As we continue to celebrate Advent, a central part of our task is to avoid the common idols of this time of year, and sentimentalism is chief among them. The Christmas story is told in Scripture in some detail, and as we celebrate this story, some of our lapses into idolatry can be identified by what we leave out of it. The slaying of the young boys by Herod in the region of Bethlehem is as much a part of this story as the shepherds, the star, the wise men, and the manger are. Rachel is not comforted, and Ramah weeps for her children.
In leaving this part out of the story, we have a truncated story of a Savior, but no sin. We have a knight, but no dragon. We have a rescue, but no danger. We have, in short, a false and sentimental gospel, filled with treacle.
The story of Christmas is the story of redemption. We come to the story as penitents. We are to understand the depravity of our race, and then marvel at what the angels declared and sang to members of that race. The shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night, and we should realize that this story is one that occurred in the blackness of a spiritual night as well as physical nighttime.
The Savior is born. The king is born. Herod trembles on his throne, as all Herods since that time have done. We are the people of that Savior, we rejoice that God has brought mercy and justice into the world, and we declare that all tyrants must kiss the Son, lest He be angry. This includes the tyranny of our individual sin, and extends up to the tyranny of the principalities and powers. And so we say that it is necessary to humble ourselves, bow down, cover our mouths, repent of our sins. And then we stand up, like a Christian man or woman, boy or girl, equipped by the grace of God to say merry Christmas.