THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH
29 DECEMBER 2024
In
celebrating this Feast, we can become discouraged. What family can compare with the Holy
Family? Angels communicated God’s
messages to the father in dreams. The
mother was conceived without original sin and never sinned. The Son was God himself. No matter how good our families may be, there
is no way they can live up to that standard.
However, we
need to remember that this family faced some very difficult challenges, as some
families face today. The mother became
pregnant before marriage. Can you even
imagine the gossip about her in the small village of Nazareth? After traveling the 90 miles to Bethlehem
because of the emperor’s insistence on being counted, there was no room for them
in the inn. Actually, some scripture
scholars argue that they probably went to Joseph’s ancestral home in
Bethlehem. But because of the shame of
the pregnancy, they were shunted to the bottom floor, which was used as a
stable for animals. The mother gave
birth in less than antiseptic conditions.
Then the family was forced to become immigrants in a foreign land
because of the murderous threats of the local king. Finally, they were able to return to their
home in Nazareth.
That is
where we pick up the narrative in today’s Gospel. This is the only Gospel account of Jesus
before he undertakes his public ministry.
He is twelve years old, barely a teenager. Saint Luke tells us that they are a very
religious family who makes the annual trip to the temple for the feast of
Passover. When they embark on their
journey home, they discover at the end of a long day that their child is not
with them. They return in haste and
worry and search everywhere for their son, as any good parent would do. After three days, they finally find him in
the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers. He is listening to them and asking
questions. All who heard him are
astounded at his understanding and his answers.
His anxious
parents are also astonished, and his mother asks him what he has done to
them. Then Jesus speaks the first
recorded words in any of the Gospels and says, “Why were you looking for
me? Do you not know that I must be in my
Father’s house?” They do not understand
what he is talking about. However, the
12-year old returns with his parents to Nazareth, where he is obedient to
them. Meanwhile, his mother keeps all
these things in her heart, as she had done when the shepherds left the stable
at his birth.
In this
account, Saint Luke gives us a preview of what will happen to this child when
he becomes an adult and begins his public ministry. The crowds will be astounded at his wisdom
when he teaches them. Like his parents, his
disciples will not understand what he is talking about. They do not understand what he says to his
parents, that he must do the will of the Father, whose house he has been
staying for three days. Even worse, he
will be laid in a tomb and be dead for three days, as the child is dead to his
parents for three days. As the disciples
will journey for a day to Emmaus and then return to Jerusalem after the
resurrection, so his parents make a similar journey to find him alive and well.
That is why
we always celebrate this feast within the Octave (or eight) Days of
Christmas. We continue to celebrate the
Incarnation, the Mystery of the eternal Word taking on human flesh. To paraphrase the beginning of the Gospel
according to Saint John, he has pitched his tent and dwells among us. That is wonderful news for all families. No matter what is happening in our families,
the Eternal Word of God dwells with us.
He dwells with us in the midst of our sins and break ups. He dwells with us in the tragedies and difficulties
of life. He dwells with us even when we
live alone and are heart broken. The
eternal Word of God dwells in the family of this parish and encourages us as we
remain faithful and practice our faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment