Of Prophesies And Tradition
Dec. 30: Feast of The Holy Family
Fun feast fact! The Feast of the Holy Family is supposed to be celebrated on the Sunday between Christmas and New Years. But when there is no Sunday between (i.e. when Christmas and New Years fall on a Sunday),1 it’s celebrated on the 30th. Funny how things get moved around, because days, weeks, and years don’t divide evenly into each other.
Anywho, there’s some interesting things to note about tradition and scripture in today’s Gospel. But first, speaking of tradition, have you heard Fr. Mike is doing another “______ in a year” podcast?
I honestly don’t remember ever reading the Catechism. Maybe in 8th grade, before Confirmation? I’ll be listening (mostly) daily. How about you?
Reading 1
Sir 3:2-6, 12-14
God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and preserves himself from them. When he prays, he is heard; he stores up riches who reveres his mother. Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children, and, when he prays, is heard. Whoever reveres his father will live a long life; he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.
My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life; kindness to a father will not be forgotten, firmly planted against the debt of your sins —a house raised in justice to you.
There are actually three options for today’s reading, but I do not feel prepared to discuss that very special passage from Colossians.
Sirach is a wisdom book, meaning it’s not really a story, so much as a series of wise sayings. Proverbs gets all the attention, and to a lesser extent Wisdom, but Sirach shouldn’t be ignored.
To pagans, the gods were larger than life, literally too large to care about what mortals were up to.2 One of the biggest innovations of Jewish theology, besides monotheism, was that God is a personal god. He cares about each one of us individually.
Jesus, of course, took that further, and taught us that God is literally our Father. Sirach’s emphasis3 on our relationships with, and responsibilities to, our parents presages Jesus's teaching.
But also, you know, it’s good advice. Take care of your parents, even when their minds fail.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
A basic assumption in the bible is that families are great. This doesn’t always turn out to be true, but for the most part, a happy family is a reward for a life well lived.
Alleluia
Col 3:15a, 16a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let the peace of Christ control your hearts;
let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ should be a part of your family, dwelling with you.
Gospel
Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean.
Today I Learned that Nazareth isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. The last line, about fulfilling the prophets? We have no written record of those prophesies.
We do, however, have references to those prophesies. They were part of the common Jewish tradition. Matthew, remember, is the evangelist most concerned with writing to the Jews; he wouldn’t just throw this reference in willy-nilly.
As Catholics, we strongly believe in the inspired word of the Holy Bible. But we also believe in the faith tradition that has been handed down to us through the magisterium of the Church. The cut off for inclusion in the New Testament was the lives of the Apostles. Anyone after that generation didn’t get to be in the Bible itself.
But of course God didn’t stop revealing Himself to us. After all, there’s the whole descent of the Holy Spirit thing. Why would we need that, if everything we need to know is contained in the Bible itself?
In fact, we know the Bible can’t be the totality of inspired revelation, because it wasn’t written all at once. Someone had to compile the epistles and the histories and narratives and myths and wisdom, and pack them together into one convenient, leather-bound book. That “someone” is the Church.
The way Matthew refers to the Hebrew Scriptures, to highlight Jesus’s central role in God’s plan, is vital to understanding the Bible as a whole. I think that’s why it’s the first book of the New Testament:4 it best ties in with the Old.
Prophesies can be strange things. The messiah was to be born in the city of David, Bethlehem; but he was also supposed to be a Nazarean; and he was also supposed to come out of Egypt. Matthew ties these seemingly contradictory prophesies together into one narrative that first century Jews could appreciate, and see Jesus as the fulfillment of everything they’d ever believed in.
If one’s on a Sunday, so’s the other. They’re a week apart, obviously.
Or somestimes they cared a little too much, if you know what I’m sayin’.
Well, technically, “Yeshua Ben Eleazar Ben Sira’s emphasis,” but that takes too long to write. So why did I write this footnote explaining that I didn’t want to write it? Your guess is as good as mine.
It’s not the first one chronologically written; that was probably Mark.