I love looking at the manger scenes on Christmas. It all seems so peaceful and happy. Yet, I fear that this one image, frozen in time in the Christmas creche, may also be misleading. It’s kind of like one of those perfect family pictures you see posted to Facebook. A video of everything leaded up to that photo might be more enlightening.
We tend to think we know the Christmas story. But we sometimes too easily glance over events like today’s telling of the flight into Egypt. “Right… the Holy Family went to Egypt, then they came back, and lived happily ever after in Nazareth.” I wonder what it would have been like for Mary and Joseph at the time. Silent Night and Joy to the World seem to be more the exception than the norm in the life of the Holy Family.
Notice what Matthew does in today’s gospel. Years after the events, he easily tells us that all this was foretold in scripture. “Out of Egypt I have called my son…. He shall be called a Nazarene.” Sure, looking back maybe that’s nice to say, but I doubt that Joseph was going casually into exile in Egypt thinking happy thought of such prophecies.
On this feast of the Holy Family, let’s not be too quick to focus on just the manger scene. Our families can never measure up, and it wasn’t really like that for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph either. Most of life is a battle. We flee and go into exile at times, and through it all we just have to listen for the voice of the lord. Where do you want me to go now, Lord? When it’s all over, then we too will be able to see the fulfillment of all God spoke in the scriptures. Most especially, we will see that God has remained faithful throughout our lives and that we have always been his beloved sons and daughters. We are his holy family.