"Rachel's Children"

Isaiah 63:7-9; Matthew 2:13-23

The words of those beautiful carols are still in our ears; the lights of the Chrismon tree and Advent wreathe are in our vision. And yet with today’s gospel text, we are forced to move away from the scene at the stable into a very different scene of warnings, dreams, and severe human suffering.

Matthew is the gospel that helps bridge from the Old Testament to the story of Jesus. He does this by incorporating Hebrew prophecies as he brings them forward to help in the telling of his story. He keeps reminding his readers that this child is the fulfillment of all Torah, of all the prophets.

Matthew seems to be trying to make a case for Jesus being a sort of new Moses. Look at the parallels. Moses’ life had also been threatened as an infant by the Pharaoh’s decree that all Hebrew boy babies should be killed. But he was saved by his mother and sister and by the Pharaoh’s own daughter. Joseph is warned in a dream and takes Jesus and his mother away to safety in Egypt.

Moses delivered his people from the slavery of Egypt, and Jesus will deliver his people from a different slavery – a slavery to sin. When Joseph was given instructions for naming the baby, the angel told him, “You shall call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Moses gave God’s law or Torah to God’s people, and Jesus fulfills Torah and also offers a new commandment to love one another as he has loved.

And as Matthew continues his story, he also parallels the suffering of the people in Bethlehem whose babies are being killed by the evil Herod with the suffering of God’s people Israel. This almost inconsolable sorrow is symbolized by Rachel – Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled because they are no more – Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah.

You remember the story of Rachel from Genesis. She was one of the daughters of Laban and one of the wives of Jacob. When Jacob had to flee the wrath of his brother Esau after stealing his birthright, Jacob fled north to his Uncle Laban’s home. Jacob fell in love with the beautiful Rachel when he saw her and agreed to work for 7 years for her hand in marriage. And after 7 years, they were to be married.

But Laban tricked Jacob, and sent his older daughter, Leah, wearing a veil, into the marriage tent. Of course Jacob was furious, but he agreed to work another 7 years for Rachel. When they were married, Rachel was unable to have children. Leah had 4 children right away, and never let an opportunity pass to remind Rachel that she was not able to have children.

Well, Rachel finally did have a son whose name was Joseph – the favorite son of Jacob – remember the coat of many colors! And you will also remember that his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. And several years later when Rachel had a second son, she died giving birth to Benjamin.

So the prophet Jeremiah remembers Rachel’s great sadness, and uses that sadness as he describes the people of Israel being carried away into exile. Ramah was the place where the deportation took place, so Jeremiah pictures Rachel weeping for the exiles at Ramah.

Matthew then brings Jeremiah’s words forward to his writing and uses the picture of Rachel’s weeping to describe the sadness of the mothers of Bethlehem as their babies are being killed. All because of Herod’s fear of a new king.

So what do we do with a story like this, particularly this week when everything is supposed to be light and happy? Why did Matthew think it important for this particular story to be told especially right here at the beginning of the story of the life of Jesus?

Well, let’s think about this! Is the Christmas season really all light and happy? Has this week been just sugarplum fairies and sweetness? The truth is that the holidays for some people are full of sadness, and are full of expectations that are never met. And of course, there is life – relatives that might have hung around a bit too long. We may have gifts to return or exchange. The house is a wreck, and the world is a mess, and yet we were supposed to be full of cheer! Maybe this story pulls us back to reality – the reality that is the reason for the incarnation.

After all, Jesus did not come because our homes are picture perfect and all our decorations are lovely and because our families are healthy and loving. Jesus came because our homes are a wreck and the world is a mess. Jesus came because of God’s immeasurable love for the world.

And even at his birth, the rulers of this world did not want anyone to believe that God’s love was more powerful than the might that they could wield. The rulers of this world do not want anyone to believe in unconditional love. They want everyone to be afraid – very afraid!

In fact, they probably want everyone to forget to tell this story of Rachel weeping for her children so that everyone will forget what we are truly up against in this world and what the birth of Christ was really all about.

There are many stories in the Bible that we would like to forget about. They are horrid, cruel, violent and sometimes we cannot imagine why they are included in the word of God. But they remind us about reality and do not let us forget that God chose to be born into our reality. God comes into this cruel and broken world. Emmanuel – God is with us.

It is like when we visit a place like the Holocaust Museums. We don’t go to enjoy the exhibit, but to remember, and to be changed by the experience. It serves as a witness to a time of horror that we hope will not be repeated.

This text also serves as a witness and a remembrance. We cannot explain or justify or defend it. We just simply listen, and our hearts break at the horror of babies having to die.

So perhaps part of what we do today is to sit quietly and remember all of Rachel’s children – all those who have died at the hands of cruelty, at the hands of the powers of this world throughout the ages. We do not know their names, but we acknowledge that the world is full of their stories. We acknowledge that they mattered.

But the other thing we can do today is to remember that this suffering is not the end of the story. God’s love comes to us even in the midst of our suffering and is willing to take that suffering into God’s very being.

There is a wonderful story told about Rev. William Sloan Coffin who was the pastor at Riverside Church in New York. A man in his church had a loved one die, and the funeral was on a wet, cold, miserable day. After everyone else had left the cemetery, the man stayed there in the cold and rain, for several hours, dealing with his grief. When he finally turned to walk to his car, Pastor Coffin was standing right behind him. He had been there all the time to offer comfort to the man.

God’s presence is like that. No matter what we are going through, God is there with us, sharing in our sorrow.

The reading from Isaiah this morning reminds us of God’s presence, “It was no messenger or angel but God’s presence that saved them; in his love and in his compassion, he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them as in days of old.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.