Subj: MATTHEW 2:13-15, 19-23: SUNDAY'S GOSPEL FOR REFLECTION
Date: 12/26/98 7:42:30 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: mtuazon@ix.netcom.com (Manuel Tuazon)
Reply-to: daily-word@cin.org
To: daily-word@cin.org
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Sunday, December 27, 1998
The Holy Family
From: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23
The Flight Into Egypt
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[13] Now when they (the Magi) had departed, behold, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the Child and
His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for
Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him." [14] And he
rose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed to Egypt,
[15]and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill
what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called My
Son."
The Return to Nazareth
----------------------
[19] But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, [20] "Rise, take the Child and His
Mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the Child's
life are dead." [21] And he rose and took the Child and His mother,
and went to the land of Israel. [22] But when he heard that Archelaus
reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go
there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of
Galilee. [23] And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that
what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called
a Nazarene."
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Commentary:
14. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, draws a particular
attention to Joseph's faithfulness and obedience: "On hearing this,
Joseph was not scandalized, nor did he say, `This is hard to
understand. You yourself told me not long ago that He would save His
people, and not He is not able to save even Himself. Indeed, we have
to flee and undertake a journey and be away for a long time...'. But
he does not say any of these things, because Joseph is a faithful man.
Neither does he ask when they will be coming back, even though the
angel had left it open when he said `and remain there till I tell
you.' This does not hold him back: on the contrary, he obeys, believes
and endures all trials with joy" ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 8).
It is worth noting also how God's way of dealing with His chosen ones
contains light and shade: they have to put up with intense sufferings
side by side with great joy: "It can be clearly seen that God, who is
full of love for man, mixes pleasant things with unpleasant ones, as He
did with all the Saints. He gives us neither dangers nor consolations
in a continual way, but rather He makes the lives of the just a mixture
of both. This was what He did with Joseph" ("ibid".).
15. The text of Hosea 11:1 speaks of a child who comes out of Egypt and
is a son of God. This refers in the first place to the people of
Israel whom God brought out of Egypt under Moses' leadership. But this
event was a symbol or prefiguration of Jesus, the Head of the Church,
the New People of God. It is in Him that this prophecy is principally
fulfilled. The sacred text gives a quotation from the Old Testament in
the light of its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament
achieves its full meaning in Christ, and, in the words of St. Paul, to
read it without keeping in mind Jesus is to have one's face covered by
a veil (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18).
22. History tells us that Archelaus was ambitious and cruel like his
father. By the time Joseph returned from Egypt, the new king was quite
notorious.
"In the different circumstances of his life, St. Joseph never refuses
to think, never neglects his responsibilities. On the contrary, he
puts his human experience at the service of faith. When he returns
from Egypt, learning `that Archelaus reigned over Judea in place of his
father Herod, he was afraid to go there.' In other words, he had
learned to work within the Divine Plan. And to confirm that he was
doing the right thing, Joseph received an instruction to return to
Galilee" ([Blessed] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 42).
23. Nazareth, where the Anunciation had taken place (Luke 1:26), was a
tiny and insignificant Palestinian village. It was located in Galilee,
the most northerly part of the country. The term "Nazarene" refers to
Jesus' geographic origin, but His critics used it as term of abuse when
He began His mission (John 1:46). Even in the time of St. Paul the
Jews tried to humiliate the Christians by calling them Nazarenes (Acts
24:5). Many prophets predicted that the Messiah would suffer poverty
and contempt (Isaiah 52:2ff.; Jeremiah 11:19; Psalm 22), but the words
"He shall be called a Nazarene" are not to be found as such in any
prophetic text. They are, as St. Jerome points out, a summary of the
prophets' teaching in a short and expressive phrase.
However, St. Jerome himself (cf. "Comm. on Isaiah", 11:1) says that the
name "Nazarene" fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1: Christ is the
"shoot" ("nezer", in Hebrew) of the entire race of Abraham and David.
***********************************************************************
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentary
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland. Printed in Hungary.
"The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries" is currently available in
the New Testament version only.
"Nihil Obstat": Stephen J. Greene, "Censor Deputatus".
"Imprimi Potest": J. O'Carroll, Diocesan Administrator, 15 October
1987.
Reprinted with permission from the U.S. publisher (see below).
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