Christ is coming!?!?

     Christ is coming!!  An exclamation shouted out with joy because Christ is coming - that means hope, love, joy, peace, family, good food, presents, and warm fuzzies are also coming because baby Jesus is in a manger and what could be cuter than that?
     Christ is coming?? An interrogative barely whispered because Christ is coming - that means despair, hate, sadness, distress, broken relationships, hunger, poverty, and dread are also coming because Jesus Christ is on the cross and what could be more atrocious than that?
     We heard last Sunday that the hope, love, joy, and peace that Christ brings into the world are often found in the places we least expect them, like on the cross.  Which is why it is such an exciting thing to say, "Christ is coming!!"  But, if you're like me, you may look around and really truly wonder, "Christ is coming??"  How could God be here?  In the midst of the terrible suffering of people who not only suffered through an earthquake but now contracted cholera?  In the midst of terrified women and children who are trafficked across borders in exchange for drugs or money?  In the midst of broken systems and imperfect people and in the midst of kings who slaughter all the boys under age two? 
     Sunday's gospel lesson comes from Matthew 2.13-23 and includes the two verses called "The Massacre of the Infants".  Matthew's gospel tells quite a different story than the one we are used to hearing.  Instead of shepherds in the quiet night seeing angels proclaim Jesus' birth, we are told only that an angel came to Joseph and told him to marry Mary, who was pregnant, and to name the child Jesus.  The story goes on to tell us that when some magi came to King Herod (the regional king) where the king of the Jews had been born, for they had observed a star, he became afraid and killed all the boys under two.
    The king whose birth was announced to bring peace to earth in Luke's gospel is the same king whose birth announcement was a death sentence in Matthew's gospel.  While there is little historical evidence of the massacre actually happening, the truth of the story remains: Jesus' kingship was threatening to those in power, for, as Mary sang, "God humbles the proud but lifts up the lowly."
    These two accounts of Jesus' birth at first seem quite contrary.  One account of peace and harmony, one account of murder and discord.  I know that Christ has come to bring hope, love, joy, and peace.  In Matthew's gospel, however, Christ's coming seems to bring just the opposite.  So I am left wondering:
Perhaps the main reason for Christ's coming was not so that God would prevent bad things from happening - sin does, after all, seem to rule this earthly life.  Perhaps the main reason for Christ's coming was so that God would be with all of creation during times full of strife, war, hatred, violence, and suffering.  This is a mystery of faith, and because of faith I can still shout and proclaim with great joy and hope in God's future:  
Christ is coming!?!?