Christ is born! Glorify Him!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The man who takes thought for his own welfare is unable to give himself up to God's will, that his soul may have peace in God. But the humble soul is devoted to God's will, and lives before Him in awe and love; in awe, lest [he] grieve God in any way; in love, because the soul has come to know how the Lord loves us.
The best thing of all is to surrender to God's will and bear affliction having confidence in God. The Lord, seeing our affliction, will never give us too much to bear. If we seem to ourselves to be greatly afflicted, it means that we have not surrendered to the will of God” (St. Silouan of the Holy Mountain, On the Will of God and on Freedom).
“The man who takes thought of his own welfare is unable to give himself up to God’s will, that his soul may have peace in God.” Today, brethren, the Church remembers—and I use that word intentionally, in contrast to the more positively-framed ‘commemorates’—[the Church remembers] at least two men in her hymnody and in the appointed Gospel Reading: the first, the all-honorable, worthy of our praise and emulation: St. Joseph the Betrothed, in the West called dearly, the “Guardian of the Redeemer”; and secondly, Herod the Great, king of the Jews at the time of the birth of Christ. One man the Church rightly commemorates and lauds the praises thereof: St. Joseph. The other, the Church reviles and condemns and erects as a model of impiety and godlessness. Hear and compare the hymns of the Church which recount the defining characteristics of each man’s life. For St. Joseph, the Troparion for the Feast of the Sunday After Nativity (we just sang this a few moments ago):
“Proclaim the wonder, O Joseph,
to David, the ancestor of God:
you saw a Virgin great with Child,
you gave glory with the shepherds,
you worshipped with the Magi,
you received the news from the angel.
[Therefore,] Pray to Christ God to save our souls!” (Troparion, Tone 2).
And in spite of King Herod, the second Vespers sticheron at the “Lord, I Call” for the Feast of the Holy Innocents (which we did not hear last night because this year the feast coincides with the Sunday After Nativity):
“The timeless King was sought by Herod within time,
but he could neither find nor kill Him.
Instead, he killed the innocent children;
he made them martyrs without ever realizing it.
They are now residents of the Kingdom on high,
Exposing [and] reproving his insanity forever” (Sticheron at the “Lord, I Call,” Tone 4).
St. Matthew’s Gospel further highlights this disparity of character between the two men, when we read of St. Joseph:
“… [B]ehold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there, until I bring you word… . [And Joseph] arose [and] took the young Child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt” (Matt 2:13a-14)
Of St. Joseph, we could as easily predicate a similar reaction to God’s call as that of the Theotokos, his betrothed, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word” (Luke 1:38). God calls; St. Joseph responds. God instructs; St. Joseph acts. But of Herod, the exact opposite is true:
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men” (Matt 2:16).
Recall, brethren, that Herod is not ignorant of what he is doing! Herod is not acting irrationally (insanely!) because he is mistaken. Earlier in the second chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel—the passage we heard on Christmas Day—we read that Herod explicitly inquired of the chief priests and teachers of the law concerning the birth of the Messiah:
“When Herod heard [that the King of the Jews had been born] he was disturbed… . [And] when he called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ‘In Bethlehem in Judea,’ they replied” (Matt 2:3-5a).
Herod learns that the Messiah of the Jews has been born from the wise men. He is informed by the teachers of the law of the location of the newborn Messiah. And what is his reaction? The wholesale slaughter of every male child two years old and younger in Bethlehem and its greater vicinity, a total of 14,000 infants—my God—reckoned by the Tradition of the Church.
St. Joseph is tasked by God to care for the newborn Messiah, and he performs his task faithfully, impeccably. King Herod is informed of the birth of the Savior of the world, and on account of self-ambition, fear, hatred, pride, self-will, he murders thousands upon thousands of children. And lest we forget: it was not easy for St. Joseph to do as he did, that is, to submit himself to the will of God. We see the internal struggle of St. Joseph—the confusion, the doubt, the “wrestling with God,” the wonder at the miracle, the weight of the burden of the care for the Savior and his Mother—[we see his internal struggle] reflected in the icon for the Nativity, as St. Joseph sits off by himself, pensive and stern. Submitting ourselves to God’s will is never easy. But what other choice do we have? We may ask ourselves this question in sincerity. And we will arrive at the same conclusion as Herod: “I will realize my own will, with violence, and malice, and passion, and unholy fervor, against the will of Almighty God.”
“Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.’ But Herod… was troubled. … [And he] was furious… and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem” (Matt 2:1a-2, 3, 16b).
In St. Matthew’s Nativity account, brethren, St. Joseph is also troubled, but in his “trouble,” he is nonetheless obedient. King Herod is troubled, and he is wrathful, mindless, murderous, impious, sinful. (give pause).
And for all his warring against God and the Divine Will, for all his machinations—his discernments, his engagement with the wise men, his slaughter of the infants—the verses which follow his wicked actions are so telling: “After Herod died…” (full stop).
“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead” (Matt 1:19-20, italics mine).
Were it not for the deaths of 14,000 children, Herod’s theatrics would be downright comical. “And Herod inquired... and Herod was troubled… and Herod was furious… and Herod gave orders to kill… and, and… Herod died.” Poor, stupid Herod: he tried, and he tried, and he tried, and he died. So is the fate of all men who have the audacity to strive against the Living God. Brethren, hear again the words of St. Silouan:
“The man who takes thought for his own welfare is unable to give himself up to God's will, that his soul may have peace in God. … If we seem to ourselves to be greatly afflicted (or, as in the words of today’s Gospel, ‘troubled’), it means that we have not surrendered to the will of God.”
Truly, who can resist God’s holy will? Who can resist God’s holy will, and live? Internalize these examples, brethren. Hold yourselves up to them in sincere comparison! How can I resist God’s will and remain sane? Who among men could reasonably think, “I will best God! I will subvert his holy will” (cf. Rom 9:19)?
Let us, therefore, in humility and love, eschew the image of the impious Herod, a model of anxiety and wrath; foolishness, pride, self-ambition. And let us embrace the image of the lowly Joseph, a model of doubt, maybe; but also, of faithfulness in doubt, obedience even in doubt. In doubt and confusion—wonder even—glorifying the newborn Savior with the shepherds and worshipping with the Magi. May we all discern the will of God, weighty and hard to accept though it may be, and have the confidence (and the spiritual sanity) to say, “Behold, I am Thy servant. Be it unto me according to Thy word” (cf. Luke 1:38).
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, especially those of St. Joseph the Betrothed, whom we commemorate this day, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Christ is born! Glorify Him!