Sunday in the octave of Christmas.

Sunday in the Octave of Christmas - Holy Family (A)

Matthew 2: 13 to 15. 19 to 23

A SON OF IMMIGRANTS

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,  where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt  and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,  and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene

 Ordinarily Christians imagine Mary and Joseph enjoying the company of their son Jesus in their little home in Nazareth in an enviable atmosphere of peace and happiness. This is not the picture which the evangelist Matthew gives us  of the 'holy family'. His somber account of the early years of Jesus shatters all the fantasies we build around Christmas.

According to Matthew, Jesus' family could not live in peace. Herod wants to kill the child so one day he would not snatch his power from him. Joseph  has to act fast. The danger is imminent. Take the child and his mother "at night" and, without waiting for a new dawn,"flee to Egypt”.

The journey is hard and dangerous. Mary and Joseph remember the hardships endured by their people in that same desert. Now they are reliving them with their son Jesus. The three are seeking asylum in a foreign country far from home and from their people. All is uncertainty and insecurity. They don’t know when they will be able to return. They will be told.

After Herod's death, the family breathes a sigh of relief  and begins the journey back home. But Archelaus reigns  in Judea,  a man who according to the historian, Flavius Josephus, was known for his cruelty and tyranny. Joseph 'is afraid'. It is not a safe place for Jesus. They will move to Galilee and settle down in Nazareth, a village lost in the mountains, which, so far, seems a less dangerous place.

It is in this way that the "holy family" lives, protecting their son so he can survive, migrating from one place to another in search of food and work, homeless and insecure in a land dominated by powerful 'kings' such as Herod or Archelaus.

This is the great news of Christmas. God was not born to the privileged of the earth to celebrate his coming with tables loaded with food and superfluous gifts. He was born to share our lives, bringing hope to those who cannot expect much from anyone except God.