Slaughter Of The Innocents

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1. Brother Nathanael January 3, 2023 9:17 PM

   Slaughter Of The Innocents

   You can’t think straight when in a hateful, jealous rage.

   Such was Herod the Great when learning of King Messiah’s birth.

   Informed by the Wise Men of the newborn King, Whose star heralded the royal scepter arising in Jacob—in Bethlehem precisely, as the scribes recited—Herod and his court are greatly troubled.

   Even upon the very moment of the Wise Men passing into Jerusalem, Herod is stirred with envy, indignation and fear. [Clip]

   [“They crossed my border yet not one of them sends me greeting? Are they armed?” “Not heavily, your Majesty. Our spies say they were equipped to travel fast and far.” “But they were not heading here? If not here, where?” “It was Bethlehem, your Majesty. They followed a star. The new star.” “Bethlehem?” “A ruler in Israel? Have those travelers watched all the time. And bring me the names of all newborn children in Bethlehem.”]

   Hearing of the Wise Men’s crossing from Rome’s direct administration back into his own, Herod breaks into a manic rage. [Clip]

   [“Those travelers crossed my frontier again.” “Yes, your Majesty.” “Yes, your majesty.” “But the Child must still be here. Kill every male child up to one year old. Two years old. Better the innocent should die than the guilty escape.” “Guilty, your majesty? A child?” “Guilty in the womb! Guilty in the stars! I’ll bring down their stars! I’ll snuff them out in blood! This is my world! I will not share it with an infant! There’s no room for two kings here. Like a new found scorpion underfoot! Do you know the mark of a real king? Courage, even in the face of Jewish prophecy, bits of old parchment, old blind men. Ha! Now go to Bethlehem and make history. Kill!” “But your Majesty…” “Kill! Kill them all! Kill! Kill them all!”]

   The slaughter begins.

   Children, two years old and under—in Bethlehem, and in surrounding villages and towns—114,000 in all, along with mothers desperately trying to protect their children.

   Children, senselessly, mercilessly slaughtered by the directive of Herod, these Children are the first martyrs of the Church receive their crowns woven in heaven.

   This is, “Rachel, weeping for her children,” as Jeremiah prophesied, “refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”

   A great mystery is unveiled.

   Jacob loved Rachel of beautiful open eyes.

   But Leah, Jacob’s other wife, with weak and squinting eyes, Jacob disliked.

   While in pains with Benjamin, Rachel names him, “Ben-Oni,” “Son of my Pain,” and she dies.

   Jacob renames him, “Ben-Yamin,” “Son of my Strength,” his last male child.

   Rachel prevails.

   For Leah, with squinting eyes, signifying the weakness of the synagogue, is blinded to the coming of King Messiah.

   But Rachel, with open eyes, imbued with the beauty of the Church, the “Israel of God,” laments the tragedy of Jacob’s brood, in that “they are no more.”

   Yet the Church, the Orthodox Church—comprised of the remnant of Israelites and the expansive breath of the Gentiles—prospers and grows in all Her fullness upon the resurrection of King Messiah.

   By the preaching and journeys of St Paul, countless Churches are built and established.

   Noble figures soon spring forth.

   St Athanaisus the Great, St John Chrysostom the Golden Mouth, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Leo the Great.

   We witness the words of Christ fulfilled:

   “Upon This Rock”—(the confession of St Peter)—“I Will Build My Church, And The Gates Of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against It.”

   The Church flourishes up to this very day.

   Not only with the great revival in historic Orthodox Christian Russia—participated in by its leaders and people…

   …But in America today, with converts from secularism partaking of Orthodox Christian sacraments and worship.

   I too, a convert from Judaism, raised in the synagogue, identify as part of that Israelite “remnant” that is now joined to the “Commonwealth of Israel,” as St Paul puts it, which he describes as the Church, the “Israel of God.”

   “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” the early Church Fathers said.

   The slaughter of the innocents, those blessed 114,000 children of Bethlehem, did not die in vain.

   Their blood, the “seed of the Church,” planted the way for me, a former Jew, to come to the Holy Child they shed their blood for, Jesus, Messiah and King!

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2. Mark January 4, 2023 8:04 AM

   And the prophecies of Christ…continues unto this day
   How is it ye can discern the skies yet not discern the times??
   A more relevant question TODAY then yesteryear

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