Holy Innocents
Appointed Lessons
Jeremiah 31:15-17 * Revelation 21:1-7 * Matthew 2:13-18 * Psalm 124
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Living Word | Lectionary Preaching Aids
Classic Text
John Henry Newman: A Child’s Simplicity
“The simplicity of a child’s ways and notions, his ready belief of everything he is told, his artless love, his frank confidence, his confession of helplessness, his ignorance of evil, his inability to conceal his thoughts … above all, his reverential spirit, looking at all things about him as wonderful, as tokens and types of the One Invisible, are all evidence of his being lately a visitant in a higher state of things.”
Articles
Daniel Martins: The Holy Innocents
“The Holy Innocents will not let us off the hook for our participation in the evil which, while vastly different in degree from that which they suffered, is not particularly different in kind. To the extent that we see their faces, we should see their eyes looking at us, not at some distant third party.”
Jean McCurdy Meade: The Second Day of Christmas
“Stephen is the ‘protomartyr,’ the first Christian believer to be killed for witnessing to his faith in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah and Lord. So he gets the first day after Christmas, which celebrates the birth of our savior, as the commemoration of his witness to the significance of that birth.”
Jonathan Mitchican: Christmas Is About Martyrdom
“Martyrdom is different from the death of Jesus, which was not only a witness but also a powerful action of God to transform the world. Martyrdom is not transformative in its own right. It is transformative only by association. The sacrifice of a martyr points beyond itself to the sacrifice of the Lord.”
