The 12 Days of ChristmasSample

The Cost of Christ’s Birth

"When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi” (Matthew 2:16). 

Have you ever noticed that the only children in the Christmas story—other than the newborn king—are the males whom Herod slaughtered? Imagine the stress as Mary and Joseph fled over more than 100 miles to hide the Prince of Peace in Egypt.

But wait—didn’t the angels say they had good news for all people?

Yes. But that rose of good news had then—and still has— not fully bloomed. Until it blossoms, we feel the disconnect between tidings of joy and actual shalom on earth. Christmas might whisper of the world to come—through time with family, beloved carols, ham and wassail, a long-awaited hug, and/or Christmas morning with eyes all aglow—but we also mourn the depressed bank accounts, the family dysfunction, and the empty spaces at the table. Is it any wonder that so many grieve in December?  

The children of Christmas remind us that this world is still badly broken. Indeed, the arrival of those who came to worship the child set in motion horrific events, even as faith in Christ still divides households. But the first Advent is only the beginning. So, we acknowledge the brokenness as we wait in lonely exile for the story’s dénouement. But we do not wait as those without hope. A new cry will one day rise up from Ramah. So, we sing these words of Edmund Sears:

When with the ever-circling years

Shall come the time foretold,

When the new heaven and earth shall own

The Prince of Peace, their King,

And the whole world send back the song

Which now the angels sing.

Give thanks for the hope believers have in Christ. 

A little history: Commemorating the massacre of the Holy Innocents, traditionally regarded as the first Christian martyrs, even if unknowingly so, dates from about AD 485. The date of Holy Innocents' Day, also called The Innocents' Day or Childermas or Children's Mass, varies across the world. It is 27 December for West Syrians (Syriac Orthodox Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Maronite Church) and 10 January for East Syrians (Chaldeans and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), while 28 December is the date in the Church of England, the Lutheran Church and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In these latter Western Christian denominations, Childermas is the fourth day of Christmastide. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the feast on 29 December. 

Photo: Sandra Glahn; "Massacre of the Innocents" mosaic by Giovanni, Duomo Siena, Italy.