One of the stories we don't like to focus on during this time is told in Matthew 2:13-18. There, we read about infanticide: the killing of the young male babies by Herod's troops in the vicinity of Bethlehem, after the wise men visit Jesus. Warned by an angel, Joseph and Mary have fled to Egypt, where they are safe for the moment. Herod, in his insane jealousy, slaughters the innocents. The exact number of babies killed by this despot is up to debate, depending on estimates of the population and the birth rate. Whether a few or hundreds, that horror still holds us.
A couple of points come to mind from this (not counting my anger against Herod). First, this is a foretaste of what a despotic government would do again, in 30 years or so, to torture and kill Jesus on the cross with the weight of all our sins on his shoulders. Once more, authority figures (the jealous Sanhedrin, another Herod, and the Roman governor Pilate) would kill an innocent -- Jesus -- in an attempt to keep their hold on control. And of course, once again they would fail, as Jesus rose from the dead, and his followers spread like dandelions in spring. These despotic methods and motivations continue even today in modern rulers who, knowingly or unknowingly, roll over many innocents in their pursuit of power and agenda. (Note, my observation is not confined to any political party in my own country or any other; every modern official, and business leader, is guilty of this in small or large ways).
Second, I found a blog courtesy of one of my friends, discussing a painting depicting a terror-stricken mother holding her child. You can find the blog here: http://mikefrost.net/
The woman is looking directly at us, to ask you and me, today, "will you side with the powerless?" We have chances every week to provide for someone in need, to uphold the weak and weary, and help the downtrodden. Even if we don't directly save someone from death, as we might have been able that woman and her child, we never know how much help our "little bit" will create, do we? As Jesus said, "If you've done it for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you've done it to me." Let's remember that with our year-end giving, and with every time we see someone in need and have a way to help.
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