Scripture can be found here…
Over the past six weeks the world has watched as a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions began with the invasion of Ukraine. Soon about three million people had been displaced, quickly rounding up children and pets, a few essentials like ID’s and passports, and fleeing for their lives towards the Ukranian border with Poland.
News over these past six weeks has provided us with countless photographs of these individuals and families. Men ages 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country while it remains in a state of martial law; they are needed for the resistance. So, except for those under the age of 18, it is an overwhelmingly feminine exodus. We can see pictures of…
a woman holding her small dog in a bus station;
an elderly man holding the elbow of a woman supported by a cane, as she waits in a long line at a border checkpoint;
a young, exhausted mother at that same checkpoint, clasping twin babies in her arms, one in a pink winter jacket and one in blue.
As of this week, the estimated number of refugees has risen to nearly four million. Terrified people, running for their lives, leaving a home they love, looking for safety.
Our passage tonight brings us into the dreams of a refugee dad. Just about three months ago, we read the story of the Magi’s visit with King Herod, a ruler who met the news of a newborn king with consternation and fear. At the end of that story, the Magi realized they wanted nothing to do with Herod, and chose not to report back to him, as he had requested, but went home (to what would be modern day Iran) by another way.
At the same time, Joseph, husband to Mary, new father to Jesus, had a dream, and not for the first time.
There’s something about the name Joseph and dreams, at least there is in the bible. The Book of Genesis ends with the story of Joseph, favorite child of Jacob, whose dreams get him into a world of trouble with his siblings, who ultimately sell him to a passing caravan. Of course, his ability to interpret dreams ends up saving his life and getting him the promotion of a lifetime, so it all works out.
Our New Testament Joseph’s dreams have a different quality to them. The first dream reported in the Gospel According to Matthew is one Joseph had upon hearing his fiancée Mary was pregnant—and Joseph was not the father. He had been inclined to arrange for a quiet divorce. But a nighttime messenger from God appeared to Joseph in a dream and assured him that Mary’s story was true: the baby was a gift from God, and Joseph and Mary should go ahead with the wedding.
After the Magi hightailed it out of Judea, Joseph had another dream about a heavenly messenger. The angel warned him that Herod wanted to destroy the child Jesus, and urged him to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt—another connection with the Old Testament Joseph, who made his fortune there, and rose to fame and power. But Joseph, Mary and Jesus: Terrified people, running for their lives, leaving a home they love, looking for safety.
After Herod realized that the Magi had hightailed it out of town, he put out a hit on the young new king. But, not knowing who he was or where he was, Herod decided to cast a wide net. He ordered his henchmen to kill all children in and around Bethlehem under the age of 2. I think this qualifies as crimes against humanity.
Now, tonight, we find Joseph. We don’t know how many years have gone by, but scripture tells us that the first years of Jesus’ life were spent in Egpyt. Traditionally we have understood Joseph to be a carpenter, though the Greek word for his trade, tekton, could also indicate that he worked with iron or stone. In any event, he was a skilled artisan, and we can assume that is how he provided for his family while they were strangers in a strange land. Like so many who have left their homelands for a better or safer life elsewhere, they raised Jesus without extended family nearby. Did they learn the local language? They must have, right? Were there other Jews nearby? Did they have “adopted” family in Egypt, people who felt sorry for the young family, and sought to help them?
We have only questions, no answers. The biblical witness tells us only this: After the death of Herod the Great, Joseph had his third and final dream—at least, the last one we know of. In it, the angel of the Lord told him,
“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:20). That command sounds just as urgent as the one telling them to flee—the implication is, do this now.
Why, I wonder? Were there other dangers in Egypt now? Again, questions we can’t answer. But we do know this: Joseph and Mary and Jesus returned to the land of Israel, though not to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was ruled by Archelaus, Herod’s son, who was so brutal he was regularly called to Rome to be disciplined. Any time a ruler or a governor is too brutal for their Roman overlords, you know they’re truly terrible. The returning family went another way.
How old was Jesus now? 4? 5? 6? We can only guess. Did Jesus have any younger siblings yet? We know he had at least four brothers and two sisters—the gospel of Mark tells us that, even gives us the boys’ names. I’m guessing there was at least a younger sibling or two for the return trip. The young family returned to Israel, but made their home in Nazareth, far away from Herod’s awful offspring. And, once again, away from extended family.
But it is here, in Nazareth, that Jesus grew up and was educated in the Torah and the Psalms. It was here that he grew to be the twelve-year-old who traveled to Jerusalem for Passover with his parents, and who was separated from them, and who was eventually found in the Temple, discussing scripture with rabbis, listening attentively, asking questions. It was in Nazareth that Jesus learned his father’s trade, and then abandoned it, because—he had another calling.
But for now, Jesus is a young child, coming home with his parents (and maybe a baby brother or sister) after a long stay in a foreign land. His father having a trade, they would have been able to live modestly but comfortably in their own home.
Imagine him now… let’s say, he’s six years old, and little Simon has been born, as well as one of the sisters—let’s call her Rachel. And the family have been in their new home for a couple of months, and they have even settled into the routine of home. The last meal of the day has been eaten, the fire extinguished or banked for the night. Mary and Joseph see their three children into their bed, maybe they sing to them, certainly they say a prayer.
Let’s pray with them:
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu, Melech Ha-Olam…
Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad.
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe.
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Praised is the Lord by day and praised by night,
praised when we lie down and praised when we rise up.
I place my spirit in God’s care, when I wake as when I sleep.
God is with me, I shall not fear, body and spirit in God’s keep. [1]
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[1] Bedtime Shema for Young Children in English Translation, My Jewish Learning, Bedtime Shema | My Jewish Learning.