The Flight to Egypt and the Slaughter of the Innocent Children

Thursday, December 10, 2015 

            Once the magi had paid homage to the Christ child, they did not go report to Herod, but went home another way.  After this, Joseph had another dream in which a messenger told him to “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.”  Get up, take, and flee.  With these abrupt, short words as his directions, Joseph moved…and I get the impression that he did so immediately.  Oh, if only, if I am certain that something is God’s calling for my life, I would move into action…immediately.  Instead, I wait and ponder and plan, all along struggling with whether or not I am doing the right thing!  In this case, Joseph’s failure to act when and as directed could have cost the child his life and all the hopes and dreams that went along with it.  What have I lost when I have tarried the so very many times I have?  A book of poetry unpublished.  A missed meeting with Ladora.  How many, many other blessings and challenges that would have sharpened my faith have I denied myself?

            But, enough regrets!  I now have Joseph, as a person who responds to God’s directions immediately as my role model!

            The messenger told Joseph what the consequences would be if he did not obey: Herod would have Jesus killed.  The king was furious when he finally determined that the magi had deceived him, and he went on a rampage and had all the children two years old and under slaughtered.  What does this remind you of?  My first thought is of Moses.  His life, too, was saved by swift action.  These two men were giants whose lives changed the world.  They learned the importance of swift action from their families.

            Herod’s actions also had horrendous consequences, as have all the murderers of children, women, and men across the span of human history.  A teacher in a high school history class made me think seriously about this one day when she pondered, “Who knows how many scientists, doctors, and novelists the world was deprived of because of what Hitler and the Nazis did in killing so very many children and adults?  The whole world was robbed of a whole generation of gifted people.”

            I can barely tolerate thinking of how many Herod- and Hitler-like people our world has seen even in my lifetime, even in the first fifteen years of the twenty-first century.

            This crisis prompts me to have two responses, two sides of the same coin, as it were.  First of all, to work for peace as if life depends on it, for it does!  And, second, to be more like Joseph by responding to God’s directions immediately!