A King Became a Baby

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

Today, we commemorate the Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

Herod the Great, King of Judea, was called great because he built cities, great palaces, temples, stadiums and fortresses. But he was infamous because he had 3 of his sons killed for treason, and put to death his favorite of his 10 wives, one of his mothers-in-law, a high priest, several uncles and a few cousins. In the 2nd chapter of Matthew, and in the writings of Macrobius, we learn that he ordered innocent little boys 2 years old and younger, taken from their mothers and massacred in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. He liked to construct buildings but he destroyed people and lives. What malevolent darkness is there in man that he gives more worth to impermanent things than to an unborn baby, a suspected drug addict, or an old and chronically sick person? 

This Christmas season, after all the hectic gift buying and partying, let us sit down and ponder the miracle of God’s more than wonderful love for us. How priceless each one of us is, that He came down as a defenceless baby, to save us from darkness and sin. It does not matter to God if we are Daniel Craig who took home $100 million, or Manny Pangilinan who paid P31.6 million in taxes, or a jeepney driver who can’t even make boundary. 

Each one of us is precious, the “apple of His eye”, and He will do everything to bring us home with Him. There is no speck of darkness in God, and if we are suffering now, in great difficulty, we need only to bask in His light, to see ourselves as He sees us, to see our situation as He sees it. Hope springs eternal in His presence.