GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
Today we remember a terrible event within the Gospels; two days after Christmas, the Church remembers the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents. This gruesome Bible passage is only found in St. Matthew’s Gospel. It is said that this event was so terrible that St. Luke, the Evangelist who offers the best historical account, just could not stomach this event and therefore skipped it altogether. One of the things that St. Matthew sets out to do is to show how the prophecies from the Old Testament were fulfilled, and therefore he shows how Jeremiah’s prophecy came to fulfill through this event.
Now, it is important to point out that God was not the author of this evil, nor is He ever the originator of any evil thing. When God created all things, they were all “good”. But evil comes into this world due to the power and free will of the devil. St. Basil the Great writes, “O God, the Great, the Eternal, who formed man in incorruption; and death, which entered into the world through the envy of the devil, You have destroyed by the life-giving manifestation of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ”. God does not author evil, but He permits His creation to act in rebellion against Him according to their own free will. But God does not allow the evil, which happens in this world, to remain as it is. The statement that Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis is true for all of us at all times, he says “You meant evil against me, but God used it for good.”
The reason why I bring this up is the fact that the Church Herself recognizes the evil in this world and is not afraid to call it out. It must be said that, when we suffer, it is not because God wishes to see His creation to suffer. It is completely fine to have negative feelings when something bad has happened to you. You should never see those evil events in your life as something that God had set before you.
God is not foreign to the concept of suffering; one of the Messianic titles of Jesus is the “suffering servant”. When Christ came into this world, He came into it as a poor man. Just two days ago, we remember that He was born in a cave, laid inside a feeding trough, and had no inheritance from Joseph. It is said that this is how we can relate to one another, I mean between Christ and all of mankind. We relate with Him not because He was a male, for women would not be able to relate; not because He was Jewish, for we aren’t Jewish; not because of the time in which He was born, not because of His religion, not because of any specific characteristic of Him. We relate with Him on account that everyone suffers, Christ Himself suffered and suffers with us.
God is not the originator of our suffering, but rather, He is our way out of our suffering. I don’t mean this in the same way prosperity preachers talk about Him, but rather that God is known as our Comforter. At seminary, the prayer that we say before every class is, “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life - come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.” God suffers with us, and the shortest verse of the Bible holds for whenever we fall on hard times. Whenever we suffer Jesus weeps. Whenever we suffer, God is moved with compassion for His beloved children. There are no decent parents in this world that would not be moved to tears when they see their children suffering. How much more do you think God is moved when He sees us in a state of need? Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when life forces you to the ground, look up to your Father Who is in Heaven. When life’s burden pins you to the ground, ask Christ to take your burden away and to receive what He has for you. And finally, my dear brothers and sisters, do as St. Paul has instructed us and give Glory to God in all things.