As we continue the celebrations of Christmas, this morning we hear in the Gospel a continuation of the Nativity narrative given to us by St. Matthew. This account is highlights two contrasting families. We first hear of the “Holy Family”, made up of St. Joseph, The Theotokos, and our Lord. Jesus, Who after taking refuge in the residence of the womb of the virgin, after being born in the most humble of places, being laid in a feeding troth, and being warmed by the breath of oxen and donkeys…is now wrapped up and forced to flee with his family into Egypt.
We then hear about a second family, led by the very king who the Holy Family is fleeing from. King Herod’s family is one that is steeped in evil and wickedness. The famous historian Josephus from the first century, points out to us that King Herod was an extremely vicious and cruel man, who murdered two of his own wives and killed three of his own sons! And if that wasn’t bad enough, we hear about how he is so afraid of the rumors of a rival messiah king being born, that he goes and has all of the holy innocent infants slaughtered in Bethlehem. St. Matthew gives us that chilling prophecy by the Prophet Jeremiah, which is enough to cause all of us to cringe at the wickedness that was on display: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning…Rachel, weeping for her children…refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Unimaginable terror from an indescribably wicked family…
The horror of this family, unfortunately, does not end there. We also know about Herod Antipas, the one who murdered St. John the Baptist, and took his brother’s wife to be his wife! The Third Herod Generation, Herod Agrippa the 1st, in order to please the Jews who did not convert to Christianity, was the one who murdered St. James!
On this one side, we have the satanic, blood thirsty, and demonic family of Herod, whose eyes were fixated on their worldly power, and were guided by the demons of pride, jealousy, greed, lust, and envy. Their family thought only of themselves…of their own needs, wants, and desires…without ever giving a thought to the law of God…or to anyone else. We can be assured, that Herod wasn’t thinking about the lamenting mothers when he issued the order to slaughter the holy innocents. His mind was focused on his earthly rule...on his kingdom…on himself. These things were his priorities in life, and we see from history, that that wickedness was passed down to his family. The father’s conduct was inherited like a disease by his children for generations.
In sharp contrast to all of that, we have the Holy Family. This was a family who was guided by their love and devotion to God. Rather than conversing with generals and nobles of the earth, each member of this family had personal conversations with the angels. Rather than being guided by royal advisors, the Holy Family remained in obedience to God’s messengers, who told them to flee into Egypt. This was no vacation spot for them…they followed God’s command and went into the belly of the beast! Egypt was so wicked at the time, that the Jews would use it as a slang term which meant “ungodly way of life”…and yet the family obeyed…and went.
The holy family never had their eyes fixated on the earth. They were never worrying about their wealth, happiness, and property. They always had their gaze on what was above and were guided by the very Child who had been entrusted to their care.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the Gospel lesson today is a wonderful reminder for us, that how we act within our families speak volumes about us and our devotion to God. It starts at home for us. For those who are parents or grandparents of young children…every action has a consequence. The Young Herod Antipas learned to live his life not with a fear of God, not with a love for others, but with an eye only on himself. It led to the death of the last and greatest prophet St. John the Baptist.
What impact are we having within our own homes when it comes to interacting with our spouses and children? Do we as parents show a life of love, devotion, and self-sacrifice to our children…so that they may in turn pass that on to the world? Is the spark of holiness that we take with us from the Divine Liturgy and worship with God made manifest within our homes? Do we prioritize sports and other entertainment over the Divine Liturgy? Are we showing our children that our priorities in life surround God, or something of the world?
When God is absent from our homes…when we don’t take the time to converse with Him in communal prayer…when we don’t give thanks before our meals…when we don’t show gratitude for all that He has given us…we fall prey to the temptations that Herod’s family had fallen into. Truly, one of the greatest sins we can fall into with our families…is to dismiss, mis-prioritize our relationship, or just flat out forget about God.
We have the new year coming up quickly…and perhaps the greatest resolution we can make within our own homes is to strengthen our family’s faith. Like the Magi did all of those years ago, may God allow us to follow the bright and shining star of the Holy Family, and bring some of those principals and virtue into our homes, as we begin a new year of drawing even closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.