Feast of the Holy Family, cycle A

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.