First Sunday after Christmas
Mathew 2: 13-18
Refuse to be Consoled
Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more.”
Mathew 2:18
The Sunday after Christmas is one of the dreaded Sundays of the year by most pastors and their congregations for in the midst of holiday merry making and New Year’s Eve preparations comes this horrifying text about King Herod who ordered the slaughter of innocent children who might threaten his throne. He thought rather than sit and wait for this day of reckoning why not simply kill the babe before he grows up and becomes a threat? So when the wise ones failed to cooperate with his plan, he simply ordered his troops to the village of Bethlehem to kill every male child under two years old; thus, the slaughter or massacre of the innocents. Jesus was hunted down by the ruling authorities from the day of his birth. The culture of death cannot stand the God of life.
This terrible story is often omitted in favor of the flight into Egypt, the focus on our Savior as our Refuge and as a refugee. Where is the good news in talking about children being slaughtered? Catholics and Anglicans however do commemorate December 28 as the Feast of the Martyrs or Holy Innocents. The church commemorates this day as a way to remember that these little ones died unwittingly in the place of Christ. “They were killed by the same interests that would later conspire in the death of Jesus and for the same reasons—to stifle from birth any hope that the world might change” (All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time p.566). And so it is for this reason, the hope that the world might change that we need to include this gruesome story in our holiday worship and in our reflection about Palestine and Israel.
But why bring up mother Rachel? Why do the Prophet Jeremiah and then Mathew call her from her resting place? What is it about life and sorrow that makes us think about Rachel’s story? Let me highlight some of the essential events of her story. Rachel’s story is one of betrayal and loss. She never got to marry the man she was supposed to. Her father replaced her with her sister Leah and later she had children that died. She, herself, died in giving birth to her last son. Rachel’s voice is heard in Ramah, bitter lamentation and weeping because she can no longer see or hold her children, hear their laughter, comfort their tears. She refuses to be consoled or remain silent. She resists consolation while the outrage continues. Her resistance is both a protest and a waiting on God.
The ancient rabbis in their midrashes say that Abraham and Moses joined Rachel in her weeping. They tried to remind God to act, to be faithful to his promise of a lasting covenant. After all, wasn’t this the God of the wilderness and the Exodus? On top they argued that God has to respond to Rachel because this is also the promise of one parent to another, “Your children will come back.”
Rachel’s refusal is as significant as Mary’s acceptance. Mary’s praise is steeped in the prophetic faith while Rachel’s lament is an act of faithfulness that makes room for authentic doxology or thanksgiving. Rachel holds open the possibility of again praising the God of justice and new life. Mary too will lose her child and the sword of grief will pierce her heart soon enough. This isn’t foreshadowing but the law of life in a world of violence and empire.
In addition, the Jewish mystics hold that the Messiah will return not to a mountain top like Zion or Sinai but to Rachel’s tomb, “To mother Rachel he will bring glad tidings: And he will comfort her. And she will let herself be comforted. And she will rise up and kiss him” (Zohar 2.7a-9a). The stories of exile are connected as are the stories of joy and grief. And most likely those forced into exile would pass by Rachel’s tomb.
Mathew’s Gospel shares these teachings because Mary’s son is the fulfillment of that Messianic hope. We, like the Magi to come, cannot crown him a king, unless we stop here at Rachel’s tomb. Parent God, like Rachel and Mary and Jeremiah all risk involvement in a creation of flesh and blood, love and hatred.
So in the midst of our holiday parties and New Year’s celebrations, let us pause to listen to Rachel’s lament because today her children and the children of her neighbors are still dying, being slaughtered and exiled. God is listening? Are we?
In our own time in Palestine and Israel, apache helicopters and drones, rockets, bullets, and tear gas canisters are killing children. On December 27, 2008, the sixth day of Hanukkah Israel led a massive military strike against Gaza called “Operation Cast lead.” The assault occurred during the crushing blockade and sanctions, which began in 2006 with the parliamentary election of Hamas leaders. The attacks on civilians and civilian targets were flagrant violations against international law and many would argue against humanity.
The blockade has destroyed the economy and infrastructure of Gaza which means there is a high poverty and unemployment rate (see AFSC report, Gaza in Crisis for more information) as well as massive other problems including lack of medical care, clean water, and large scale post traumatic stress among all its inhabitants including the children.
Like our 9/11 the attack began on a sunny day this time while children were walking back from school. By the end of the 22 days of destruction and death, 1,400 Palestinians had died, 5,000 injured. 344 children were killed. These are Rachel’s children. They are Herod’s slaughtered victims, cut down to prevent the seed of liberation from taking root and growing.
These are our children too. They are victims not only of Israel’s militarized
rage but our own Herodian policies that support and continue the occupation and siege. Our monies and policies, silence and inaction supported this military siege. Our complicity makes us responsible, our faith interconnected for the ongoing blockade and daily attacks.
Lifting Their Spirits: Remembering Gaza’s Children
On New Year’s Eve Day I attended a beautiful and sad event in Chicago commemorating the death of these 344 children. The event or launch was planned by the youth of the Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights. Over 200 people met in Millennium Park at the Bean and then marched with 344 black balloons to a nearby field where a number of people spoke. People carried black biodegradable balloons with names of the children written on seed paper so when it lands flowers may grow. I carried a balloon with the name of a 16 year old named Thaer Shalar Sha Cban Kerwuift.
For other accounts of the Gaza siege beyond the Goldstone Report read “Memories of Gaza: When the Victim is called the Terrorist by Sara Ali
Two youth read stories from some of the youth who survived the siege from the script of the Gaza Dialogues. These are stories gathered from the youth of Gaza about the war and the siege. Listen to a dramatic reading of the stories from an evening where they were performed in Chicago on November 29, 2010.
After a number of youth spoke I was invited to share this poem/prayer that I had written for the day and for my blog. After the prayer we had a moment of silence and then we released the balloons. Our release was not a way to let them go as much as it was to remember who each of them was and to allow their spirits to live again vibrantly as new life. The balloon launch was another way of saying presente to our murdered children.
This is me reading the prayer Lifting Spirits.
Parent God,
we remember the Feast of the Innocents,
your martyrs slaughtered in cold blood
like it was yesterday.
For today on this third anniversary,
in the season of celebration
we remember the 344 children
massacred by weapons paid for by us.
We remember and lift up their spirits,
Your children, ours.
Give us the strength of your fierce love
to put an end to this raging madness for power.
Give us the ears to hear the cries for liberation,
the eyes to not turn away,
the heart to stomach the pain
of so much unnecessary suffering.
Help us to remember and lift up their spirits,
your children, ours.
Give us the will to confront the Powers
there and here.
Remind us once again
to commemorate not just the victims of rage
but its ultimate failure.
The child lives
and continues to be born and born again.
May we live forward with this knowing
and act like we believe it.
Lift up their spirits,
Holy One of life and new beginnings,
we are all Your children.
I reflected on that cold and grey day that our chants were about remembering Gaza’s children while I was calling us to remember that these were our children, God’s children. The perspective of a theologian and mother. Though originally I wrote the lines, “The child lives and continue to be born and born again” as Jesus I was aware also that standing in front of the Diaspora youth of Palestine and other youth that these too are Rachel’s children. They are her grown up children reminding us how to weep, remember and release. This wonderful irony was not lost on my sad spirit and I was deeply grateful for their tender leadership.
On this anniversary of the slaughter of Rachel’s children, I also lift up the children who created pictures of what they saw or experienced. Their art was censored this year by the Oakland Children’s museum but can be seen in this video and in a book called A Child’s View of Gaza: Palestinian Children’s Art and the Fight Again Censorship.
We celebrate then the birth of the baby Jesus, the child, by remembering all our children. We celebrate them by showering them with gifts on Christmas or on Three King’s Day. I believe now however in light of reading our sacred texts more carefully and in light of the massacre of the innocents in Gaza that we should stop by Rachel’s tomb and allow her lamentation to join our chorus of praise. So even though her tomb is literally sealed off by the “Separation Wall’ and open only for Jewish pilgrims let us stop here on our way into exile or our way out of town. Let us hear her lament as our own so we can hear or see the cries of all her children, the ones massacred, the one’s living in emotional pain, and the ones exiled remembering. They are all our children. Let us be present to them all.
Third anniversary massacre of 344 Gaza children | |
Prayer
Mothering and Fathering God,
help us to live our lives this new year wide open
to new births and ongoing suffering.
Give us ears to hear your song of lament
not as dischord but as part of Your song of incarnation.
Give us the courage not to turn away
from what has happened and is unbearable to see.
Help us find new ways to show and release this pain
so that we all can become spring flowers.
Give us the strength of Mary’s Yes
and Rachel’s No
to continue on with Your work
for all of Your children.
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