Matthew 2:13-23 The slaughter of innocent children

According to the CDC:

At least one in seven children experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States.

At least one in four girls and one in 20 boys in the United States experience child sexual abuse.

Every time I read that, I shudder. 1 in 4 girls. 1 in 20 boys. It is 2025. How, in the United States, are these statistics even possible? I’ll tell you how. It’s because we still tolerate this behavior. We shrug off interpersonal violence as if it isn’t a big deal. 34% of teenagers were bullied during the last school year. Over 1 in 3. That’s ridiculous. This behavior perpetuates because we allow it.

Just kids being kids. It isn’t really that bad. Just boys being boys. Girls being girls.

Oh, sure, fine. Because it’s perfectly natural for human beings to tease, bully, and rape one another, that makes it okay? No! No, it is not!

They asked for. They deserved it. They should have said something. They should have pressed charges. They shouldn’t have gotten themselves into that situation.

No! Just no!

My Christmas Eve message to you was about singing a new song. Why the hell are we still singing this song? When are we going to change the tune?

Why are those in power so insecure that they would take such drastic measures as to slaughter children’s souls?

This story of Herod is a terrifying one because you know what happens next? “But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. “

Here’s some more from the CDC: “Women who experienced child sexual abuse are at two to 13 times increased risk for experiencing sexual violence in adulthood. Additionally, people who experienced child sexual abuse are at twice the risk for experiencing non-sexual intimate partner violence.” About 1/3 of children who are abused become abusers themselves, creating intergenerational cycles of abuse.

It is not okay to tease, taunt, or make fun of others. This trend has become so socially acceptable in our society that it isn’t uncommon to hear the phrase “If they are nice you, they probably don’t like you.” What is wrong with us?!?!

We have got to stop burying our heads in the sand. The solution is not “they need to toughen up.” The solution is “you need to be nicer.” Hiding, covering up, or lying about the worst of humanity isn’t protecting anyone. It is allowing statistics like one in four little girls to be molested to still exist today. 1 in 400 is too many. It is allowing bullying, belittling, and dehumanizing words and behaviors to persist in our communities, in our schools, and in our homes.

I laughed when I read the UMC Discipleship Planning Worship Commentary at umcdiscipleship.org for today’s passage. First, it talked about being sensitive and taking care with how we present the story and recommended using the “Trauma-Informed Worship: Guidelines for Intergenerational Worship.” Yes, absolutely. But then immediately following the sentence, “Hiding or ignoring the worst that we can do to one another from one another permits violent systems and actors to continue doing harm.” They said this: “However, in the context of worship, our job is not to give a news report about atrocities committed.” To which I call BULLSHIT. You, my pastoral friends, are not doing God’s work if you refuse to talk about the problem from the pulpit. We do not sugarcoat human behavior; we confront it. Our job is to point out God’s work. God works through you and your voice and your preaching from that pulpit, so you darn well better be using it for that. To not do so is the embodiment of your statement: “Hiding or ignoring the worst that we can do to one another from one another permits violent systems and actors to continue doing harm.”

You are continuing to do harm by not giving your people the hope that they deserve; you are simply spewing false platitudes against them. God saves using human hands. YOUR hands. God speaks through human voices. YOUR voice. Whether you are a pastor, a congregant, a self-identified non-church-attending Christian, or simply passing through, God can and will use you. Our churches’ pulpits exist for standing up to injustice.

Jesus proclaimed these words in the synagogue at Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” If you stand in that pulpit, that is your job too. You are called to walk in the steps of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming Good News to the poor means actively demonstrating that you will confront the oppressors. Proclaiming the Good News means that you will not stand idly by in Herod’s court, allowing children to be harmed. You will put a stop to it or die trying.

For far too long, pastors have not used their voices to speak out against child abuse and neglect. For so long that many churches are facing massive legal scandals for being the perpetrators of such violence themselves.

1 in 4 girls. 1 in 20 boys. And you wonder how this is still possible in this day and age? Blame, silence, hiding, not speaking out, not stepping in, pretending not to see, not bearing witness to atrocities. Open your eyes! Open your ears! Open your mouths! This is the Lord’s Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a harsh, traumatic story; it does not deserve to be sugar-coated.

Imagine the guilt Jesus Christ must have felt knowing how many children died that he might live? He didn’t take that guilt and hide it away, feeling sorry for himself. He took that guilt, and he built an empire that would dominate the world and yet… does it? How can you profess to be a Christian and allow child abuse to exist in your community?

1 in 4! Do you really think that of all the little girls gathered in a church on Sunday morning, there isn’t a victim in there? Stop burying your heads in the sand!

About 41% of women and 26% of men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime and reported a related impact. Where three or more are gathered in his name, there is likely at least one victim among them. Terrifying, isn’t it?

So change it.

Talk about it. Share your stories, past and present. Quit hiding in the shadows and build a support group. Be a support group. Be a sanctuary for the poor and oppressed. Be the ones who set those held in captivity free. Stop waiting for the problem to just die off because, as Archelaus stands as an example, that isn’t going to happen. The people have to rise up against it. Until the people will only accept those leaders who seek to serve, the statistics will continue.

Mothers will continue to weep for their children, refusing to be consoled. I am telling you, refuse to be consoled. Do something about it. Not starting a national campaign, although if you’ve got it in you, have at it, but starting with a small, intimate support group within the walls of your own churches. Meet with your pastor and tell them to speak on social justice issues.

Stop expecting to hear the message that “all will be saved” because I am telling you as of right now, they are not! The perpetrators of those 1 in 4 baby girls and 1 in 20 little boys will NOT be saved. Those who sit idly by, knowing but doing nothing, will not. We, the church, are here to end taking advantage of the small, the weak, the vulnerable, or the marginalized. We are to band together, use our resources, and challenge those in positions of authority to fulfill the promises they have made or to dethrone them.

No more innocents should be slaughtered or destroyed. It is not okay. “Hiding or ignoring the worst that we can do to one another from one another permits violent systems and actors to continue doing harm.” My job IS to give you a news report about the atrocities committed and to do what I can to help motivate you to change it. My job IS to confront social injustice, oppression, and discrimination. My job is to emulate Jesus Christ to the best of my God-given ability; that’s what I signed up for. This is YOUR wake-up call, now what do YOU want to do about it?