Matthew 2:13-18

“When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under,” vs. 16

No one quite knows the origin of Matthew’s grotesque story about Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem, and there are many who wish he had not included it in his gospel. It does however serve as a chilling reminder of the ugly, unspeakably cruel methods that even now are used to gain and conserve power. Every year, somewhere in the world, innocents are slaughtered while religious and tribal groups are targeted for extermination. Even in our own country the streets of large cities run red with the blood of children shot in the course of unrelenting gang warfare. Occasionally we can be tricked into thinking the times are safer now and that modern people are so much more civilized. It would be nice if that were true, but it isn’t! It would seem that all we’ve really done is invent more efficient and deadly killing machines…humans remain as cruel as ever. Still, there is some good news for us on this last day of the year. Jesus survived the plot of Herod and lived to challenge the power of his son. Evil never has the last word in God’s world and will ultimately be overcome by the sheer power of love.

Thought for the Day: How do cruel people handle the problem of guilt?