On the first Sunday after Christmas Day, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family

Today’s Scripture readings from Matthew’s Gospel are far from the sentimental expressions so often associated with families this time of year, but instead are quite unsettling and very challenging.

After first being asked by an angel to take his wife with child on a difficult trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, Joseph again is asked by an angel to embark upon another perilous trek and to flee their homeland and set forth together for Egypt.

For a first century Jew with wife and newborn child, a such a trek across the desert would have been treacherous and fraught with dangers.

Joseph’s obedience enables God’s provident goodness to pour into the world of time in the most unexpected of ways. [Note: obedience means “to listen”].

Mention of Egypt harkens the greatest Old Testament figure of Moses and the previous era when divine providence also surprised mightily. The parallels are unmistakable.

• At Moses’ birth many innocent Hebrew baby boys were slain, similar to the innocents of Bethlehem who Herod slaughtered.
• Just as Moses comes out of Egypt to lead the Chosen People to the Promised Land, so does Jesus come out of Egypt to deliver everyone from the captivity of sin and death.

Of course, the Gospel writer Matthew positions Jesus not as another Moses, but no less than the very perfection of all God promised to us and began in Moses.

Jesus is the perfection of the Mosaic promise. He is the very embodiment of God’s Word. 

By returning from Egypt but unable to go to Bethlehem, the holy family settles in Nazareth, thus fulfilling another prophesy that Jesus will be called a Nazarene. Of course these will be a description on the cross bearing this truth: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews (displayed by the Latin letters “INRI”).

The Holy Family had to accept so much that was challenging, from flight to crucifixion. They model for us that obedience to God Word is the necessary path to live in God’s presence.  Like the Holy Family, so must we be open to wherever God’s Word leads us and to live in God’s presence in order to navigate the difficulties we encounter and ultimately be rescued by Jesus’ Victory over sin and death – a victory He won for us and for our salvation.