"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph did not hesitate but rose and took his mother and child without waiting for morning to dawn. In doing so he protected the infant Jesus against the designs of Herod. Herod realized the Magi weren't going to help him to locate the child and so, assuming he was still in Bethlehem, he ordered the massacre of all of the boys two years old and under. These children who had not yet reached the age of reason still gave the lives in a kind of martyrdom to protect the life of Jesus, the true king, from Herod the false claimant to the throne. By his excessive fear that a rightful king would be revealed Herod demonstrated he knew he was not that king. Each child he slaughtered was therefore a witness to the true kingship, as if with his life he said, 'Not me. Not you. Another'.
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,
Was it right for God to allow for this kind of collateral damage? If we believe that it is truly a high calling to give our lives as witnesses to Jesus then why would this be less true of the Holy Innocents? True, martyrs typically give a sort of consent. But martyrs are always acting in cooperation with a necessary grace. God moved history to put these Holy Innocents into a privileged position. In other martyrs he also moved the heart and the will. And perhaps he chose these infants because he knew that, if asked to cooperate with grace, they would in fact have consented. Wouldn't it actually be wonderful if God would move us to follow him in an indefectible way from which we could not fall away and at which we could not fail? Isn't that, by definition, what we desire as Christians? Or at least, if it isn't what we want, isn't it what we want to want? We may not think a system of predestination in which grace is in fact irresistible is an ideal system. But don't we at least wish we were less inclined to resist grace ourselves?
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.
The life of Jesus represented a new exodus from a spiritual Egypt. What we see in this Gospel is Jesus as the typological fulfillment of Israel called forth from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. Although it appeared to be weakness, his power was such that even kings could oppose him. It was similar to how Pharaoh was unable to destroy Moses by killing the Hebrews' firstborns, and how he was unable to prevent Moses from liberating his fellow Israelites. Even his chariots and charioteers could not compete with God's providential plan. We have seen already even in the earliest parts of the Gospels that we have all the grounds we need for great confidence that God will be able to set us free as well. Neither history, nor, we hope, even our own hearts can stand in his way. So let us desire to become his witnesses, if not by our death as martyrs, at least by our lives.
It is already too late for us to give a witness that is all at once and perfect as did the Holy Innocents. We cannot say, "We are without sin". But even so it is not too late for us. Jesus is our "Advocate with the Father" who is the "expiation for our sins". So, even if we do not always manage to follow the holy infants in their innocence, let us at least hope to follow them as witnesses to Jesus, their savior, and ours.
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