Week 9 of the Church year
ജനനപ്പെരുന്നാളിനു ശേഷം ഒന്നാം ഞായർ
The wise men find the child, kneel and leave their gifts. That night Joseph is woken by an angel, and the family leaves for Egypt before dawn.
The wise men follow the star to the child, worship him and give gold, frankincense and myrrh. Warned in a dream, they go home another way. Joseph takes Mary and the child to Egypt, and after Herod dies they settle in Nazareth.
Two days after Christmas the story turns dangerous. The Church remembers the Holy Family as refugees.
Christ’s first journey outside his homeland was as a refugee, carried at night by parents who had to leave everything.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
Sheep among wolves: when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.
If the world hates you, know that it hated me first.
Joseph’s brothers sell him to traders going down to Egypt.
God will bring his people home, and old people and children will fill Jerusalem’s streets.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
Paul is kept from one road and called in a vision to another: “Come over and help us.”
Israel in the wilderness is a warning; God will not let you be tested beyond your strength.
The wise men worship the child; the Holy Family flees to Egypt and returns to Nazareth. This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesAnother Joseph, son of Jacob, is sold and taken down to Egypt. Zechariah promises God will bring his scattered people home, and Isaiah warns of the dark. Paul is turned aside by a vision, and Corinthians remembers Israel in the wilderness.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
The star goes ahead of the wise men and stops over the place where the child is. They are overjoyed.
Matthew piles up the words: they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. After a long journey, they have found him.
They enter the house, see the child with Mary his mother, kneel and worship him, and open their treasures.
The first people in Matthew to worship Jesus are foreigners. The Gospel ends with the disciples sent to all nations.
Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the wise men leave by another road. Then an angel tells Joseph to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.
This is the second of four dreams Joseph has in Matthew’s first two chapters. He obeys every one.
Joseph gets up, takes the child and his mother by night and leaves for Egypt, where they stay until Herod dies.
Matthew quotes Hosea: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Jesus relives Israel’s own story of going down to Egypt and coming out.
After Herod’s death the angel sends them back. Hearing that Herod’s son rules Judea, Joseph is afraid and settles in Nazareth in Galilee.
Nazareth was so small it is never mentioned in the Old Testament. The King of Israel grows up in a village nobody expected.
The verse to keep
“ആ വീട്ടിൽ ചെന്നു, ശിശുവിനെ അമ്മയായ മറിയയോടുംകൂടെ കണ്ടു, വീണു അവനെ നമസ്കരിച്ചു; നിക്ഷേപപാത്രങ്ങളെ തുറന്നു അവന്നു പൊന്നും കുന്തുരുക്കവും മൂരും കാഴ്ചവെച്ചു.”“They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
The wise menവിദ്വാന്മാർ
Scholars from the east who studied the stars. Matthew does not say how many.
“Greek magoi, a word for Persian priests and astrologers”
Herod the Greatഹെരോദാവ്
King of Judea under Rome, known for killing anyone he saw as a threat.
“Heroic”
Archelausഅർക്കെലയൊസ്
Herod’s son, who ruled Judea after him and was as cruel as his father.
“Ruler of the people”
വഴിയിലായ തിരുക്കുടുംബം
Christmas cards usually stop at the manger. Matthew’s story keeps going. The wise men leave their gifts and go home, and that same night Joseph wakes his wife and the baby and leaves for a foreign country. They take what they can carry and travel in the dark.
The Son of God spent his early childhood as a refugee. His parents depended on strangers in a land where they did not speak the language. They waited for news from home and did not know when they could return. When they did, they could not go where they had planned, and settled in a small village instead.
Many families in our Church know something of this: moving for work or safety, building a life in a new country, missing home. This Gospel says God has been on that road. It also asks us to look kindly on those who are on it now, because the Holy Family once needed exactly that kindness.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
Has our family ever had to move to a new place? What helped us feel at home?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Welcome one person who is new to your parish, school or workplace this week. Learn their name and one thing about them.
Lord Jesus, you were carried into Egypt as a child. Protect all who have had to leave their homes, give them welcome where they arrive, and make our family a place of shelter. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 1 of 2 in Yeldho