The Silence of the Lamb

The Slaughter of the Innocents? The Silence of the Lambs? Josh, what are you doing? It’s Christmas time!!! Yeah, I know, and honestly, I hate the horror genre. But the eternal wisdom of God placed this horrific scene into the Christmas narrative, and the Church has historically set aside time to acknowledge it, so I think we should care to find out why and try to submit our own experience to it. Here’s my hunch: Christmas is a rescue story, and a rescue is only needed if there are monsters lurking. Maybe you’ve heard this insight by the celebrated children’s writer, C.S. Lewis:“… Since it is so likely that [children] will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker. Nor do most of us find that violence and bloodshed, in a story, produce any haunting dread in the minds of children. As far as that goes, I side impenitently with the human race against the modern reformer. Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end the book. … It would be nice if no little boy in bed, hearing, or thinking he hears, a sound, were ever at all frightened. But if he is going to be frightened, I think it better that he should think of giants and dragons than merely of burglars. And I think St. George, or any bright champion in armour, is a better comfort than the idea of the police.” (C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories)Did you catch that? You can’t shelter them from the knowledge of evil, but you can handicap their imagination when it comes to the triumph of good. All you have to do is pretend everything is fine and nothing bad will ever happen to you. Honestly, I’m scared to tell the truth about this passage and the darkness of our world because it is simply horrifying. Part of me would rather be ambiguous about the enemy and only explicit about the Savior. But that’s not what the Bible does, and truth be told, it’s not what our lives are like, either. So, pray with me and for me as we explore this text together and try to apprehend God’s presence in the reign of terror.- Josh