Life, for many, is just so sad.
For some, so incredibly so, that the sadness is impossible to bear.
And whilst I could try to list the things that cause such unhappiness, to do so would have no value – for the things that break your heart are as unique to you as they are, perhaps, unknown to anyone else.
But despite how you may feel, it does not go unnoticed by the one whose birth we are supposed to be celebrating amidst the forced jollity, so characteristic of this time of year, that makes Christmas something that many have to endure rather than enjoy.
Because the Christmas of the Bible speaks specifically to just such sadness.
For just as evil was there at its centre, so too was sorrow of the most extreme kind.
After describing the slaughter of the innocents, Matthew quotes an Old Testament verse that was first written by the ‘weeping prophet’ Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’ [Matthew 2:18]
Rachel was the wife of Jacob who gave birth to Ephraim from whom Bethlehem takes its ancient name of Ephrath. [Micah 5:2] And just as Jeremiah uses her to symbolically represent the mother of all the children of Israel who were lost at the time of the Jewish exile to Babylon, Matthew now uses her to represent the mothers who weep over the sons Herod took from them and had put to death in Bethlehem following Jesus’ birth there. [Matthew 2:16]
But contrary to how it may seem, Matthew’s intention is not to leave his readers in despair. Far from it, because he wants to offer them real hope. For in the Old Testament book that bears his name, Jeremiah continues with these words:
‘Thus says the LORD:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the LORD,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
There is hope for your future,
declares the LORD,
and your children shall come back to their own country.’ [Jeremiah 31:16-17]
Matthew, therefore, is saying that the children that were murdered as a result of Christ’s birth will, because of what He would go on to achieve, be those that one day will be brought safely back home.
And therein lies our hope – that what causes us to weep will one day, not just come to an end, but be put right, as our every tear is wiped away and death becomes a thing of the past. [Revelation 21:4]
So yes, life is sad, but we need not grieve as those who have no hope. [1 Thessalonians 4:13]
Because if we trust, not in ourselves, but in the God who raises the dead, we will know the sure and certain hope of the resurrection that will undoubtedly come about on the day that Christ returns.
And on that wonderful morning, the weeping that tarried for the nighttime will not only be over, but replaced by a joy that will never, ever come to an end. [Psalm 30:5]
To read Day 19 from 2023, click here
To read Day 19 from 2024, click here
Some musings 