The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
1 John 1:5-2:2 | Psalm 123(124):2-5,7-8 | Matthew 2:13-18
The Slaughter of the Innocents that is recounted in today’s Gospel is certainly horrific, but did you know that in 2015 and 2016, American toddlers shot over 50 people each year?
Just over half of these shootings were self-inflicted, which still leaves a whole lot of “hey, new toyBANG! Why did Mommy fall over?”. Still, no one in their right mind would blame the “perpetrators”; they couldn’t possibly know what would happen when that trigger was pulled.
Not so the “road ragers”, or people who bully and abuse service personnel in the (probable) hope of getting speedy preferential treatment through intimidation. When confronted with their misdeeds, their common refrain of blamelessness:
- “I didn’t know it was wrong” (ignorance), or
- “I’m just being honest, how is that rude?” (self-righteousness), or
- “I can’t help it, I’ve always been like that, so all of you should be more tolerant” (helplessness), or
- “wah lau, you Christians so unforgiving, shame on you!” (playing the martyr card)
can trigger a whole load of impotent teeth-grinding among well-intentioned folks trying to set things right.
It’s been said that “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” I think it can also be said that “in the land of the civil, the a**hole is king”.
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I personally deal with such people on a regular basis, and I constantly fight the temptation to descend to their level and tear several strips off them. Clearly, I don’t have a good solution to this issue, but it’s also undeniable that such behaviour is hypocritical at best, and actually veers towards conscious evil.
St. John the Apostle couldn’t be clearer:
If we say that we are in union with God
while we are living in darkness,
we are lying because we are not living the truth.
[…] If we say we have no sin in us,
we are deceiving ourselves
and refusing to admit the truth.
(1 John 1:6,8)
As adult Christians, we are no longer eligible to claim Holy Innocent-hood. We have been given the knowledge of Christian love and the call to Christian charity. To ignore them or, worse, use them as a pot-calling-kettle-black shield against other Christians who are trying to offer corrective observations and advice, is shameful and unconscionable.
Fortunately, our God is a loving and forgiving God, and:
if we acknowledge our sins,
then God who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins and purify us
from everything that is wrong. (1 John 1:9)
We just need to accept that we have sinned, understand that we don’t have to be rude pr**cks to others, and seek reconciliation with God and with those whom we have wronged.
Even if those others turn out to be rude pr**cks themselves.
Lord, save us from ourselves. Help us recognize the hurt we inflict on others in our drive to get ahead in life, make amends in appropriate ways, and be properly remorseful and turn back to You who are goodness personified. Amen.