Daily Devotion for Lent 2019 - Day 4

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:13-23 (NRSV)

Matthew references prophecies concerning Jesus three times in today's reading.

Verse 15 restates Hosea 11:1.

Verse 18 refers to Jeremiah 31:15.

And verse 23?  We're not sure.  There are lots of theories you can access but I think Matthew may have been recalling an unknown local writing.  After all, the canon wasn't fixed yet.

What today's reading does is remind us about the violence visited upon the Judean people throughout history.  As Jesus is set up to be the new Moses who comes out of Egypt to free his people, we also remember how the baby boys were killed while they were slaves.  Moses was hidden and protected from this fate.

The second reference from Jeremiah actually recalls the Exile when God's people were invaded and then rounded up.  Many of the survivors were taken away to Babylon and didn't return in their lifetime.

As Matthew writes this Gospel, we remember that it would have been influenced by the destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple in the year 70.  This would have been more violence done to the Jewish people.

As we read it today, we have to understand it in light of the Holocaust of the 20th century.

Today's story reminds the people that this awful violence done by their own ruler (King Herod) is no better than Pharaoh.

Or Caesar.

When it was first published, Matthew's readership would see a correlation between what was done around Bethlehem and what was done in Jerusalem.  It suggests that the powers that be do not care for you and will murder you and your families at their whim.

Let's make a world where

all children realize their potential.

The contrast will be that Jesus is someone who will care for even the least among us.  Not only will he care for the forgotten, he will identify with them.

Pilate will later pose the question to the people who they will better identify with and they choose Barabbas over Jesus showing our penchant for violence.

I think about systemic violence and the suffering of children today.  We wonder about why no one stepped up to stop this atrocity when we read stories like this.  But we may turn a blind eye because it is simply a part of the system in which we live.  Maybe our own exile is self-imposed.

Prayer for the day:

God, help us to see.
And when we see, 
help us to not immediately close our eyes.
And if what we see is not in accordance with your will,
help us to speak.
And if no one will listen, 
help us to act until what we see is pleasing to you.
Amen.


Photo by Jaisril via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.