Massacre of the Innocents [Steyn]

National Review ^ | 12/21/2012 | Mark Steyn

[Servant of the Cross]

The Newtown killings ought to occasion a little modesty and circumspection.

‘Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, by by, lully, lullay . . . ”

The 16th-century Coventry Carol, a mother’s lament for her lost son, is the only song of the season about the other children of Christmas — the first-born of Bethlehem, slaughtered on Herod’s orders after the Magi brought him the not-so-glad tidings that an infant of that city would grow up to be King of the Jews. As Matthew tells it, even in a story of miraculous birth, in the midst of life is death. The Massacre of the Innocents loomed large over the Christian imagination: In Rubens’s two renderings, he fills the canvas with spear-wielding killers, wailing mothers, and dead babies, a snapshot, one assumes, of the vaster, bloodier body count beyond the frame. Then a century ago the Catholic Encyclopedia started digging into the numbers. The estimated population of Bethlehem at that time was around a thousand, which would put the toll of first-born sons under the age of two murdered by King Herod at approximately 20 — or about the same number of dead children as one school shooting on a December morning in Connecticut. “Every man a king,” promised Huey Long. And, if it doesn’t quite work out like that, well, every man his own Herod.

[Servant of the Cross]

But, in the face of murder as extraordinarily wicked as that of Newtown, we should know enough to pause before reaching for our usual tired tropes. So I will save my own personal theories, no doubt as ignorant and irrelevant as everybody else’s, until after Christmas — except to note that the media’s stampede for meaning in massacre this last week overlooks the obvious: that the central meaning of these acts is that they are without meaning.

[Servant of the Cross]

Steyn ping.

[tet68]

in the midst of life is death.

Steyn understands, Et in Arcadia ego.

[passionfruit]

Love Mark Steyn!

We won’t ever find meaning in murders committed by lunatics. It just happens. If they can’t get their hands on guns, they will find other means if killing innocent people.

[Servant of the Cross]

... in the midst of life is death.

Yes. Such is our earthly existance.

That is why our Hope is for Eternity. For this is not our home.

[maica]

From the article:

...in our society, finding somebody else odd is itself a form of mental illness. In an unmoored age, what’s not odd? Once upon a time, TV viewers from distant states descending on a Connecticut town to attend multiple funerals of children they don’t know might have struck some of us as, at best, unseemly and, at worst, deeply creepy — a Feast of the Holy Innocents, so to speak.

A poem circulating on the internet that relates to Steyn's message (have tissues handy):

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

Please pass on.

[Travis McGee]

[NonValueAdded]

If they can’t get their hands on guns, they will find other means of killing innocent people.

Just days before the Newtown tragedy, there was this: Knife attack at Chinese school wounds 22 children. Yet we hear nothing about knife control.

[Chuzzlewit]

Mark Steyn IS a voice of reason in an insane culture.. He is a beacon of light...

[grimalkin]

“Herod and the Pennsylvania Indians murdered children in pursuit of crude political goals; the infanticidal maniac of Sandy Hook was merely conscripting grade-school extras for a hollow act of public suicide. Like most mass shootings, his was an exercise in hyper-narcissism — 19th-century technology in the service of a very contemporary sensibility.”

[ClearCase_guy]

Who’s to know when violent fantasies on social media prefigure a loner getting ready to mow down the kindergarten or just a critically acclaimed liberal novelist amusing her friends before the PEN Awards cocktail party?

Boy, he's good.

[MtnMan101]

In the "Mother Land" they love and protect their children...Not EAT them like they do here.

[JLS]

Mark Steyn ping.

Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.

THanks for the ping Servant of the Cross.

[JLS]

Mark Steyn ping.

Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.

THanks for the ping Servant of the Cross.

[JLS]

Mark Steyn ping.

Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.

THanks for the ping Servant of the Cross.

[heartwood]

The knife attack WOUNDED twenty-two children.

None of the children who were shot at Sandy Hook survived.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Bes. Steyn. Yet.

But I always say that.

Thank God for what this man can do with words.

[P.O.E.]

And the Founders were under fewer illusions about the fragility of society than Hollywood funnymen: On July 25,1764, four Lenape Indians walked into a one-room schoolhouse in colonial Pennsylvania and killed Enoch Brown and ten of his pupils. One child survived, scalped and demented to the end of his days.

There always have been (and still are) savages, monsters, and madmen.

[NonValueAdded]

yes, I know that. I think you are missing the main point which is “don’t blame the tool, blame the fool who uses it.” Bad people will use what is at hand: gasoline, as pointed out in a post upstream; a vehicle, driven into a crowd, the list can be endless.

[Mrs. Don-o]

“Lullay thou little tiny child...”

Think also about the gold, frankincense, and myrrh given by the Magi to Christ: gold because He was a King; frankincense because He was the Son of God; Myrrh (an embalming spice) because He was born to die.

The Bible is called the Good Book: but if it were the Nothing-But-Good Book it would be the size of a pamphlet. It´s accurate. It´s truthful. Much of it is hell-bent.
It´s The Way We Really Are.

That´s why Jesus, the Eternally Blessed Son of God, is the only one who could conquer sin and death. And He does. That´s why the Good News is so good.