Matthew 2:13-18
When the Magi were visiting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, they had a dream that they should not return to Herod, so they took a different route home. Once Herod realized that he had been “outwitted” by the Magi and not knowing exactly where Jesus was living, he made a decree to kill all 2-year-old boys and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area.
Not long after the Magi left Mary and Joseph and Jesus, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph, warning him that Herod was going to look for the baby and kill him. The angel told him to take “Mary and the baby” and escape to Egypt. At night, Joseph and his family fled Bethlehem for Egypt in fear for their lives.
The distance between Bethlehem and Egypt is about 300 miles, and it would take several weeks to travel on foot. The journey was not easy, as they would have had to cross mountains, deserts, and hills. The threat of being robbed, taken advantage of, or even killed was high. This journey is not unlike that of most refugees today. Yet, the family arrived in Egypt.
Like many refugees, living in a different country can be a difficult transition. The family would have to learn a new language (Greek and Egyptian) and new customs. They would have had to learn where to buy food, where to live, and new ways to act. Like any refugee, they are vulnerable to being taken advantage of because they don’t know whom they can trust. Chances are, the family would have been treated with suspicion because they looked different, acted differently, and maybe even dressed differently.
Ironically, the very place that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus sought refuge was a place of torment some 1500 years earlier for the Israelites. A place where the Jewish people were enslaved is now a place of freedom and relative safety for Jesus’ family.
A refugee is anyone who has been forced to leave their home to escape war, natural disaster, or in fear for their life. There are currently around 42.7 million refugees worldwide. The causes of refugees are anything from famine, climate change, dictatorship, wars, violence, or anything that would cause a person or family to leave home because their lives were at imminent risk of death.
Yet, like most refugees, the places they flee to today are unwelcoming, suspicious of their presence, and look down on them. Empires can find ways to exploit them for their own gain, convincing their citizens to be suspicious of foreigners, who are seen as a burden on society and as hindrances to economic progress, or as criminals. But, let us remember that Jesus and his parents were refugees.
It is no wonder that when Jesus says, “when I was a stranger and you invited me in…you did to me,” Jesus is being literal, as he himself was a stranger, a foreigner, and a refugee, seek a place of comfort and safety.
Image: “La Sagrada Familia” by Kelly Latimore.
Phil Steiner 