Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Fourteen Thousand Infants Slain by Herod in Bethlehem
6th Nativity Vigil: Daniel 2:31-36, 44-45 Epistle: James 1:1-18 Gospel: St. Mark 10:11-16
Daniel 2:31-36, 44-45, especially vs. 44: "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people." St. Mark reports
that, in the aftermath of the arrest of St. John the Forerunner, "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God" (Mk. 1:14). There was great expectation among God's ancient People: the Lord Jesus would soon "set up a
kingdom which [would] never be destroyed" (Dan. 2:44). He would end the People's long domination by a succession of
great empires - their condition ever since Daniel's time.
There had been freedom for the People briefly under the Maccabees, but then the pagan Romans came and yet another
empire dominated them. Jesus' message of God's kingdom was electrifying. Was the promised kingdom at hand? The
People knew the prophecy: a kingdom which God would introduce would "break in pieces all these kingdoms" under
which they had lived and would "bring them to an end" in a Divine kingdom that would "stand for ever" (vs. 44). The
Baptizer had even foretold the coming of the Messiah, God's ruler, Who would take "His winnowing fan...in His hand,
and...thoroughly clean out His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn" (Mt. 3:12). The Messiah would usher in
the great kingdom of God. Did He not?!
Beloved of the Lord, as the People who are united to Christ as both King and God, we understand that we are living in the
age of the Kingdom of God. We understand what the Lord Jesus meant when He said that the Kingdom is "at hand" (Mk.
1:15), for we experience the working of the Kingdom in our lives at present, even as we look for it to be fully realized in
the future. We are blessed with both retrospect and prospect. We know in retrospect what the Lord stated clearly: "My
kingdom is not of this world" (Jn. 18:36), yet in prospect we also pray as He taught us, "Thy kingdom come...on earth as it
is in heaven" (Mt. 6:10).
This present reading is the prophecy of the Kingdom of God which the Lord Jesus actually initiated. The Prophet Daniel
received the first hint of the coming Kingdom from God in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (605-562 BC). It
happened this way: the Babylonian monarch had a troubling, strange dream which none could interpret until God disclosed
its meaning to Daniel, after which the Prophet was able to explain its interpretation to the king (Dan. 2:31-36, 44-45).
Daniel drew from the imagery of the dream to illumine its historical implications. God would bring an end to the
succession of human kingdoms with His own Kingdom. His Kingdom would be introduced without human agency, like a
stone "cut from a mountain by no human hand" (vs. 45), and thereafter it would stand forever.
Here is the marvel of the Kingdom of God. Already it has a two thousand year history. We can see that it continues
effectively in this world because its dominion is not subject to the limitations of space and time. It has broken many earthly
kingdoms in pieces, letting the wind of history carry them away, "so that not a trace of them [can] be found" (vs. 35). But
the reign of Christ remains, defying human control. His Church, "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
His own special People" (1 Pet. 2:9), continues to hold dual citizenship in the Kingdom of God while living in a succession
of many nations down through time.
The great Feast of the Lord's Nativity is also a celebration for each of us that we have "a visa" from the "holy nation" of the
King of kings and Lord of lords. "The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure" (Dan. 2:45), for Christ is "born on earth
in Bethlehem for our salvation."
Today, the Beginningless doth begin, and the Word becometh Incarnate. Let us shout ceaselessly, crying, Glory to God in
the highest and on earth peace, good-will towards men.
