ZPCBlog

About the author: Matt Doublestein and his wife Libby began attending ZPC with their family in 2021. They both work in local school districts, Matt in Zionsville and Libby in Sheridan, and are thankful for the Lord's grace in the adventure that is raising their children Caleb (10), Elsa (8), and Talia (2).

When I mentioned signing up to write about this passage, someone described it to me as the "dark side of the Christmas story." Indeed, how dark it is to contemplate the abject terror of the Massacre of the Innocents - and yet, here it is, mere verses away from the meek and mild birth of the Christ child. The unspeakable pain that must have afflicted the families, homes, and neighborhoods of Bethlehem seems so at odds with the joy of the arrival of the Redeemer. For many among us, though, agony and tragedy are not so difficult to imagine. Wars around the world, violence in our own nation – even our own communities are not immune from such evil as the senseless death of innocent children. In the minds of the first century people of God, I wonder if they remembered Exodus 11 and the plague of the death of the firstborn of Egypt when God told Moses that there would be "a loud loud crying throughout Egypt, such as there has never been or ever will be again (v.6)."  In both Bethlehem in Matthew and in Egypt in Exodus, we read of such horror, and it continues in our broken world today. Even as I type this I hold back tears thinking of those in our own lives who have lost loved ones – beloved friends, family members, children.  

In neither the Tenth Plague nor the Massacre of the Innocents are God's people left in darkness, however. God gave Moses to Israel who led them out of the oppression of Egypt. In the same way, he gave Jesus who leads us out of the oppression of sin and death. Neither journey was or will be without pain. Israel suffered starvation, thirst, war, pain and yes, even death in the wilderness. We continue to suffer the same as the Lord works his plan of salvation through the tapestry of human history. But into the darkness, God has sent THE LIGHT: His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. John reminds us in the beginning of his Gospel that "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."

God brought The Light, The Savior, Jesus Christ into a world shattered by the pain of sin and death, just as it had been thousands of years before in Egypt, just as it was in Herod's Massacre, and just as it would be time and time again even into our own day. Jesus, after his own tortuous death, would rise again on the third day as the Risen Savior, the Root of Jesse who shines light in the darkness. He is the one in Revelation 21 who says with a loud voice from the throne: "Look!  God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (v.3-4)."

What joy in sadness.  What light in darkness.  Come Lord Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for sending your Son to be the light in darkness.  As you have all throughout history, we pray that you would give comfort to those who hurt and mourn even as you gave Jesus to mend your creation broken by sin and death.  While we long for the day when all will be made new, we rejoice this season in the grace you shine on this world through the light of Christ. 
Amen.

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