not understand the deep darkness of sin. Jesus
brought light, God's beautiful light, to an ugly, painful, bleak world. This
also helps us to understand the goal of His mission here. That goal was not
to be an escape hatch for the lucky few so that they might end up in a much
better 'somewhere else'. He came to redeem, to restore, this very dark
world. He came to redeem for Himself a people who would no longer walk in
the darkness and who would no longer carry that darkness within. You can see
this in the Gospel accounts of His ministry. As He went about, He cast out
demons, gave sight to the blind, loved the unlovely and provided hope for
the hopeless. Jesus was going about dispelling the darkness. The climax of
this was, of course, the cross. And because of what He did, you and others
now enjoy the beauty of the light of the Gospel.

Yet, Jesus' work of redeeming is not completed. Even a cursory look around
proves that. To use the words of Acts 1, the Gospels tell us all that Jesus
began to do and to teach. He did not finish His work while He was here.
Today, He is still busy spreading the light and banishing the darkness of
sin. But now, He uses you, His Church. That work, our work, will continue
until the day that He returns to finish it all Himself.

Our text shows the artistry of the Scriptures. It uses contrast to highlight
important themes that the Spirit wants us to see. So, for example, the
dazzling beauty of the joy of Genesis 2, where Adam's creation and
commission lead to Eve's creation, contrasts and thus highlights the dark
ugliness of Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve fall for Satan's deception and into
sin. The magi, right before our text, rejoiced with exceedingly great joy at
the birth of the King of the Jews, and in this they contrast with and thus
highlight the massacre of the innocents. Jesus has come. Glorious thought!!
Let us rejoice with exceedingly great joy! But He has come to a world that
is enshrouded in the deep darkness of sin, a world where innocent babies are
sacrificed for the sake of some two-bit ruler's sense of security. Jesus has
come to restore that world to its pristine beauty and to fill it with a
people who have also been set free and made beautiful. He has come to fill
our dark world and our dark souls with His marvelous light. The work has
begun, but it is, by no means, finished. But, one day it will be finished.
And that is our great hope. Until then, we, His Church, are being used by
Him to extend the restoration, that lives and institutions may be brought
increasingly into the light.

From all of this, I would like you to consider something. I would like you
to consider what you will be doing in the weeks to come. Your celebration of
Advent is to be a reminder. It is to be a reminder of the state of our world
and especially a reminder of what Jesus has come to do. Your celebration of
His Coming is to include a holy perspective on this wicked world. Our world
still has much darkness. We cannot and should not ignore that fact. But
though we do not hide from the fact of sin, we do not despair because of it.
And the reason for that is clear. Jesus has come! He has come to deal with
the darkness and to restore all to what it once was. And we can already see
some of the fruit of His labors. We can see that in our own lives and the
lives of others around us. At Advent we remember that Jesus has come. So,
beware the common sentimentalism of this time of year. It is, indeed, to be
a time of exceedingly great joy, a time of great celebration with feasting
and beauty and all the rest. But not because of some pretty lights, a bit of
snow and seasonal songs. We rejoice because Jesus has come. We have already
tasted of His glorious light. We look forward to how He will use us to
spread that light until the day of His return when the darkness itself will
become a forgotten thing of the past.