Grace Lurking
Grace Lurking
There are ghosts lurking in our Bible readings this second Sunday after Christmas. I’m not sure this is a metaphor. The Gospel reading tells us part of the aftermath of the event we will celebrate this Tuesday, January 6th: The Epiphany (manifestation) of our Lord to the Magi, and by extension, to all the peoples of Earth. Having snuck out of Judea by a less traveled road, which would take King Herod longer to figure out, the Magi gave Joseph extra Mk time to intuit that the visit of such exotic Gentile travelers would attract unwanted attention.
But between the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt as asylees, and their return five years later, are the ghost verses 16-18: “Then Herod, seeing that he had been fooled by the wise men, was furious, and sent and killed in Bethlehem and its surrounding district all the male children who were two years old or less, according to the time he had been careful to ask the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamenting and much weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted because they are no more.’”
The “Rachel” in this case is one of Jacob’s wives, and one of the mothers of the nation of Israel. The ghosts lurking here are what the Church calls The Holy Innocents, the “collateral damage” between God and those forces of accusation and hatred that we call satanic. The Church has long commemorated them on December 28th.
The first three days after Christmas Day are dedicated to martyrdom, “martyr” being Greek for “witness,” those who testified to their Lord, Jesus Christ, by their death. On December 26th, we observe the Feast of Stephen, the first to die for his Lord and Savior as recorded in the Book of Acts, a martyr in will and deed. On the 27th, we remember John the Apostle, to whom the fourth Gospel is attributed, as is Revelation, written by John when he was exiled on the island of Patmos. He witnessed to, and suffered for his Lord, but according to tradition, was not murdered for his Lord. He was a martyr in will but not deed. Then on the 28th, we remember the Holy Innocents, martyrs not in will, but most certainly in deed.
And also unbaptized. They never made the explicit baptismal commitment to their Lord and Savior. But they died for their Lord and Savior. And who is anyone to say that after the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “they are no more,” and Matthew applied those words to the boys of Bethlehem, that these following words of Jeremiah should not also apply to them: “There is hope for your future – declares the LORD – your children will return to their homeland.” When the solo boy begins the Kings College Lessons and Carols service with “Once in royal David’s city,” who will deny that those Bethlehem boys are also among the children whom the Holy Child is leading “to the place where he is gone.”
There are some who believe that The Episcopal Church should invite all present to partake of Holy Communion if they feel so called, regardless of whether they have been baptized. Canonically, Baptism is still required to receive communion. But if the Church of Christ recognizes those unbaptized children as saints to be celebrated, then it seems possible that the grace of Christ’s Body and Blood can be given to anyone, regardless of their baptismal status.
At the same time, in a sense, those children were baptized into Christ’s death, which they foreshadowed. Those who recognize their need for the grace of Holy Communion, who wish to partake of Holy Communion, should recognize their responsibility to partake in Christ’s suffering and death “for our sake.” Whichever comes first, the Communion or the Baptism, is between the individual and God. But the ghosts I’ve shown you should make it clear that the grace of Holy Communion cannot be separated from the grace of Holy Baptism. Whether figurative or literal, choosing to follow the royal child to the place where he is gone is a matter of life and death.
January 4th, 2026
The 2nd Sunday after Christmas
The Rev. David Kendrick