Well, Thanksgiving has passed which means it is officially Christmas season. That is met with a “hooray!” for many, but for many others, it is met with despair. We’ve had quite the year and quite the past couple months, even weeks, in the world of news. We’ve endured several massacres as a nation, we’ve experienced hurricanes and wildfires, we’ve come to uncover, once more, many of those who make us laugh, entertain us, and even lead us, who have taken advantage of women in ways that are absolutely unacceptable. And now, many of us, are expected to “buck up and enjoy the season,” when that’s the last thing we feel like doing. I want to offer a word of hope for you in the midst of all this suffering and chaos.

There is a Christmas text hardly ever gets mention this time of year and that is the Bethlehem Massacre. It is one of the most troubling passages in all of Scripture where because of Herod’s paranoia with the Christ child, Jesus, he seeks to slaughter every baby in the vicinity of Bethlehem in order to get rid of him. The irony is that the slaughter happens because Magi see a star; they follow it, end up in Jerusalem, and ask the king “where is he who is born king of the Jews?” This creates quite the stir in the city and the religious elite comes to the king and says, “The Christ is going to be born in Bethlehem.” Herod says, “When you find him, let me know so that I, too, may worship him.” Right… They go there but when they get there, they realized that Herod was pulling their legs and actually wanted to kill baby Jesus so they go another way and escape. But, all the other babies of the same age are murdered horrifically.

Where is God in such a time? This text doesn’t quite say. This creates confusion because if God could give dreams to the Magi that said, “Don’t go back to Herod,” God could have easily given dreams to the Magi that told them not to stop there in the first place, right? The escape of baby Jesus and the Slaughter of the Innocents raises the question, “Is God willing to save particular persons from the destructive forces of history, but not willing to save others from those same forces because they are not as important to what God is up to?” (For more on that question, see the recent podcast with Jerry Walls HERE. This turns God the Father into a God that is quite opposite of love. So how do we value this text given those questions that are raised in such times?

I think we have to focus on the cry of Rachel as she weeps for the children “and refuses to be comforted” (Matthew 2:18). That tells us, what happened to all these children is so profoundly disgusting, that the mothers in Bethlehem and Rachel before them, refuse to accept any consolation for what happened to their children, including an explanation of how God is involved. So, if we cannot provide consolation for those who are wronged, oppressed in exile, or violated sexually, if they are without consolation, then they have a legitimate protest against the God who is “in control” of everything that happens in the world. But, this traditional “sovereignty” of God is not one of love, and it is not the rule of God that King Jesus proclaimed in relationship to the kingdom.

As many of you know, there have been a lot of sexual misconduct cases popping up as of late. There is a pattern to these that seems to happen every time, and that is, once the perpetrator is exposed, he apologizes, offers condolences to the victims and their families, and goes on to say something to the matter of “that’s not who I am.” Sorry (not sorry), but “sorry” isn’t good enough and your actions say otherwise. There is no apology that can console the women whom they have violated, and those victims have permission to mourn.

You, too, have permission to tell God that you are not okay with what happened to you this year. You may have experienced loss, tragedy, or like countless other women who are coming forward, a manipulation or violation of your dignity. But in telling the story, especially along with that of the Innocents, you protest along with the mothers, who insist that God actually cares, and they refused to be consoled, and they are wise, even more so than the “wise men,” and become the heroines of the story. And if you refuse to be consoled, then you are in good company and the Gospel of Matthew insists that the coming Jesus is one where the refusal to be comforted sets the context for hearing, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4).

In this holiday season where you may be feeling depressed, abandoned, or otherwise, and you don’t have permission from those you love most to acknowledge your feelings at the dinner table, you have allies in the mothers who mourn for their children and refuse to be consoled in the Gospel.

God is not the agent of your suffering, shame, or tragedy and new beginnings are coming.

Lest we forget, in this birth story, there are also angels. They announce the new king; they assert that the world begins again, under new management. But just as soon as they appear they seem to disappear. Why? Did you wonder what happened to them?

It would seem as though the angels have been changed as much as Herod and the Magi have. These angelic messengers become almost like risk-taking political activists who protect Jesus from the rulers of the day. We don’t really know what snapped for them, but when we meet the angel again in the story, he is adamant and insistent. He appears twice, first saying,

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.” So he 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.” – Matthew 2:13-15

Then,

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. – Matthew 2:19-21

This angel’s presence seems to communicate the abundance of God’s resolute love at work in our common life that upsets all our expectations, plans, and makes new things possible out of times of mourning, despair, and scandal. 

We had John Burke, author of Imagine Heaven, here at Real Life Church recently and got to ask him a few questions after his message regarding near-death experiences, angels, and such. You can listen to that HERE. One question that wasn’t really delved into a lot was that of “guardian angels.” Do such beings exist and what is their purpose?

In the Old Testament, there are angels who are almost like bodyguards, who will guard you on the journey, let you float above dangerous paths, and aggressive snakes (Psalm 91:11-13). You also have passages like,

In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. – Isaiah 63:9

What are we to make of this in light of everything that’s happened? Where are such angels for us today?

These stories tell us that God’s love is at work to protect, remain faithful, guard those who obey, and keep those who devote their life to the purposes of God.  Tragedies may not be prevented, but when “an angel of the Lord” appears, things change. We stay true to the spirit of Christmas when we acknowledge that God is actively working against evil and sometimes the best way to combat that, is to mourn, but to also remember, everything will be redeemed. Everything will change. In the midst of “the Slaughter of the Innocents,” God’s powerful resolve is at work, not always noticeable or even victorious, but at work nonetheless. New beginnings are always among us as this year comes to close, ones that are characterized by God’s overwhelming love and promise of protection in resilience. So, look for those guardian angels as you navigate the chaos of this holiday season, because they might just be the ones mourning right alongside you when nobody else cares.