Jesus, Mary and Joseph are the most important persons in the history of Christianity and in the theology of God becoming human. They constitute the holy Family. We celebrate today in the liturgy the feast of the holy family.
In the New Testament there is very little reported about the life of the holy family. We read very little about the common undertakings of Jesus Joseph and Mary. The public ministry and the message of Jesus are the centre of the message of the New Testament.
The travel of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the escape of the family to Egypt, the way back to Nazareth, presentation of Jesus to the temple where Simon and Hana met Jesus, their trip to the feast to Jerusalem, disappearance of Jesus for three days, his finding in the temple are the reports about the holy family in the New Testament.
Other than the birth of Jesus none of these happenings was joyful and happy. The search of a place to give birth to Jesus in that night was definitely not easy. But Joseph and Mary managed everything together, went these difficult ways with humility and trust in God. We do not read in the New Testament on any differences of opinion between Joseph and Mary, any conflict, Resignation, separation, but we read about the solidarity and the joint effort in all difficult situations in their life. We read that the holy family went to the temple together, to the house of worship and attended services, prayed, read the scriptures, and lived according to the precepts of the Torah. We not only know about this from the given contexts of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but we can also read a lot about it in the Apocrypha, such as the Gospel according to Thomas.
In all of these accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke about the Holy Family, whether from the birth, the flight into Egypt, or the search for Jesus in Jerusalem when his parents believed he was lost, the focus was always on the child Jesus. Mary and Joseph lived for their child; Jesus was the most important one in their lives. The Apocrypha tells a lot about how Jesus was the most important one to Joseph and Mary and that He grew up as a child prodigy who performed many miracles even as a child.
Family is a community. Every member of a community has responsibility for the well functioning of it and every member feel to belong to it. The holy family corresponds to many of the families of this time. What the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph make holy is not their blood relationship but the love, trust and care they had for each other. Therefore we call the family of Jesus Mary and Joseph an ideal family which does not depend on blood relationship but on human relationship. They understood each other, Jesus experienced the love of the father and of the mother, all three had a deep and intensive belongingness.
From the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph we can learn how an exemplary family can behave and what is important for this. Human values such as truth, love, trust and loyalty are best felt in family life.
In his letter for the international family meeting in 2013, Pope Francis wrote: “There is no conservative family or progressive or modern family, family is family”.
On the feast of the Holy Family we could wish and pray that the worth of the family is recognised in the society.
Fr. Joseph Pandiappallil MCBS