This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 28 December 2025. The Lectionary Bible Reading was Matthew 2:13-18.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen
Introduction
In the midst of our joyful Christmas celebrations, we are being asked to remember more unpleasant matters. Today we commemorate what many call ‘The Slaughter of the Innocents’ as Herod attempted to deal with the ‘threat’ of Jesus’ birth. These children could be said to be the first martyrs of the fledgling Christian faith, killed because of the coming of the Messiah, and not Saint Stephen, who was remembered on 26 December.
These commemorations, welcome or not, remind us that real suffering, terror, and death are never far away – even as we celebrate the coming of the ‘Prince of Peace’. Indeed, the story of salvation is that God takes on flesh and is born into such evil and dangerous surroundings precisely to save us by Jesus’ own suffering and death – and resurrection.
It’s not always easy to preach on passages like this. I’ve avoided it in the past, but not today! I have three points I want to share with you this morning:
- Innocent Children / People Suffer
One of the sounds of Christmas is shouting. But today it is not a shout of joy, but a shout of grief and sadness. A shout when those who are vulnerable are hurt, a shout of weeping and wailing when the innocent are victimized, and those who are struggling find no relief.
The innocent children who died at the hands of Herod are considered the first martyrs of the Christian faith. Today may we remember all children who are slaughtered innocently by governments and rulers, not only children, but adults that suffer in ways they do not deserve. We only have to look at what has taken, is taking, place in Gaza, and the persecution of Christians in Syria and Nigeria to see the utter barbarity of the acts one human being can confer on another. Some would call them acts of Genocide.
The children in Matthew’s Gospel just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s part of living in a fallen world. Innocent children and people, through no fault of their own, suffer in a myriad of ways. The bud of the martyrs as someone once described them.
- Herod Cannot Stop God’s Plans
The wise men follow the star to Bethlehem. King Herod, who was ruler in those days, was ‘disturbed’ when the wise men inadvertently told him of a threat posed by a new born child who was born to be king.
Herod was an exceptionally evil king. He was known to even kill his own sons to stop them from taking over the throne. Herod is the king that had a number of people killed on the same day he died in order to ensure there would be mourning from the people. He was an unpopular tyrant but feted by the Romans as a puppet King. Herod became furious at the wise men, and he doesn’t look for just this one child he orders all the boys in Bethlehem and surrounding area that are two years old and younger to be killed.
Unbeknown to Herod, Joseph and Mary wisely fled to Egypt – the very place that the Israelites had fled from all those years ago, when the Lord rescued them from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land. Now the Holy Family is making the journey in reverse. Of course, when Herod died, an angel told Joseph to take his family back to Israel, but he went, not to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth in Galilee.
They travel to Egypt not to return to slavery, but to find sanctuary, so that the One who will liberate all creation from sin and death will survive to be able to do so. The Holy Family rested in a cave for three months, and like many other holy sites, a church was built on it; the Church of Abu Serga, situated in Coptic Cairo, and dates back to the 4th century AD and is one of Egypt’s oldest Christian sites. Has anyone visited there? I did a number of years ago.
At a time of turmoil, grief, confusion, and even threat, the angel points Joseph and his new family to a place of safety. It’s a place where they can rest and recover. Where does the angel direct us when we face heartbreak and turmoil in our lives, and our struggles threaten to overwhelm us? Where do we find that place of rest and recovery where we can rediscover the gentle faithfulness of God?
Herod ordered the killing of the children for the very purpose of stopping the rise of another king. God’s reign cannot be stopped by a madman. What was true then is still true. We have no reason to worry about the reign of God. World events, the global economy, wars and rumours of wars will not stop the reign of God. So, what’s our response?
- We Should Weep And Mourn For The Innocent
The carol ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ reminds us that it was a small town. Experts suggest that about 1,000 people lived there when Jesus was born and that Herod probably killed around 20-30 children – not hundreds as sometimes the title ‘The Slaughter of the Innocents’ suggests.
But that number pales into insignificance when we consider the modern day ‘Slaughter of the Innocents’ which has taken place in Gaza in recent times. The UN suggests around 28 children have died on a daily basis since 7 October 2023. That amounts to more than 50,000 children in total. That is an unimaginable horror. Perhaps we should commemorate them, and their grieving parents, who are weeping with wailing and bitterness, in our thoughts and prayers today along with the cries of Rachel who wept for the tribes of Benjamin, Mannasah and Ephraim.
Christianity shouldn’t minimize or whitewash suffering. We face it and recognize it for what it is. Christianity acknowledges that there are some griefs that cannot be made right in this life as we ask: Why does God allow suffering?
But Christianity also looks expectantly with hope to the day when God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes. Let’s be advocates for the innocent. Where there is no answer, let us weep. For those who come among us looking for comfort, we cannot always give a reasonable answer, but we can give ourselves. We can weep; we can shout in lament. We can offer a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear. We can recognize the bud that has not yet blossomed. We can provide time to heal.
As we look at the world around us, it’s easy to become cynical by what we see. We suffer from is called ‘compassion fatigue. When we think we have nothing left to give. 2 Corinthians 1:4 “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” I love these words from John Stott:
People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centred. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
To serve the innocents and the vulnerable is to take risks. And to take risks means that sometimes losses will follow. In the words of John Wesley:
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
That, to me, seems to be the Christian thing to go
Conclusion
I am convinced one of the important reasons God sent his son into the world as a child is to highlight both the vulnerability of a child and the power of God.
The purpose of this text for today is to remember the innocent, the vulnerable, the helpless and to grieve modern ‘innocents’ – victims of injustice, war, or abandonment. May we bring such people a measure of comfort and dignity. May we be a church and a society that cares and organizes life in such a way that the vulnerable are protected. May we shout with grief when we must. And in keeping with the scriptures, we can have confidence that in spite of the suffering of the innocent, the work of the Kingdom of God continues through you and me.
As the Archdeacon in Lebanon, Imad Zoorob, wrote in an article on my website: What our people have endured over the past years up to this very day gives the words “trial” and “tribulation” an entirely new dimension that transcends description and comprehension. And here arises the Church’s role – to be a pillar, a comfort, and a warm embrace kindled by the love of Christ.
Amen. Emmanuel. God with us.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
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