Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945), Turm der Mütter (Tower of Mothers), 1937–38. Bronze, 27.9 × 27.4 × 28.8 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photo: Craig Boyko / AGO. Kollwitz lost her son in World War I, and much of her work from then on grappled with the horror of that loss or expressed antiwar resistance.
a sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz
Five Bethlehem women close ranks to shield sons with hip and hide. “We will rest in the peace of His hands before your swords pierce a child. Spare them or shower us with spears. Let our blood disarm you, rout you, haunt you, cowering through nights that smother your sleep.” A bosom is no breastplate, a skirt no fortress wall. As futile as Babel the tower falls in, life upon life. Death seizes all.
Evelyn Bence (born 1952) is a writer and editor living in Arlington, Virginia. She is the author of Room at My Table; Prayers for Girlfriends and Sisters and Me; Spiritual Moments with the Great Hymns; and the award-winning Mary’s Journal, a novel written in the voice of Jesus’s mother. She has served as religion editor at Doubleday, managing editor for Today’s Christian Woman, and senior editor at Prison Fellowship Ministries. Her personal essays, poems, and devotional reflections have appeared in various publications.
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.
—Matthew 2:16–18
Even though we often omit it from our Christmas pageants and sermons, the Massacre of the Innocents recounted in Matthew 2 is part of the Christmas story. December 28 is set apart yearly to commemorate the babies who lost their lives in this slaughter. View posts on this subject from previous years here and here.
LOOK: Massacre of the Innocents by Lippo Memmi (attrib.)
Attributed to Lippo Memmi (Italian, ca. 1291–1356), Massacre of the Innocents, ca. 1335–45. Fresco, Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, Italy.
In the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, this scene is part of a narrative cycle on Christ’s infancy in six upper bays, comprising also the Annunciation, the Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds, the Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Flight to Egypt.
LISTEN: “And Herod Rages On”| Words by Kate Bluett, 2020 | Music by Elise Massa, 2020 | Performed by Elise Massa
The streets ran red in Bethlehem; our little boys were gone when soldiers came on Herod’s whim, but Herod rages on. No newborn king his light should dim; he’d be the only dawn, sent men to tear them limb from limb— and Herod rages on.
Two thousand years, all filled with births and stained as red as dawn by blood that soaks the thirsty earth, still Herod rages on. And what is all this bloodshed worth, our sons and daughters gone, but barren fields and empty hearths, while Herod rages on?
Dear infant Christ in Joseph’s arms, escaped before the dawn, O come and heal how we’ve been harmed, for Herod rages on. The sirens shriek, deep fear alarms; when will you make them gone? Or must we wait ’til hate’s disarmed? For Herod rages on.
The stones that wept in Abel’s gore cry out with every dawn ’til swords are laid down evermore, while Herod rages on. Someday he’ll fall to rise no more; someday he will be gone. Our hearts ’til then are bleeding sore, and Herod rages on.
This song by Kate Bluett and Elise Massa views Herod as representative of any political leader whose policymaking or direct command threatens the lives of innocent children today. Lord, have mercy.
This post is part of a daily Christmas series that goes through January 6. View all the posts here, and the accompanying Spotify playlist here.
December 28 is Childermas, or Holy Innocents’ Day, when the church commemorates the slaughter of young male children in Bethlehem by the order of Herod the Great, attempting to quash the threat of a rival king. This, too, is part of the Christmas story. The Gospel account of the “massacre of the innocents” quotes 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” (Matt. 2:18).
This ensemble of delicate containers made entirely of salt “is a motif of maternal lament,” says Australian artist Rebekah Pryor. “My Saltcellars functions to preserve and offer a taste of both the bitterness of maternal lament and the wisdom of love that enables the mother to survive it.”
LISTEN: “Mothers and Shepherds” by Brittney Spencer, Emil Sydhage, Gilbert Nanlohy, and Connor Wheaton, 2018 | Released as a single by Common Hymnal (feat. Brittney Spencer), 2019 | CCLI #7141753
Come now and hear the sound Of mothers gathered round Tears are streaming down in Bethlehem Grieving life that didn’t have to end Asking God to justify the pain Never knowing He would feel the same The powerful oppress the prophecy But shepherds passing through have found a King
Rumor has it that a child is born And it’s said that we will call him Lord Heaven’s angels came to let us know That our freedom rests upon His throne So we’ve traveled from across this land Seeking out the new and precious Lamb The One who came and made time stand still When heaven opened up at God’s own will
Hallelujah Glory in the highest King Messiah Savior of the world
Now forever we will sing the song Of the One who was and is to come All creation joins in harmony In declaring He is perfectly
Holy, holy Merciful and mighty God has sent The Savior of the world
Hallelujah Glory in the highest King Messiah Savior of the world
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh, ooh Savior of the world Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh, ooh Savior of the world
Songwriter Brittney Spencer describes “Mothers and Shepherds” as “a Christmas song that forces hope, disaster, and pursuit to meet on a painful yet dauntingly beautiful path that exposes how much we’ve always needed a savior.” Find the chords here.
Art & Theology 