Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.
Pharaoh once ordered that all male Hebrew children who were born would be killed but Moses was protected. So now Jesus, like a new Moses, was spared from Herod's slaughter of male children in Bethlehem under the age of two years old. Moses was protected by being taken into an Egyptian household. Jesus and his family were also able to find refuge in Egypt, far from the rule of Herod.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
God led Israel, whom he considered a firstborn son, out of Egypt by the hand of Moses in the Exodus. But there was a new and greater Exodus beginning in the person of Jesus himself.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem (see Luke 9:30-31).
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
These Holy Innocents were mourned and lamented but not forgotten. Neither were their deaths meaningless. Their lives were given up because of their association with Jesus himself. It was as though they themselves mocked Herod, saying 'Do you really so fear a child so much as to destroy us who are harmless to you?' But Herod was all but powerless against these children. For their witness would echo down through the ages, unforgotten and undimmed. For a brief moment of pain they would share the eternal glory of the martyrs' crown. They were given this as a gift before they could use their own reason to turn away from God, before they would even have to struggle to be faithful. Would fallen, adult humans choose such a fate? Probably not. Perhaps we would rather cling to our castles built on sand. But isn't it likely that these Holy Innocents, now encouraging us from heaven, wouldn't change a thing?
For those of us who are neither particularly holy nor especially innocent, those who prefer the courts of Herod instead of sharing in the fate of Jesus, this need not be the end of our story. Indeed, to the Holy Innocents one grace was given, but to us another of a different kind. Jesus did not prepare his Kingdom only for those few perfect ones he snatched away from Hell, but for any sinners who would be willing to be made pure. We did not begin as Holy Innocents, but that can be our end if we let the Blood of Jesus work in our lives.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
We cannot now say that we have not sinned. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). And although we are called to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (see Matthew 5:48) it is understood that this perfection is the result of a gradual purification over the course of our lives, as gold is refined by the fire of God's love.
My children, I am writing this to you
so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.
When we hear voices of condemnation these voices do not come from God. Such inner monologues of self-criticism may originate from ourselves, because of wounds from our past, or be insinuated against us by demonic suggestion. We need not dwell on the origin of such self slander, but should instead turn toward the solution. Our Advocate will speak up for us when even we ourselves are not fully convinced. He will plead our case to his Father if we only allow him to do so. Hearing this even we ourselves will come to believe that what Jesus sees in us is real.
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