Feast of the Holy Innocents
“Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” – Exodus 1:8
The gospel passage for today’s Mass looks backward to a previous brutal act by a ruler. It also looks forward as it unmasks for us why human beings can do acts of violence like this one. Thus, it remains an important witness and challenge for every generation, including our own.
Let us begin with that previous brutal act.
The Book of Genesis appears, at first glance, to have a happy ending. It wasn’t looking that way some chapters before. Joseph, obviously his father Jacob’s favorite son, gained the jealousy of his brothers. They wanted to kill him, but settled on selling him into slavery as they see a passing caravan of merchants. Joseph ends up in an Egyptian prison due to a false accusation. Thus, he ends up precisely where God means him to be. Joseph’s gift of interpreting dreams wins him renown even in prison. The Pharaoh himself hears of Joseph and calls on Joseph to interpret a particularly vexing dream. Joseph does, and Pharaoh entrusts him with the task of preparing Egypt for the events that the dream foretells.
Joseph guides the organization of the grain harvests during seven very abundant years and sees to it that plenty of grain is stored away, Then, when these seven plentiful years are followed by seven years of very poor harvests, Egypt is spared a famine. There is grain to see it through. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt seeking food, and Joseph and his brothers are reconciled to one another. Pharaoh invites Jacob and his extended family to come to Egypt and stay as guests of the Pharaoh. Because of Pharaoh’s trust in Joseph – and ultimately in God – everyone survives the famine and everyone is reconciled.
However, as the Book of Exodus begins, the mood quickly changes. A new Pharaoh comes to power, one who “knew nothing of Joseph”. This Pharaoh had not merely forgotten Joseph as a person of the past. He had also forgotten how abundance and reconciliation come from trust in God. Lacking this trust, this new Pharaoh slides more and more into insecurity. He feels threatened by the Israelites, who have done nothing to deserve these suspicions. He has the Israelites enslaved, and has them build supply cities. He who can no longer trust God must try to secure a future by his own works, which also involve the exploitation of others. Yet the Israelites grow more numerous in spite of their oppression and hard labor. As a result, the Pharaoh, now feeling even more threatened, has all the baby boys of the Israelites killed. Only Moses escapes.
Now, let’s shift our attention to the Gospel story itself. We are introduced to the Herod known in history as Herod the Great. This Herod had been named “King of the Jews” by the new Emperor Augustus. Herod would rule on behalf of Rome and with Roman power to support him. Nevertheless, Herod soon became very insecure and suspicious in his rule. He would end up having his own wife and some of his sons put to death on suspicion of treason against him. Herod’s reaction in this Gospel story, as he hears of a newborn King of the Jews, is quite consistent with what we know of Herod from other historical sources. Herod can only see this baby as a threat to his own power, and must destroy this baby somehow. Hence, the massacre of the all the boys in Bethlehem two years of age and under. None of these could possibly pose any real threat to the aging Herod. Nevertheless, blinded by insecurity, lacking in faith, he lashes out to preserve the world that he knows, the world where he is on top. No crime is too brutal if it will help him secure his position.
We’d like to think of such a horrible act as an isolated incident. But it happens over and over again. How many wars have begun because a leader or a group of people felt insecure and threatened by a changing political scene? How many times do we read stories of men who abuse or murder their wives/girlfriends/exes/children because they felt their worlds unraveling, felt insecure and threatened, and could no longer control the lives of others in their families? How many mass murders have begun this way? How many acts of terrorism? How many “innocents” have suffered – and continue to suffer – because of all this?
What about us? Even though most of us may never feel driven to commit such atrocities, we may still feel the fears and anxieties that a changing world can inflame in us. We may find ourselves tempted to assert more control over our own little worlds and the people in them, as a means of protecting ourselves from the uncertainties of life. We are tempted to forget where our true security lies. This security doesn’t come from more money, more guns, or more popularity. It doesn’t come from simply getting others to let us have our own way. It comes from an unshakeable trust in God.
Remember the story of Joseph and Pharaoh which began this little reflection. Pharaoh was open to God’s will, even when it was manifested through a most unlikely source – a foreign imprisoned slave. This trust led to an abundance of grain for Egypt in time of drought and reconciliation both within Joseph’s family and between this little band of Israelites and the Egyptians. It was a loss of faith and trust that caused it to unravel. It is the ascendance of insecurity in our hearts that leads to acts of violence and inhumanity – small as well as great. May we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, so that we may become agents of reconciliation and life, as Joseph was in the Old Testament and as Joseph, Mary and the Magi were in the New.