By Fr Dexter Brereton, CSSp ThM STL
The Gospel reading of the feast of the Holy Family this year recounts an incident from the infancy narrative of St Matthew in which the child Jesus is protected from mortal danger through the wisdom of his foster father Joseph to listen to the advice he receives by way of dreams and his willingness to “listen to his own gut.” It is important to remember that the infancy stories of Matthew and Luke are Gospel stories in miniature and all the main themes which will be spelt out in their respective gospels are adumbrated (foreshadowed) in these beautiful stories.
For the proper use of these stories in catechesis then, it is important for us as teachers not to become overly sentimental and “teary-eyed” about the beautiful baby’s simplicity, poverty etc. This is also a deadly serious drama and the gospel story which explains Joseph’s fear of Herod raises the notion of the intractable, constant opposition that the babe, Jesus would come to experience as a grown man. The birth of a miraculous child is not good news for everyone and Jesus, merely because he exists, has acquired deadly enemies.
The story begins with Joseph being warned in a dream ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there till I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and so away with him. Matthew goes on to say that Joseph’s obedience was instantaneous. He got up and …left that night for Egypt. This warning was an allusion to Herod’s futile search for Jesus and his subsequent massacre of innocent children which will be recounted in Matthew 2: 16-18. Egypt at this time in history was a refuge for Jews, in the same manner that Trinidad has become a bit of a refuge for some Venezuelan families in light of their ongoing political unrest. Matthew goes on to say that they would stay in Egypt till Herod was dead. This death occurred around 4 BC. Jesus’ journey into Egypt parallels Israel’s journey into Egypt in the Old Testament. Matthew quotes Hosea 11 which is an allusion to Israel whom God rescues out of Egypt: I called my son out of Egypt. Jesus, sums up in himself, the history and destiny of this Holy People of God. God calls Jesus out of Egypt, out of the place of exile back into Israel, to form a new people for himself.
At times, we all need to take the road to exile. We need to protect our dreams from those who would, for example pretend to befriend us while seeking to stab us in the back. Our culture says it well: All skin teeth is not grin. If we wish to progress in life, to progress in the ways of wisdom it is useful for us to understand that the way of the Lord is not unending confrontation with our enemies. Sometimes we need to go away quietly and rest and reflect for a while and wait for what Venerable Francis Libermann calls ‘the moment of God.’ All things take place in God’s time.
