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Dangerous Violence

Matthew 2:17 & 18
"17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."

Where were you? 
When the planes crashed into the World Trade Center?
When the plane crashed into the Pentagon? 
When the plane crashed into a field?
We gathered and watched. 
We checked on loved ones. 
We looked into the sky. 
We wondered what was going to happen next.
We KNEW this world IS very dangerous.
These events defined our generation. We all have the horror and terror of this event burned deep into our memory. We are NOT able to forget. 

In our verses we are reading the attempt to record and describe the horror and terror of Massacre of the innocents. When king Herod sent soldiers to kill ALL BABIES under two years old in the area around Bethlehem. An event they were NOT able to forget.

To communicate this to his readers, Matthew, recalls another horrific event recorded by the prophet Jeremiah. The siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, in 597 BC. Jeremiah describes people of Israel being hauled off in chains into slavery. The important people of Israel were killed the sons of the king had been murdered in front of him. Afterwards the eyes of the king were poked out! It is a tragedy that causes stress in people hearing about it centuries later. Matthew brings it up to underscore the brutality of the event he is reporting. All the more brutal in that it's their own king and in their own homes and killing their own children.

All the violence in the world doesn't stop. Today we have shootings and MORE. It doesn't STOP. There will always be evil. AND! Evil will NEVER WIN...

The good parts of these daily devotionals are inspired by the sermon at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg Texas. You can watch it by following this link... https://youtu.be/Rj4L7Trb_CI
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