How can the family be an enduring communion of life and love? For anyone, the family is set to be the first and the last bastion of mutuality and committed service, where one is blessed and favored, if everyone walks in God’s ways. This is exemplified by the obedience of Joseph to divine guidance for the welfare of the Child and His mother (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23).
Take care of the child and His mother
The two discrete narratives of our gospel reading underline divine guidance and providence, and human compliance in response. The two parts uniformly begin with an indication the event described is contingent on an earlier event (“when the magi had departed,” “when Herod had died”), and are introduced by the same exclamatory word “behold” and the same phrase “the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.” Directives are given and Joseph’s compliance with the divine instructions results in what the author interprets as fulfillment of earlier prophetic sayings that point to the identity of the Child Jesus as the One eventually to establish the reign of God.
To take care of the Child and His mother, Joseph is portrayed in resemblance to Joseph of the Old Testament, the patriarch who was “the master of dreams” (Genesis 37:19), and who went down to Egypt, escaping an attempt on his life by his brothers. The escape of Jesus from Herod is made also remarkably similar to the story of the escape of Moses from the Pharaoh, and who also came back from Egypt and who later heard from the Lord that “All those who were seeking your life are dead” (Exodus 4:19). Both the Holy Family of Joseph and the family of Jacob/Israel stayed in Egypt until the death of a ruler persuaded them to return to their land of origin, the prophet’s words: “Out of Egypt, I called my son” (Hosea 11:1) linking the two returns. As Israel went back to the land of his ancestors to be shaped as God’s people, Jesus returned to His homeland eventually to establish God’s reign.
Go to…
Warned in yet another dream about the dangers in Judea, Joseph moved his family to Galilee and stayed in Nazareth, “so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazorean.’” The affirmation means that the identity and ministry and destiny of Jesus are in accord with and fulfill the expectations of Israel in the plurality of the prophets. Specifically, the messianic prophecy that “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11:1) links Jesus “son of David” (Matthew 1:1) with the neser (branch) that would grow out of the Davidic roots.
The active presence of God in the events of the life of Jesus is certainly here emphasized. As Joseph saw to the safety of the Child and His mother, it was God who was directing him. In the relational character of family life, we find in the model of the Holy Family mutuality and silent unity in “the fear of the Lord” (Psalm 128:1-2), characteristic of the righteous person, that wonderment at the immensity of divine power and goodness, in the context of one’s littleness, and expressed in one’s walking in and following God’s ways.
Alálaong bagá, the Holy Family followed the directives of God and walked in the ways pointed out to them. Nobody claims privileges; everyone is there for the others in gentleness and patience, in mutuality of love and humility. Jesus the Son of God was cared for and protected by His mother and father. And over and above natural family bonds, it is the word and the will of God in the hearts of all that is essential. Joseph is the example for us of the head of the family who is absolutely open and obedient to the divine guidance, and who is there in total trustworthiness for his family. He is a model parent who puts the needs of the child entrusted to him before his own.
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