Post-feast of the Nativity of Christ. Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God. Holy Priest-Martyr Euthymius, Bishop of Sardis (824).
Hebrews 2:11-18. Matthew 2:13-23.
Read Hebrews 2:11-18
As we continue to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord and reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, in today’s reading, the author of the letter to the Hebrews emphasizes Christ’s humanity. Jesus is fully God and fully man. The fathers of the Council of Chalcedon in the fifth century affirmed this teaching, saying that that Jesus is truly God and truly man, having two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.
Today’s reading explains that “since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15). Jesus’ Incarnation set the stage for His Passion, death, and Resurrection. As we sing in the paschal troparion: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs giving life.” By Jesus’ death, He conquered death.
It may seem strange to contemplate Christ’s death so close to this joyous feast of His Nativity. However, even in the feast’s icon, we see Christ wrapped in swaddling clothes which foreshadow His burial shroud. As joyous as Jesus’ birth is, we know that it was not without its trials and tragedies. In the gospel reading we hear today, we recall Jesus, Mary, and Joseph’s escape into Egypt and Herod’s slaughtering of the innocent boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity. As we remember the slaughtering of these innocent boys and all of the innocent throughout the ages, let us hold fast to our faith in Christ’s victory over death. Today, let us contemplate on the words St. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians: “For this perishable nature put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” (1 Cor. 15:53-55).