I believe that most Christians know the story about the massacre of boys at the order of Herod. You know, the story when the Magi visited Herod, asking them about the born "King of the Jews", and Herod wanting to find out about this rival, probably with dastardly intentions. In the end the Magi didn't report back to Herod about where Jesus was, hence the massacre of all male children in Bethlehem and vicinity.
Now, I've never heard a sermon about this, as the festival of the Holy Innocents is three days after Christmas and therefore we're not in church, or if it's a Sunday, the First Sunday After Christmas takes precidence. Sermons I've read for this festival don't mention something that I consider to be important:
This was a crime done against boys because they were boys.
Now, first we have to work out whether these were actually only boys, or otherwise this is like the story of the "Three Kings" who were not kings, and were maybe more than three, and could have included women. (It'd be harder to sing "we three kings who are not kings and....") Various bible translations gives us "children" instead of "boys" or "male children". The word used in the Septuagint can mean "boys", "girls" or simply "children". We can presume that boys are meant, though, seeing as Herod was worried about the birth of a king.
They died for being male. This happens a lot. Consider what happens when a country gets occupied in war - it's men who are considered to be possible militia and therefore arrested/killed (for example, the Srebrenica genocide). The Nazi anti-homosexual Paragraph 175 was only for men, which saw thousands put in concentrations camps, where many of them died. The book Equality for men points out other male problems, such as that men are more likely to kill themselves and more likely to die a violent death. Like those young boys in and around Bethlehem, being born male will end up in violent death for many.
There's a flip-side to this. The reason why it was boys who were killed is because it is boys who were more likely to be a threat to Herod. For the same reason (perhaps) why Jesus was born male and is recorded as having only male disciples, those boys would have been in more of a position to be a threat to Herod and the Roman occupying forces, due to the fact that this was a society where those who had more power were men.
Now, the reasons for the mentioned modern day violent deaths of men are complex, but I would say that it one cause that the position of men as having more power in societies that paradoxically makes them more likely to be victims of violence. Men gain from that system, but also lose because of it as we are competing with each other and with women and judge each other according to so-called "male values".
At the same time, those born female face their own crosses: More likely to be raped or more likely to face domestic violence (in the UK, 7% of women compared to 4% of men), for example. My experience of churches of many different denominations is that if gender role/sex-related violence is mentioned, it's women who get mentioned. It is right that they do get mentioned, of course of fucking course. It's just that a desire to combat sexism against women (a very important issue in all confessions, not just those who don't ordain women) often goes with a defensiveness against talking about male problems (such as those mentioned in the aforementioned "Equality for men" book). At the same time a lot of male Christians who will talk about male problems.will be those who feel threatened by feminism either because of personal negative experiences or because they hold sexist thoughts about women.
Into this volatile situation comes the Christ who identifies with both sexes. Now, the Orthodox Kontakion for the festival gives us:
Now, I've never heard a sermon about this, as the festival of the Holy Innocents is three days after Christmas and therefore we're not in church, or if it's a Sunday, the First Sunday After Christmas takes precidence. Sermons I've read for this festival don't mention something that I consider to be important:
This was a crime done against boys because they were boys.
Now, first we have to work out whether these were actually only boys, or otherwise this is like the story of the "Three Kings" who were not kings, and were maybe more than three, and could have included women. (It'd be harder to sing "we three kings who are not kings and....") Various bible translations gives us "children" instead of "boys" or "male children". The word used in the Septuagint can mean "boys", "girls" or simply "children". We can presume that boys are meant, though, seeing as Herod was worried about the birth of a king.
They died for being male. This happens a lot. Consider what happens when a country gets occupied in war - it's men who are considered to be possible militia and therefore arrested/killed (for example, the Srebrenica genocide). The Nazi anti-homosexual Paragraph 175 was only for men, which saw thousands put in concentrations camps, where many of them died. The book Equality for men points out other male problems, such as that men are more likely to kill themselves and more likely to die a violent death. Like those young boys in and around Bethlehem, being born male will end up in violent death for many.
There's a flip-side to this. The reason why it was boys who were killed is because it is boys who were more likely to be a threat to Herod. For the same reason (perhaps) why Jesus was born male and is recorded as having only male disciples, those boys would have been in more of a position to be a threat to Herod and the Roman occupying forces, due to the fact that this was a society where those who had more power were men.
Now, the reasons for the mentioned modern day violent deaths of men are complex, but I would say that it one cause that the position of men as having more power in societies that paradoxically makes them more likely to be victims of violence. Men gain from that system, but also lose because of it as we are competing with each other and with women and judge each other according to so-called "male values".
At the same time, those born female face their own crosses: More likely to be raped or more likely to face domestic violence (in the UK, 7% of women compared to 4% of men), for example. My experience of churches of many different denominations is that if gender role/sex-related violence is mentioned, it's women who get mentioned. It is right that they do get mentioned, of course of fucking course. It's just that a desire to combat sexism against women (a very important issue in all confessions, not just those who don't ordain women) often goes with a defensiveness against talking about male problems (such as those mentioned in the aforementioned "Equality for men" book). At the same time a lot of male Christians who will talk about male problems.will be those who feel threatened by feminism either because of personal negative experiences or because they hold sexist thoughts about women.
Into this volatile situation comes the Christ who identifies with both sexes. Now, the Orthodox Kontakion for the festival gives us:
When the king was born in Bethlehem, the Magi came from the East. Having been led by a start from on High, they brought him gifts. But in exceeding wrath, Herod harvested the infants as sorrowing wheat; The rule of his kingdom has come to an end."His kingdom" is that written about by Walter Wink in his book "Engaging the powers: Discernment and resistance in a world of domination" where a system of Babylonian domination exists which includes racism, class and economic oppression and what he famously labelled the "myth of redemptive violence". Those boys who died, as do those boys and men who die now due to that system of domination , that same system that killed Jesus, the same system that he and we his disciples fight for all males and females. The rule of that kingdom has come to an end. Amen.
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