Homily for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Year B:
Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Sir 3:2-6, 12-14;· Psalm 128:1-5;
· Col 3:12-21
· Luke 2:22-40
· ( Alternate 1st and 2nd Readings for Year B: Gen 15:1-6;21:1-3; Ps 105:1-9; Heb 11:8,11-12,17-19).
Re-Learning Family Responsibilities from
Mary, Joseph and Jesus
It
is not surprising that following the celebration of Christmas, the Birth of
Christ, we re-gather today to contemplate and celebrate the virtues of the Holy
Family of Mary Joseph and Jesus. In fact, this Feast makes a lot of sense
for us, since we are all fruits of a given family, a community of parents and
children, brothers, sisters and relatives, sometimes by blood, and sometimes by
choice. Today, we celebrate the responsibility we owe one another: love, respect,
care and charity. The family belongs also to the people! The
family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus was a family of “Yes!” and openness to God.
Mary, in those Christmas stories knew how to say, Yes, fiat to the Lord, “Be it
done to me according to your Word,” (Luke 1:38). The righteous and quiet
Joseph, listened to the angel Gabriel as well. He took Mary home (Matt 1:24).
Joseph provided for the safety of baby Jesus in Egypt. Jesus’ parents were
humble. They paid close attention to whispering of the Holy Spirit into their
ears. They knew their responsibilities.
Today’s
Gospel presents us with the episode known as the presentation of Jesus in the
temple; which is the 4th joyful mysteries. Remember the five joyful
mysteries, the annunciation, the visitation, the nativity [birth of Christ],
the presentation and then the finding of Jesus in the Temple. These are all
part and parcel of today’s Gospel, which actually sheds light on the
responsibilities of the Holy family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Like any
other family, after the birth of Christ, Joseph probably must have gone back
home, and perhaps going about his carpentry work, and having to deal with
customers; while Mary probably was busy with household works and changing of
the baby- Jesus’ diapers. These did not distract them from prayers,
singing the psalms or keeping their customs. They remained devout and
prayerful.
That is why we are told in the Gospel, when the time came Mary and
Joseph carried out the Jewish customs and rituals of offering back their
male child to the service of the Lord, remembering the sparing of their Hebrew
male children in Egypt (Exod 13:1-2, 11-16 Num 18:15-16) and the purification
of the mother (Lev 12:1ff). In the Temple they met Simeon and Anna,
two faithful Jews, who all recognized Christ as the Messiah, to the
amazement of Mary and Joseph. Simeon sang the Nunc Demittis ((Lk
2:29-32). They were grateful to God for what he has done for them. For
them Christ was not only the Messiah, the redeemer, He would be a
sign of contradiction and the cause for the fall and the rising of many in
Israel, and a Light for the Gentile.
Mary
and Joseph were also told by Simeon that through this light for the Gentiles,
“a sword would pierce their hearts.” Through Christ, some would rise
and many would fall. This sounds scary. But it came to be fulfilled.
Jesus would challenge the status quo. Jesus would preach the truth fearlessly.
He reached out to the poor, to the marginalized, healed those they were thought
could not be healed. He ate with sinners defying ancient traditions, not to do
so. These, of course, would cause resistance among the Pharisees, Jewish elites
and the Roman soldiers, against him. His life from conception was a mystery!
Truly the
mysteries surrounding the life of Jesus, which we daily recite when we pray the
rosary, were challenging to Mary and Joseph. They were like a sword to
Mary and Joseph. Many swords actually pierced their souls. Think of the
swords of poverty, humility, (anxiety, when Christ was lost in the temple
and the event of the Holy Week/Easter—can summarize this)! They were very poor.
Mary and Joseph had no place in the Inn. They were some kind of immigrants, as noted by
Pope Francis in his 2018 New Year message! And remain today a lesson and role
models for modern immigrants. They slept in caves days leading to Christmas.
After the birth of Christ, some of their guests were those poor Bedouins and
the shepherds. During their customary purification ritual Mary and Joseph were
so poor that they could not afford a lamb or a sheep, except two turtle doves
(Lk 2:24).
Isn’t it interesting that the mother
of the Lamb of God could not afford a lamb for ritual cleansing? Mary and
Joseph did not deny their lowliness, who they are, something we could learn
from. Mary openly acknowledged her lowliness and poverty with joy, every now
and then, especially in the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55). Besides the sword of
poverty, Mary and Joseph experienced the swords of opposition to Christ, false
accusations against him. Mary in particular witnessed the suffering and death
of Christ. She was at the foot of the Cross. The sword that pierced
through Jesus' side pierced through Mary's heart. Mary suffered with Jesus. She
is our co-redeemer. Mary and Joseph teach us how to endure in raising our
children, in redeeming our children, even from drugs and other
abuses. They had nothing, except, hope, faith and love, which they share
with us. The faith learned from Abraham, Sarah (patriarch and matriarchs, Gen
15, Heb11)! They teach us how to be good fathers, mothers, and neighbors.
We
can also learn from Christ, then the Child Jesus. Each time they made to the
temple, for Presentation and Passover, we are told in the scriptures, the child
went back home and was submissive and obedient to the parents. He
responded to the love of his parents. He learned basic wisdom and the
facts of life, the “fear of the Lord,” from them.
On
the feast of the Passover as narrated in the last section of Luke 2:41-52,
Jesus, then 12 years old stayed back in the temple without the knowledge of his
parents. Realizing this at home, and like every good parents, they went
anxiously looking for Jesus. As if it was another sword, Mary said “son why
have you done this to us, your father and I have been looking for you with
anxiety.”
At
the end of the day Jesus went back home with his parents. And Scripture says,
he “was obedient to them,” (Luke 2:51). And was advanced in age and
wisdom before God and man (Luke 2:52). He obeyed his parents. Echoes of such
obedience are heard in the first reading of today (Sir 3:2-6, 12, 14), that, whoever
honors his parents atones for sins and preserves himself/herself from them.
When he prays he is heard, and whoever respects the mum stores up wealth and
riches for him/herself and will live long (cf. Exodus 20:12; and Deut 5:16).
You and I know, especially our
parents that we live in a different time today. Today, there are many
fathers and mothers who walk away from their mutual responsibility to
their children, leaving them with third parties under the name of personal
freedom or 'too busy at work." Divorce has also become the order of the
day, to the detriment of our children. Today’s society
is also searching for where to draw the line between rights of
parents and of those of their children: the movie they watch, the drinks they
take, the conversation they engage, and the examples they are shown. Are they
adult food, drinks, movies? What examples do we show to our kids!: how we treat
each other, how we return home from work on time, join the family at meals and
how we relate and respect our next door neighbors?
I am the sixth child in a
family of 4 surviving brothers and two sisters from same mom and dad.
I have other step brothers and sisters. Customarily we respect our
parents. We honor them. We show gratitude to them for many reasons- for raising
us, for breast-feeding us, for the food, clothing, for the tuition, for
teaching us the faith, name them. We never talked back to our
parents. The respect is so deep and mutual that we cannot call our
parents even our elderly ones by their first name. Usually whenever there
is any misunderstanding in our family everybody is eager to work hard to
have the matter resolved with compassion and love.
This is the Family Life in the Lord
that St. Paul addresses in the 2nd reading (Col 3:12-21). The family
is a place where each of us would learn to put on compassion, kindness,
gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. Like
the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus’ it is place where we learn to pray,
to sing Psalms, cultivate wisdom, respect, honor one another and lay our
spiritual foundation. It is a place where we learn to visit our parents
and seniors in the nursing homes, hospices and hospital. It is a place where we
learn to be our brother's and sisters' keepers. It is a domestic sanctuary
for faith, hope and love. It is a domestic church, school of virtues,
where we lay the foundation for the values and virtues we bring to our larger
Community, churches, schools, places of work and governance.
As we approach the table of the Holy
Eucharist today, let us pray that each and every one of us may return home
today, nourished by the virtues and exemplary lives of Mary, Joseph and
Jesus.
Reflection questions:
1. How do you relate to the stories told
of the family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus?
2. How do you strive to fulfill your family
responsibility as a father, mother, or child and relative?
3. How do you assist other families in your
faith communities to imitate the family of Mary, Joseph
and Jesus?
