Holy Family, cycle A

MATTHEW 2:13-15, 19-23
THERE ARE TWO WAYS AT LEAST OF LOOKING AT THE GOSPEL FOR THIS FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY. WE MIGHT, FOR EXAMPLE, MEDITATE ON THE ACTUAL EVENTS – THE ANGEL SPEAKING TO JOSEPH IN DREAMS, THE FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE FAMILY FROM ISRAEL INTO EGYPT; MAYBE WE COULD EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR THEM TO BE IMMIGRANTS IN A COUNTRY WHERE CUSTOMS WERE UNFAMILIAR AND THEY COULD NOT SPEAK THE LANGUAGE. DID JOSEPH HAVE TO WORK AT ANY JOB HE COULD GET? DID THEY GO HUNGRY? WHAT KIND OF LIVING QUARTERS DID THEY HAVE? OR, PERHAPS, THEY WENT TO ONE OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, BECAUSE THERE WERE JEWISH COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE MEDITERRANIAN WORLD. BUT WE CERTAINLY COULD CONCLUDE THAT IT WASN'T EASY. AND WE COULD RECOGNIZE THAT JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH WERE REFUGEES, MAYBE EVEN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS; AND WE COULD MARVEL ONCE AGAIN HOW JESUS SHARED EVERYTHING WITH US HUMAN BEINGS, EVEN THE VERY WORST PARTS OF LIFE.
BUT I THINK MATTHEW HAD A DIFFERENT INTENTION IN MIND WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND BACK AGAIN. I THINK THAT BECAUSE HE GOES TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO MAKE SURE WE SEE THAT JESUS IS FULFILLING PROPHECY.
JOSEPH, FOR EXAMPLE, IS INSTRUCTED THROUGH DREAMS. AND WE MAY REMEMBER THAT ANOTHER JOSEPH, THE SON OF JACOB, WAS AIDED BY GOD THROUGH DREAMS WHEN HE WAS FIRST OF ALL A PRISONER OF EGYPT, AND EVENTUALLY BECAME THE PRIME MINISTER. THAT JOSEPH WAS GIVEN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT A GREAT FAMINE WAS COMING, AND BECAUSE OF THIS FOREKNOWLEDGE, JOSEPH WAS ABLE TO SAVE HIS KINSMEN WHO CAME INTO EGYPT AND EVENTUALLY FORMED THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE THE ISRAELITES. AND JOSEPH, THE FOSTER FATHER OF JESUS, PRESERVES THE LIFE OF JESUS BECAUSE OF HIS DREAMS.
THE READING TODAY LEAVES OUT THE SLAUGHTER OF THE CHILDREN THAT WAS ORDERED BY HEROD. JUST LAST WEEK ON FRIDAY WE CELEBRATED THE FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. BUT MATTHEW WANTED US TO SEE THAT JUST AS THE BIRTH OF JESUS WAS ACCOMPANIED BY THE TRAGEDY OF ALL THESE DEATHS, THERE WAS A SIMILAR EVENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT – THE BIRTH OF MOSES. PHAROH HAD ORDERED THAT ALL THE MALE CHILDREN OF THE ISRAELITES WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH, HIS INTENTION BEING TO STOP THE GROWTH OF THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE. MOSES ESCAPED, AND AFTER EXILE, CAME BACK TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO FREEDOM. JESUS, MATTHEW SUGGESTS, WILL ALSO RETURN TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE TO A NEW KIND OF FREEDOM.
MATTHEW QUOTES SCRIPTURE; HE QUOTES HOSEA THE PROPHET, WHEN HE SAYS, “OUT OF EGYPT I WILL CALL MY SON”. HOSEA WAS REFERRING TO THE ISRAELITES, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PATRIARCH JACOB, WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN THE NAME “ISRAEL” AFTER HE WRESTLED WITH AN ANGEL. HOSEA WAS RECALLING HOW GOD HAD BROUGHT HIS PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, AND WOULD BRING THEM AGAIN OUT OF THEIR SPIRITUAL EXILE. JESUS IS THE NEW ISRAEL, AND GOD CALLS HIM OUT OF EGYPT TO BEGIN THE TASK OF FORMING A NEW PEOPLE – YOU AND I.
BUT THEN WE COME TO A MYSTERY. MATTHEW QUOTES ANOTHER PROPHECY: “HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZOREAN”. IF YOU EVER WANT TO GET ONE OF YOUR BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALIST FRIENDS NERVOUS, ASK HIM OR HER WHERE THAT QUOTE CAME FROM. THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT THERE IS NO SUCH QUOTE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. THERE ARE THREE EXPLANATIONS FOR THIS. ONE IS THAT MATTHEW WAS QUOTING FROM A PROPHECY THAT DIDN'T ACTUALLY MAKE IT INTO THE BIBLE. SOME CATHOLIC APOLOGISTS USE THIS TO SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT REVELATION IS HANDED DOWN BY TRADITION AS WELL AS THROUGH SCRIPTURE. IF THE STATEMENT IS IN MATTHEW, THEN IT IS SCRIPTURE; BUT IF MATTHEW SAYS HE GOT IT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE, AND IT ISN'T IN SCRIPTURE, THEN TRADITION MUST CARRY THE TRUTH AS WELL. ANOTHER EXPLANATION IS THAT MATTHEW IS REFERRING TO THE NAZARITES. IF YOU REMEMBER YOUR BIBLE, SAMSON, THE GUY WHO GOT BETRAYED BY DELILAH, WAS A NAZARITE. THEY TOOK OATHS NOT TO CUT THEIR HAIR, TO AVOID WINE, TO AVOID WOMEN, AND IN GENERAL, THEY MADE THE PHARISEES LOOK LIKE PIKERS. THERE WEREN'T MANY OF THEM AROUND, BUT THEY WERE REALLY HOLY. THE TROUBLE IS THAT MATTHEW DOESN'T USE THAT WORD, AND REFERS VERY EXPLICITLY TO SOME SORT OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TOWN OF NAZARETH. FINALLY, SOME HAVE SPECULATED THAT MATTHEW WAS REFERRING TO THE FACT THAT JESUS WAS THE DESCENDANT OF KING DAVID, SINCE THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED THAT A SHOOT WOULD SPRING FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE, (WHO WAS THE FATHER OF DAVID), AND THE WORD FOR SHOOT OR BRANCH WAS NETSR. TO ME THAT MAKES THE MOST SENSE, BECAUSE IT FITS IN WITH WHAT MATTHEW IS DOING IN THIS WHOLE PASSAGE – PROVING FROM SCRIPTURE THAT JESUS WAS FULFILLING THE PROPHECIES.
SO WHY DO I TAKE YOU THROUGH THIS SCRIPTURE STUDY WHEN I SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THE HOLY FAMILY, OR FAMILIES IN GENERAL? WELL, I DOUBT THAT JOSEPH OR MARY WERE AT ALL CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT THEIR ORDEAL, THEIR RUNNING IN FEAR FROM HEROD, THEIR EXILE IN EGYPT, THEIR HUNGER AND INSECURITY, THEIR CONSTANT AWARENESS OF THE FACT THAT THE STRANGERS THEY LIVED WITH COULD SUDDENLY DECIDE TO TURN ON THEM, WOULD SOMEDAY BE STUDIED BY MATTHEW AND SEEN TO BE AN AMAZING FULFILLMENT OF SCRIPTURE; THEY WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED HAD BEEN A PART OF GOD'S PLAN.
AND MAYBE THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD CARRY AWAY TODAY. IN OUR OWN FAMILIES, IN OUR OWN LIVES, THERE IS JOY AND SUFFERING, PAIN AND PLEASURE, LONELINESS AND WONDERFUL COMPANIONSHIP, SEPARATION AND COMING TOGETHER. AND SOMETIMES IT SEEMS TO MAKE NO SENSE, SOMETIMES IT SEEMS AS THOUGH EVERYTHING IS RANDOM. BUT JOSEPH AND MARY PROBABLY FELT THE SAME WAY; IT DIDN'T SEEM LIKE THIS WAS THE WAY TO TREAT THE MESSIAH. BUT THEY NEVER LOST HOPE, THEY CONTINUED TO TRUST, BECAUSE THEY KNEW THAT SOMEHOW IN GOD'S TIME EVERYTHING WOULD MAKE SENSE. AND IT WILL FOR US AS WELL.
SO LET US ASK GOD, NOT TO SHOW US HOW EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE – IF HE DID THAT, WE WOULD NOT NEED FAITH – BUT RATHER, ASK HIM TO GIVE US THE GIFT OF TRUSTING HIM, TRUSTING HIM TO USE US, TO USE OUR FAMILIES, TO FULFILL HIS PLAN. AND IN THAT TRUST WE WILL FIND JOY.