Feast of the Holy Family (A)

December 29, 2019

Readings:

First Reading: Sirach 3: 2-6, 12-14

Psalm 128 “Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.”

Second Reading: Colossians 3: 12-17 (or 3: 12-21)

Gospel reading according to Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23

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Homily:

Jesus was born, the Word of God became man to bring light to the dark world of sin and division, to bring good harmonious relationship with God and human beings.  The whole world rejoices at the coming of the Messiah, of Christ the anointed One, Jesus whom Joseph gave his name according to the command of an angel of the Lord.  Led by the shining star from the east, three wise men followed it and arrived at Jerusalem, while the star disappeared.  After inquiring King Herod and the scholars of Jerusalem they pointed to Bethlehem, the birthplace of the new born King.  When they left King Herod and continued their search for the infant babe of Bethlehem, the star re-appeared and found the infant with his mother wrapped in swaddling clothes.  The magi worshiped him and brought out their gifts, frankincense, gold and myrrh.  They too rejoiced for now the God of glory is revealed to them.  Since they, the magi, represented the whole humanity, all humankind too saw the glory of God in this infant babe of Bethlehem (as St. Francis of Assisi called this child). After a day or two, the magi left for their own countries of origin to proclaim the good news of the birth of the new king without going back and passing through to King Herod, who also planned to kill them.  They used another routes.  When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: Rise, take the child and his mother; flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.  Herod is going to search for a child to destroy him (Matthew 2: 13).  During that night, when the magi left, a dream came to Joseph and the angel of the Lord warned him about the coming danger in the life of the infant and his mother.  The angel told him to rise, take the child and his mother; flee to Egypt, and stay there until he was told for King Herod is going to search for a child to destroy him because he was jealous and afraid to loss his throne and since he was tricked by the three wise men.

Joseph, like his forefather of old, Joseph of Egypt, who always had dreams from God, he followed what the angel commanded him to do in a dream.  Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt (Matthew 2: 14).  He rose, woke up Mary in the middle of the night, and prepared their departure from Bethlehem, Jerusalem to Egypt, to the place where their ancestors (Jacob and his family) stayed and lived during famine in the land of Canaan, for the safety of the life of the child and even of his mother, Mary.  Though King Herod was sure that he was killed the new born King of Israel, but to be sure he sent many spies in the surrounding areas of Judea up to Egypt, so Joseph to avoid those spies moved from one place to another his foster son Jesus and wife Mary.

Joseph and his family (Jesus and Mary) stayed in some parts of Egypt for quite sometimes until a dream told him that King Herod was dead.  He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son (Matthew 2: 15).  He and his family mingled with the Egyptians and some Jewish people who were in diaspora.  He raised Jesus with his trade, carpentry and other woodwork while staying in Egypt.

After sometime, again, in a dream the angel of the Lord appeared and told Joseph that King Herod and those who would like to kill the child and his mother were already dead and it was now safe to go back to Jerusalem, in Bethlehem where his families and relatives mostly lived.  When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said: Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead (Matthew 2: 19-20).  At last, when King Herod and those who would like to kill the infant and his mother died, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him it is now time to go back to the house of Israel for it is safe for his family to go back home, and so the prophecy was fulfilled that God called his Son Jesus out of Egypt (cf. Hosea 11: 1).

Again, as he awoke he did what the angel of the Lord told him, he is truly an obedient servant of God.  He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel (Matthew 2: 21).  He woke Mary and Jesus and readied themselves for a journey from Egypt to the place of their relatives and friends in Jerusalem.  There they will stay for the rest of their lives and nobody knows what happened to Mary, and the virgin birth to Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit in accordance to the will of God the almighty Father.  He, Jesus, can also serve in the Temple, if he wishes to do so while helping his father Joseph in their business.  He can also get marry of one of his kin.  Nevertheless, Jesus has different future and plan of God, his loving Father.  He will become the savior of the world.

When the family of Joseph approached Jerusalem, he found out that Herod Anchelaus replaced his father as a new king.  He is worse than his father Herod.  But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there (Matthew 2: 22).  Joseph knew the cruelty of this Archelaus to the people of Israel and his disbelief in the Jewish religion, and he was friend and cohort of the Roman Empire, for the Romans was the ones who chose him in replacing his father in his throne.   It is natural for a father and a husband to get worried about the fate of his family in the hands of a corrupt, cruel, authoritarian and bad king.

In a dream, Joseph was again warned by the angel of the Lord for the safety of his family, especially of the infant King.  He was told to go back to Galilee, in his former home in Nazareth, and there he should raise Jesus to manhood.  And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean (Matthew 2: 22-23).  And Jesus will be called as Nazorean, as what the prophecy had been foretold for he will grow up in Nazareth, Galilee.