“His Own Received Him Not”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

He came unto His own and His own received Him not. It is not merely wicked Herod, but all of Jerusalem with him, that is deeply troubled at the coming of the wise men from the East. The wise men want to know where the King of kings, that Prince of Peace, is to be born. These wise men are wise by virtue of Daniel who prophesied in their country. And yet, they have more of the Scriptures, more of God’s wisdom, than merely Daniel. By God’s Grace they also have Moses. From Moses they have Balaam’s promised sign of a star. They have seen it fulfilled and with faith, with trust that the God of Moses has fulfilled these things and provided a Savior, they come to worship the One thereby announced.

But they do not have everything. They do not have Micah’s promise to Bethlehem, even though Micah predates Daniel. But it is not a great mystery as to where the Messiah is to be born for those who do. The priests are well-trained in the Scriptures. They know all about the thirty pieces of silver and the potter’s field. They are quick to respond: “Bethlehem.” But none of those Biblical scholars follows these wise men to Bethlehem. Instead, they are troubled with Herod, and all Jerusalem with them. They are not rejoicing. They are raging, plotting. Thus Herod lashes out with Satanic hatred and violence unequaled in all of time with Jerusalem’s, and the Theologian’s, consent. And the boys of Bethlehem bear the brunt of that rage. The boys of Bethlehem pay the price in blood.

The boys of Bethlehem gave up their lives while the fullness of God hidden in Mary’s Babe slipped off in the night. What kind of a god is this? What kind of a reward for David’s City? Where is the peace pronounced by angels to the shepherds in their fields? Where is God’s good will toward men?

The answer is not necessarily all that satisfying to your intellect: The ways of God are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts. But it is satisfying to faith. And if you think that you have plumbed those depths, that you understand Him, that His ways and thoughts make sense, then you have committed idolatry. You are worshiping a figment of your imagination which you call God, but who looks and thinks like you. Repent. He is incomprehensible. We cannot judge Him. We have no right to vainly speculate about His motives or what He might do or want.

What we have is what He has given us: His Word. It is His revelation to us of Himself. We can go nowhere else. And in that Holy Book we are told that in this way the prophecy from Hosea, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son” is fulfilled. That was the purpose and it is good. The boys died, their mothers mourned and refused comfort, so that He might escape in weakness, and in weakness come forth from Egypt after Herod’s mad death.

He is the Sheep led to the slaughter without complaint or resistance, but not until the appointed time. He responds to Herod’s violence, even as He will to Caiaphas and Pilate, with humility. He will submit to their violence, but only of His own will, in His own time, on His own terms. Never forget, God is hidden there and no one forces His hand. Without Him has nothing happened that may happen. In the weakness, in the frailty, in the Son of Mary, lies the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. His weakness and humility are greater than the power and violence that oppose Him.

The daring rescue of mankind that will cost Him His life cannot be thwarted but it will only be accomplished when all things are fulfilled. In the meantime, the boys of Bethlehem, are spared a life of suffering. They go early to their reward. Unlike their mothers, their hearts will never broken. They will never be lonely. They will never outlive their children.

They die that day that He might escape and return to die for them. His martyrdom is the liberating gift to the boys of Bethlehem. His life is exchanged for theirs. They seemed to die, but they really lived. Herod delivered them to heaven, peace, and joy without measure. Thus they praise God not by speaking, but by dying. Their lives are emptied of themselves and filled with Him. They do not walk in this vale of sorrow, but stand in the courts of the Lord's House.

And thus it must be also in each of you. For the Life He lived He lived for you. The death He died He died for you. And the Resurrection to which He rose, He rose for you. And this is yours when it takes over, when you are broken upon Him who was rejected by the appointed builders but made the chief Stone by the Father in heaven. He breaks you, empties you, that He might rebuild and fill you. He slays you that He might raise you again to life. It is you who are called out of Egypt and away from Pharoah’s slavery to sin and death. He makes you weak, like children, and then, in Him, only in Him, always in Him, you are strong.

Rachel weeps for her lost children, for those who are no more. Nothing can make them alive again to walk this earth. The Holy Innocents, and the not-so-holy not-so-innocents, are dead by the hands of sinful men. Rachel refuses to be comforted by the saccharine nonsense of those around her. The world has no comfort to give a grieving mother who has had her child ripped from her body. But Rachel is comforted by the Son of Leah. She is comforted by the holy Child who was not killed that day, but was killed on His own day, for her and for her salvation, and for the salvation of those children she has lost.

He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name. The Boys of Bethlehem were not abandoned. Their mothers found comfort in the wounds of Jesus who died also for them. Now they have been reunited with their sons. They will never be separated again! And already now, after maybe 50 long years of grief here on earth without their babies, they have enjoyed nearly 2000 years in perfect bliss won by Jesus with their children. So that St. Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” God be praised. He does all things well.

Ah, what availed King Herod's wrath?
He could not stop the Savior's path.
Alone, while others murdered lay,
In safety Christ is borne away.

O Lord, the Virgin-born, to Thee
Eternal praise and glory be,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.