A selection of scripture was posted on Facebook in a number of locations since the horrific loss of sweet innocent children this past Friday in Newtown, Connecticut.
It is found at the end of the Christmas Story after the wise men, having been warned by God in a dream, return to their own country by another route.
Matthew 2.
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
The loss of a child from a mother's heart is something I cannot fully comprehend. She carried the baby in her womb, as my mother has told me. In the 33 years that I have been a pastor, this pain that I have witnessed is unique beyond my ability to describe.
Interestingly God describes the tragedy in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago in terms of Rachel. She was the great grandmother (38 generations back) of these baby boys.
I have had funerals for babies. I have heard the wail of mothers who lost children. I have had to break the news to grandparents. Those events are fresh in my mind although some are over 30 years ago.
We pray for the mothers and fathers today in Newtown. I cannot even imagine their pain.
Being a grandfather myself, and hugging my grandkids the past 5 days, this morning, I began to think about them. The stories are beginning to come out.
As you pray for the parents, pray for those dear grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. Their lives are forever changed. We have them in our hearts today.
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