This is the time of the year when the story of Christmas will be told countless times in nativity plays, sermons, and magazine articles. The story of the birth of Jesus brings joy to our hearts and smiles on our faces as we hear familiar carols in churches and shopping centers, on our car radios, and in town centers. In Sunday school plays—where the all-too-dominant Santa Claus is thankfully absent—we get a chance to see shepherds and sheep, angels and wise men, and are reminded of the biblical account of the birth of Jesus.

One important part of the story is, however, often forgotten or left untold. No doubt it is because of its darkness, pain, and violence. Who wants to be reminded of such things when celebrating Christmas? But the grim details are there in the Bible, and they are integral to the Christmas story.

It took the wise men from the East some time to find the baby. Who could blame them for thinking that the child born to be king would not be anywhere else but the palace. Their logic brought them to the palace of King Herod who, on hearing their story, found out that the Messiah King would be born in Bethlehem (matthew 2:1–6).

Herod’s jealousy and insecurity joined forces with his political shrewdness as he discovered the details of the appearance of the star in the east. He then tried to fool the wise men with his false piety and told them to return to him once they had found the child so he would know the exact location and identity of the Boy King. He pretended that he wanted to worship this newborn king, but in his heart he wanted to get rid of this new competition to his throne.

The angels got to work. They warned the wise men of Herod’s evil plans. The Magi then avoided passing through Jerusalem again so that Herod would not get the vital information he wanted so badly. When Herod realized that the wise men had outsmarted him, the dam burst and the evil in his heart spilled out into the open. He sent his soldiers to Bethlehem and, because he did not know where the newborn king was or who he was, with cruel calculation he ordered the soldiers to kill all the boys in Bethlehem who were two years old and under.

The little boys of Bethlehem were slaughtered that day. Their infant cries were silenced by the swords of violent men acting on the heartless command of a wicked man. Their mothers wept and wailed helplessly as all hell broke loose that day. Their hearts were pierced, their dreams shattered. And the fathers stood by helplessly, unable to stop the evil from entering every door.

The Boy whom the wicked Herod wanted to kill so badly was not there in Bethlehem on that fateful day. An angel had warned Joseph of Herod’s despicable intentions and instructed him to bring mother and child to Egypt, far away from the reach of Herod’s violent sword. Soon after this, Herod, the man who tried to hang on to his throne so violently, lost his grip on life and died. It was as if heaven had pronounced judgment. Jesus was then brought back to Israel.

The world into which Jesus was born was ugly with human sin and violence. It still is. Every now and then, Herods emerge in history with their gross wickedness. Massacres, such as the one in Bethlehem, continue to bloody the sad pages of history. The voices of victims cry out, asking if the violence will ever end. The spilled blood of the slain cries out to heaven for justice and redemption (genesis 4:10).

The birth of Jesus is the long-awaited answer from heaven. Though God, He emptied Himself for our sakes and became a man (philippians 2:6–8). He stepped into a world gone mad with sin. He left the sweet fragrance of heaven and entered the stench of a world of depraved human beings. Yes, if we think seriously about it, everyone has a little bit of Herod in him. We may not act as desperately wicked as Herod but the same depravity dwells in every human heart.

It was to save the human race from sin that Jesus was born. He made Himself so vulnerable that the One through whom the world was made had to be brought to the safety of Egypt, away from the violent swings of Herod’s sword. He was kept from harm as an infant, only to be crucified as a grown man. But it was necessary, for without the shedding of His blood there is no salvation for the world.

Christmas then is the story of a God who loved the world so much that He acted in a most amazing way. It is indeed good news because the Savior of the world was born on that day. It is good news like the way an oasis is good news in a vast and arid desert. That Christmas is good news is made all the more vivid when we see it in the real world of suffering and sin.

We often sanitize the manger scene and make Christmas fluffy and nice, white and squeaky clean, minus the stench of the beasts of burden and the gut-wrenching hungers of poverty. We mute the disturbing sounds of wailing, heart-torn mothers weeping for their massacred infant sons. But that was the world into which Jesus was born. And it is in that kind of world that the birth of Jesus, the Savior and Light of the world, becomes truly good news. Indeed, light is good news in darkness. A source of water is good news in the desert. And Jesus is good news in a world trapped in sin.

The boys of Bethlehem were mercilessly killed that awful day. One might say that they died so that the Boy of Bethlehem could be saved. The irony is that, years later, this Boy of Bethlehem showed that He came to earth to die so that the boys of Bethlehem could ultimately be saved. For while the heavenly Father received the slain boys into His safe and secure arms, never to be troubled again, He left His Son on earth to finish His painful work. It was the Boy who later died in place of the boys, just as He was also sacrificed for you and for me.

Jesus was born as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (john 1:29). That is the good news of Christmas. Mary saw all that was happening and “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (luke 2:19, 51). This Christmas we can do the same. In the midst of all the frantic and busy celebrations, where Christmas is often emptied of its true context (a tragic world) and significance (its good news), let us remember the real world into which Jesus was born. And let us praise God that Jesus is truly good news for a dying world.

¹ The Revell Bible Dictionary, Herod, p. 483 (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, A Division of Baker Book House Co., 1994).