MATTHEW 2:13-15; 19-22
IF YOU'VE NOTICED THE SCRIPTURE
CITATION ABOVE THE GOSPEL, YOU WILL SEE THAT IT'S ONE OF THOSE WHERE
THEY LEFT SOMETHING OUT. WHAT WAS LEFT OUT WAS THE STORY OF HOW
HEROD SENT SOLDIERS TO SLAUGHTER ALL THE BOYS UNDER TWO YEARS OF AGE
– WE USED TO REFER TO THEM AS THE HOLY INNOCENTS. IN FACT, THEIR
FEAST DAY WAS YESTERDAY. SO YOU MAY WONDER, WHY DID THE CHURCH LEAVE
THAT PART OUT OF THE GOSPEL READING FOR TODAY?
WHEN YOU ACTUALLY READ THE WHOLE
THING, WHAT YOU REMEMBER IS THE SLAUGHTER, AND MATTHEW'S COMMENT THAT
THIS FULFILLED THE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAH WHO SPOKE ABOUT RACHEL
WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN AND REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY
WERE NO MORE. I THINK YOU WOULD AGREE THAT YOU WOULDN'T BE THINKING
ABOUT THE RELATIVELY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE YOU'VE JUST HEARD –
JOSEPH BEING DIRECTED BY DREAMS, LEAVING BETHLEHEM, TAKING HIS FAMILY
TO EGYPT, COMING BACK AND RELOCATING TO NAZARETH. AND YET THAT'S THE
PART THE CHURCH WANTS US TO CONCENTRATE ON TODAY.
THE FIRST THING I NOTICE IS THAT IN A
FEW SIMPLE SENTENCES WE GET A GLIMPSE OF A FAMILY THAT IS GOING
THROUGH EXTRAORDINARILY HARD TIMES. MATTHEW WOULD HAVE US UNDERSTAND
THAT JOSEPH AND MARY WERE LIVING IN BETHLEHEM; REMEMBER THAT IN THE
OTHER STORY, FROM LUKE, THEY CAME FROM NAZARETH TO BETHLEHEM FOR THE
CENSUS. SO IF THEY WERE LIVING IN BETHLEHEM, JOSEPH WAS ESTABLISHING
HIMSELF AS A LOCAL CRAFTSMAN; JESUS WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A FEW DAYS
OLD AND TWO, SO WE CAN BE SURE HE WAS A HANDFUL; AND THE YOUNG COUPLE
WERE JUST STARTING TO PUT DOWN ROOTS WHEN JOSEPH IS WARNED TO TAKE
HIS FAMILY AND FLEE TO EGYPT. OBVIOUSLY, THAT WAS A LONG WALK.
ARTISTS HAVE OFTEN REPRESENTED THIS WITH JOSEPH LEADING A DONKEY ON
WHICH MARY WAS RIDING WHILE HOLDING THE BABY. IT'S MORE LIKELY THAT
JOSEPH AND MARY WALKED, AND IF THEY HAD A DONKEY, THEY PROBABLY
PACKED THEIR POSSESSIONS ON THE BEAST, ESPECIALLY JOSEPH'S TOOLS.
LIVING IN EGYPT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN EASY, EITHER; THEY WERE
FOREIGNERS, DIDN'T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE; AND JOSEPH PROBABLY HAD TO
TAKE WHATEVER WORK HE COULD GET TO EARN A LIVING. WE KNOW THAT
LABORERS WOULD CONGREGATE IN THE TOWN SQUARE AND PEOPLE WHO NEEDED
LABORERS WOULD GO AND HIRE THEM FOR THE DAY. JESUS TALKED ABOUT THIS
PRACTICE. EVERY DAY JOSEPH AND MARY WONDERED ABOUT WHETHER THEY
WOULD BE EATING ANYTHING THAT EVENING. AND THEN, JUST ABOUT WHEN
THINGS WERE SETTLING DOWN, JOSEPH HAS TO GO BACK TO ISRAEL, AND
MATTHEW SAYS THAT HE GOES TO NAZARETH, A DIFFERENT CITY, A CITY IN
THE NORTH, FAR FROM BETHLEHEM AND JERUSALEM; A CITY IN GALILEE. IF
JOSEPH AND MARY WERE GOOD JEWS, AND WE KNOW THEY WERE, THIS MUST HAVE
BEEN DIFFICULT AS WELL. IN ADDITION TO THE JEWISH POPULATION, THERE
WERE ROMAN PAGANS THERE, AS WELL AS SAMARITANS. THE POINT IS THAT
THIS FAMILY SUFFERED HARDSHIP; YOU DON'T SEE IT, BUT YOU CAN READ
BETWEEN THE LINES. AND THE GREATER POINT IS THAT A MEMBER OF THIS
FAMILY WAS GOD INCARNATE.
CAN GOD DO ANYTHING? OF COURSE. SO
WHY DIDN'T HE MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR MARY AND JOSEPH? WHY PUT THEM
THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE?
I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS
QUESTION. BUT IT ISN'T UNIQUE. I SUSPECT THAT IT IS A QUESTION ON
THE LIPS OF EVERY PERSON TRYING TO FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS.
IT'S ON THE LIPS OR AT LEAST THE MINDS, OF AN ELDERLY COUPLE I VISIT.
SHE HAS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND SITS LIKE A STONE ALL DAY LONG. HE
HAS A BAD HEART AND IS LOSING HIS VISION – AND HE WORRIES ABOUT WHO
WILL PAINSTAKINGLY FEED HER LUNCH WHEN HE ISN'T AROUND TO DO IT.
COULDN'T GOD MAKE THINGS A LITTLE EASIER? AND WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD
AND HOLY PRIEST WHO WAS MY PATIENT MANY YEARS AGO, WHO OVER ELEVEN
MONTHS WENT FROM A VIGOROUS MAN TO SOMEONE WHOSE EVERY CONSCIOUS
EFFORT WAS TRYING TO BREATHE. WHERE WAS GOD?
THE STORY TODAY TELLS US WHERE HE IS.
HE'S WITH US, HE HAS PITCHED HIS TENT IN OUR MIDST, AS SAINT JOHN
SAID. YOU AND I ARE MATERIAL BEINGS. SO WERE JOSEPH AND MARY.
BEING MADE OF MATTER, WE HAVE IN COMMON WITH ALL MATERIAL BEINGS THAT
WE ARE SUBJECT TO DEATH, PAIN, DECAY – AND WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE
THESE THINGS ARE INEVITABLE. FOR REASONS WHICH HAVE TO DO WITH THE
FALL OF ADAM AND EVE, HOWEVER WE UNDERSTAND THAT, IT IS NOT IN OUR
POWER TO BE SPARED THESE THINGS; JOSEPH AND MARY WERE NOT SPARED.
BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WE ARE GOD'S
WEAKNESS. SAINT PAUL SAID ABOUT JESUS: HIS WAS THE VERY NATURE OF
GOD, BUT HE DID NOT DEEM EQUALITY WITH GOD SOMETHING TO BE GRASPED
AT; RATHER HE MADE HIMSELF NOTHING BY TAKING ON THE NATURE OF A
SERVANT.” YOU AND I MAY LONG FOR A MIRACLE, BUT THAT PROBABLY
WON'T HAPPEN; A MIRACLE BY DEFINITION MEANS SOMETHING OUTSIDE THE
REALM OF NATURE, AND WE ARE MEANT TO BE SUBJECT TO NATURAL PROCESSES.
BUT THE PROMISE GOD MAKES AND DEMONSTRATES WITH MARY AND JOSEPH IS
THAT HE IS WITH US, HE ACCOMPANIES US, IN EVERYTHING.
WE HEAR ABOUT HEROD. HEROD WAS A
RUTHLESS TYRANT, WHO HAD TWO OF HIS SONS EXECUTED BECAUSE HE THOUGHT
THAT THEY WERE PLOTTING TO TAKE OVER HIS THRONE. IT ISN'T SURPRISING
THAT HE KILLED BABY BOYS FOR THE SAME REASON. BUT HEROD IS ACTING
OUT OF FEAR; EVEN THOUGH HE HAS ABSOLUTE POWER WITHIN HIS KINGDOM,
THE POWER OF LIFE AND DEATH, HE IS STILL FEARFUL, SO FEARFUL THAT HE
IS PARANOID. MARY AND JOSEPH SEEM TO HAVE NO FEAR, DESPITE BEING
HUNTED BY HEROD'S TROOPS, WALKING ACROSS A DESERT, LIVING IN A
FOREIGN LAND, AND GOING THROUGH ALL KINDS OF HARDSHIP – BEFORE
JESUS IS EVEN TWO YEARS OLD. THAT IS BECAUSE THEY RECOGNIZE THAT GOD
IS WITH THEM, GOD ACCOMPANIES THEM IN EVERYTHING.
WE ARE GOD'S WEAKNESS; GOD WANTS TO BE
WITH US. FOR REASONS KNOWN ONLY TO GOD, HE LOVES US. AND IF WE LET
HIM ACCOMPANY US ON OUR LIFE'S JOURNEY, NO MATTER WHERE WE GO, NO
MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, THE KNOWLEDGE THAT HE IS WITH US SHOULD CAST OUT
FEAR, BECAUSE PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR.
