Unusual families

 

Sunday 28 December 2025

 Lectio Divina:*

Sirach 3:2-14

Psalm 127 (128)

Colossians 3:12-21

Matthew 2:13-23

 

Meditatio:

“...remain there until I tell you” (Matthew 2:13)

 

Commentary:

So you think your family is among the most unusual in the world—especially after the cabin fever of Christmastide? Take a look at the Bible and listen to the stories of the “Holy Family,” celebrated in the Catholic calendar this Sunday. Trace the families of the Old Testament and you may find comfort in the recurring truth that God writes straight with crooked lines, working through ordinary, vulnerable, fragile human beings.

St Matthew’s Gospel opens the New Testament with Joseph, the spouse of Mary – a man who dreams. He hears God’s messages in his sleep, but more importantly, he acts on them with urgency and conviction. Dreams drive the narrative in this passage because they are the medium through which God speaks to several key figures. For Joseph and Mary, hesitation was not an option.

• Joseph’s dreams show a man who listens to his heart and ponders deeply.
• His decisive actions reveal sound judgment and a desire to protect the family entrusted to him.
• His patience in waiting for further guidance shows humility before an unknown future.

In this passage Joseph, the “man of honour,” does the honourable thing: he protects those in his care and removes them from danger. The glow of the Christmas crib quickly gives way to a world marked by violence and fear. According to Matthew, the first Christmas did not bring peace to “Bethlehem and its vicinity,” especially for families with infant boys under two.

The consequences are harrowing and deeply troubling (Matthew 2:18) and echo through the ages to the present day:

A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.

The Ramah mentioned here corresponds to the modern Palestinian town of al‑Ram in the West Bank, near Jerusalem. Times and borders change, but the massacre of children in this region has not ceased. Mothers still weep for victims of violent ideologies and power‑hungry rulers.

In a world of violence and displacement, families on the margins continue to survive. Some flee; others “stay the course” wherever they find themselves. These are not choices but necessities. This is the daily reality for hundreds of thousands of refugees this Christmas in the Middle East—today’s “Bethlehem and its vicinity.” There are many Marys and Josephs still, and some are closer than we think.

Joseph likely took Mary and Jesus along the ancient Via Maris from Bethlehem to Egypt—straight through what is now Gaza. The soil of Gaza was, in a sense, touched in advance by the child whose blood would later be shed outside Jerusalem. Two millennia on, the same sea bordering Gaza carries refugees fleeing terror toward Europe, only to meet further terror from patrols funded by European governments, before being abandoned to detention, torture, or death in the desert—while many look away.

How did Egypt shape the Holy Family? We do not know how long they stayed. Was Jesus old enough to learn the local language? Did he play with other African children? How did Joseph and Mary earn a living? Did they join a Jewish community there? Most likely, they lived as countless refugee families do today: poor, struggling, and hoping for better days.

The return to Palestine

Joseph eventually returned with Mary and Jesus to the land we now call Palestine, but not to Judea, where his extended family likely lived. Fearing Herod’s son, he settled instead in Galilee, in the obscure town of Nazareth—“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

In summary, we have:

• A pregnant, unmarried woman.
• A father figure accepted by society but not the biological father.
• A birth in outcast conditions to a homeless, poor family.
• A massacre of children around Bethlehem.
• A refugee flight into Egypt.
• A return still marked by displacement.
• Thirty years of obscurity before an extraordinary preacher, healer, and disturber of the peace emerges—only to be executed in Jerusalem.

Who can say God does not work in strange ways, through strange places and circumstances?

Modern-day ironies

Is it not striking that this ancient story of a family fleeing danger mirrors the journeys of hundreds of thousands today—women, men, and children escaping the same forces of power and cruelty? Is it not ironic that Joseph sought refuge for Jesus in Egypt, where many Christians today face persecution? And is it not ironic that the centrepiece of Christmas is a homeless family in a crib, while thousands of families in Ireland live in “emergency accommodation”?

Homelessness, migration, and persecution share common roots. Somewhere, someone decides that power, wealth, or pride outweigh the basic rights to life, shelter, and sustenance. Wealthy societies, despite their prosperity, often experience deep social fractures. Rising rents and housing shortages push the poorest to the margins, while addiction and ill‑health compound the crisis. People end up sleeping in cardboard and blankets in the doorways of our cities.

Let’s be clear—even for those within our own Christian ranks:

The Holy Family’s flight places Jesus among the displaced and endangered from the very beginning. He stands with those fleeing violence. Scripture must never be weaponised against migrants. The Holy Family were not criminals but refugees.

The Christmas story is not merely comforting. It is a call to justice in a world torn by war, terror, poverty, and homelessness. Christmas Day is followed immediately by the feast of St Stephen, the first martyr, and then by the slaughter of the innocents. There is a message in that sequence for us today.

 

Postcript

1   Did it really happen (and so what)?

Some academic theologians and biblical scholars might question the historical nature of the birth stories in Luke and Matthew including the flight into Egypt which is unique to the gospel of St Matthew. What matters, in my view, is the key message or messages in these stories that form part of a living tradition of transformative faith and love. As for the literal historical truth of these stories and the many details therein (sticking with post-enlightenment terminology and understanding of terms of like ‘history’ and ‘truth’) I reckon that unless there is convincing evidence to the contrary (which there is not) then one may assume that the stories link to events that ‘actually happened’ as narrated give or take a few details. 

2   Dysfunctional families in the bible

Egypt is mentioned a lot in the Bible. The patriarch, Abraham, went there to avoid a famine in the land where he came from (Genesis 12:10). Joseph the son of Jacob ended up in Egypt after a foiled attempt to murder him triggered slavery for him (Genesis 37:12-36). And Jacob pulls a smart one on his brother Essau by means of lies and trickery.  All of this  suggests that dysfunctional families are not a modern day invention! In Genesis 46:1-7. Jacob goes to Egypt with his family on a mission of mercy to rescue Joseph. We may note that this same Jacob had twelve sons (who gave rise to the 12 tribes of Israel) and at least one daughter – all by two concurrent wives, first cousin Leah (the one with the ‘lovely eyes’ according to Genesis 29:17) and her younger sister Rachel (the one actually preferred by Jacob who had special taste) and by their handmaidens Bilhah (referred to Jacob by Rachel for additional procreation) and Zilpah (referred to Jacob by Leah for yet further procreation).  That could pass for a 21^st century soap based on the Tudors! (If you think this is all dodgy check out Genesis 29:1-30:24). 

3  The place of women in the church

The second reading today, from St Paul’s letter to the Colossians, offers several wise counsels on family life. Each of them highlights the importance of respect, love, and mutual self‑giving within the household. At the same time, they reflect the cultural world in which Paul lived, including a differentiated understanding of the roles of women. As Colossians 3:18–19 puts it: “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.” Women and men are affirmed as equal in dignity and value, yet not in authority or leadership—an outlook also evident in the organisation of the earliest Christian communities.

Recognising the cultural context in which these scriptures were written, and how different that context is from our own, is essential. Instead of omitting verses 18 and 19 in the “shorter version” of this Sunday’s reading, why not include them and allow the minister or preacher to use the moment as an opportunity to explain how context shapes interpretation, and how the Church continues to reflect on change?

 

Oratio

Collect for this Sunday (Church of Ireland)

 God of community, whose call is more insistent than ties of family or blood; may we so respect and love those whose lives are linked with ours that we fail not in loyalty to you,
but make choices according to your will; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Footnote

*  These readings are taken from the Sunday lectionary used in most Catholic churches. The source is BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages (using the New Revised Standard Version - anglicised catholic edition). Psalms in this Blog are numbered according to the Hebrew (Masoretic) text with the Greek Septuagint/Vulgate numbering in parenthesis where applicable.