Feast of the Holy Family- December 27, 2009

Our gospel reading for today deals with events in the early life of Jesus. It begins in Bethlehem, the place of his birth, and ends in Nazareth, the place where he grew up. But the details of how, when and why the Holy Family made that move are difficult to sort out. St. Luke’s account asserts that Nazareth was the home town of Mary and Joseph, and indicates that they went back there soon after Jesus was born.
St. Matthew’s account leaves open the possibility that their stay in Bethlehem may have been of longer duration. The wise Men, who came from the east, found the Holy Family, not in a stable, but in a house. Obviously, they had moved into more suitable accommodations. King Herod’s order to slaughter the innocents included all baby boys of the region up to two years of age. This has given rise to the speculation that Jesus may have been at least one year old, and still residing in Bethlehem. St. Matthew also seems to suggest that the move to Nazareth was a kind of afterthought. As he tells it: “Because of a warning received in a dream, Joseph went to the region of Galilee. There he settled in a town called Nazareth.” Does this mean that the Holy Family had intended to stay in Bethlehem, and make that their permanent home?
This is a question which cannot be answered. But this much we can say with certainty: They did not plan to go from Bethlehem to Nazareth by the way of Egypt. The little side trip added at least a hundred-fifty miles to their journey. A young couple, whose primary mode of travel was to walk or to ride a donkey, would not go that far out of their way, just for the fun of it. There is no doubt about it – Egypt was not on the agenda. They were forced to go there in order to protect their child from the evil designs of a wicked king.
This unplanned and unwanted flight into Egypt is an example of what might be called the detours of life. We all have to deal with them. We made our plans. We have some destination in mind then suddenly, right in the middle of the road, there is a detour sign. And we are forced to follow an alternate route. To Joseph it came in the form of a dream. An angel of the Lord appeared saying: “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.” To most of us, the forced change of plans comes in more concrete fashion. For some, it is a serious illness or a disabling accident. For others, it is the loss of a job, or a failed marriage, or the death of a loved one.
On city streets and open highways, detour signs usually appear in the shape of an arrow, pointing to the right or the left. On the road of life, they come in various shapes and sizes. Some are small and insignificant, representing nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. Others are gigantic and permanent, forever changing the direction of life. But the most important thing, in every instance, is not the detour itself, but how we deal with it.
We can follow it resentfully. We can leave behind our cherished plans and go trudging off to Egypt, cursing our fate every step of the way. That is a common method of dealing with detours, and is just as deadly as it is common. Nothing is more corrosive to the human spirit than the acid of bitterness. The moment we adopt that attitude, we have rendered ourselves unfit to live in this kind of world. Detours are a part of the landscape. They go with the territory. No one has ever travelled through this world without encountering at least a few, not even the Holy Family, not even Jesus himself.
A realistic approach to dealing with detours requires, first of all, that we accept them as a fact of life. We need not pretend to enjoy them, but neither do we have to resent them. In some cases, the best things we can do, initially, is simply to endure them. The letter to the Hebrews says of Jesus, “He endured the cross.” Of course, he did. What else could a healthy-minded young man do with such a hateful turn of events? I am sure that Joseph and Mary endured their unplanned journey into Egypt. They were not tourists, going to see the pyramids. They were refugees, forced to flee their home land in order to save the life of their child.
Anytime anyone is confronted with an experience like that, the first order of business is to endure it. But with Joseph and Mary, that was not the whole story. They accepted their detour, not only as a fact of life, but also as an act of divine providence. Through eyes of faith, they saw the hand of God at work in their lives. It was an angel of the lord who sent them on that journey to Egypt.
I realize that we must tread softly here. Not everything in life can be attributed directly to God. Other factors have their say in the affairs of this world. Accidents play a part. Evil has a major role. Had it not been for the wickedness of Herod, the Holy Family could have remained quietly in Bethlehem or gone directly to Nazareth. Either of those options would have been better than the one they were given. But God did not disrupt their lives. A despotic king did that. Even so, in the midst of that disruption, they were still able to see God at work. That, I am convinced, is the primary secret of dealing with detours –the faith that God does not cause them, but that he goes with us all the way through them.
One of the most famous Protestant churches in the United States is the Riverside Church of New York City. I remember a situation with the senior Pastor, William Coffin. While he was there, he grown son, Alex, was killed in an accident. The car that Alex was driving plunged into Boston Harbor, and the young man was drowned. In his first sermon after that tragedy, Dr. Coffin said this: “My own consolation lies in knowing that it was not the will of God that Alex die; that when the waves closed over that sinking car, God’s heart was the first of all our hearts to break.” We may call that wishful thinking, or we may call it anything we choose. But the fact is that it sustained a grieving father through one of life’s most painful detours.
Most of the time, when people are forced to face experiences such as this, their first inclination is to try to understand them. But that is a futile investigation. The plain truth is that no one knows why accidents happen. No one knows why evil is allowed to run rampant in God’s world. A far more useful consideration is deciding how to deal with them. As far as I can see, we have only three choices.
One, we accept them with resentment. We can fill our souls with bitterness and multiply our misery. Two, we can meet life’s detours with a kind of stoic courage. We can grit our teeth and endure them in human strength alone. This choice is clearly better than the first. But the best choice is the third. We can look for God in them. We will not find him as the cause of life’s detours, not as the one who explains them. But we can find him as a companion for the journey. And God’s presence can turn a difficult experience into a meaningful adventure.