Friends, today’s Gospel tells the story of Herod’s massacre of the innocents, which mimics, of course, Pharoah’s murder of the male children of the Hebrews at the time of Moses’ birth.
John Courtney Murray commented that a major motif of the Gospels is the ever-increasing agon (struggle) that characterizes Jesus’ life. From the very beginning, he is opposed: Herod trembles in fear at his birth and then tries in the most brutal manner possible to stamp him out, forcing him and his family into exile. And from the first moments of his public ministry, he awakens fierce opposition from both the cosmic powers and the representatives of the religious establishment. As the narrative unfolds, the warfare only becomes more intense, verbal violence giving way to threats of physical harm and finally to institutional violence that culminates in execution by crucifixion.
The theological meaning of this struggle is made clear in Peter’s post-Pentecost speech to the crowds gathered in the temple precincts: “You denied the Holy and Righteous One . . . The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead.” The opposition to Jesus is divine judgment on the dysfunction of the world.