The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (2:13-23)

We are told that an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. From this we learn that in fact our dreams are used by the spiritual powers to influence us. In the case of Joseph, the angels used his dreams to protect Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus from attack and persecution. We know also that sometimes our dreams can be fertile ground for demonic activity as well. This is one of the reasons why the evening prayers are important and there are specific prayers that ask that our angel will guard and protect our sleep.

We also ask the Lord to give us a sleep free from the fantasies of Satan and disturbing dreams. To this we might add that our evening routine is very important. The hour before you fall asleep should be a time where you wind down, not scrolling through tiktok or reels or looking at indecent images, but a time to read healthy spiritual words and to conclude with prayer. If we struggle to do this or to have any time without outside distractions like music and television and smartphone, that is a sign that the soul and mind haven’t had practice in quiet time and stillness. I confess that I often start winding down too late and then I’m already exhausted and don’t have the ability to focus on evening spiritual reading. If you are doing these practices, great! If you are not, it’s a good time to begin to change your habits. It is a good practice to set an alarm for yourself everyday to remind you of your own bedtime and your time for prayer and spiritual reading, otherwise the day may slip away from you.

Now the angel in the reading warned Joseph and he took this dream very seriously. He packed up his family and departed by night to the land of Egypt. This is powerful imagery because Egypt was seen as one of the great powers and oppressors of Israel throughout the biblical text. You remember that Moses was tasked by God to speak to Pharaoh and to liberate the people from the bondage and slavery that they had endured in Egypt. Over and over Egypt is seen as an oppressive force in the Old Testament. Yet we see that things are being turned on their head due to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh.

The one who was the oppressor is now seen as the safe refuge and those who should have been the protectors, the people of Israel are now seen as the persecutors of the one whom they should have adored, worshipped and served. So even when the Prophet Hosea mentioned these words many years before they came to pass, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” Those words would have rang out as strange and peculiar because the people have had a long and difficult history with the land of Egypt.

By most accounts we are told that the Holy Family spent between 3 and 4 years in the land of Egypt and as we heard in today’s gospel, the angel told Joseph not to return to the land of Israel until King Herod had finally died. It is possible to this present day to travel to Egypt and actually tour some of the holy sites of pilgrimage where the holy family stopped and rested and dwelt within Egypt. Among the Coptic Orthodox people these sites are a great source of comfort and joy. “According to the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James, the Holy Family fled together with Salome, Mary’s midwife. They made their way through the Judaic desert to the Jordan valley….Sources of the Coptic Church tell us that the Holy Family proceeded from Bethlehem to Gaza, then to El-Zaraniq (also known as Floussiat), some twenty-eight miles west of al-Arish, near the oasis of Ain Hagla close to the Jordan River, orthodox monks have named their church in honor of the Holy Family. For them it marks the place where the Holy Family had their first rest.

Subsequently, Ain Hagla was surnamed Kalamonia, which means ‘good abode.’…Next, they threaded their way along northern Sinai until they reached Farma (ancient Pelusium) mid – way between al-Arish and present-day Port Said. The Greek monk Epiphanius Hagiopolites (eighth century) as well as the Western monk Bernard the Wise (870 AD) mention in their writings that the Holy Family stopped in this city. The local church dedicated to Mary commemorates the Angel’s message to Joseph to leave for Egypt.

They then traveled east to the ancient city of Hebron, reputedly one of the oldest cities of the world and a holy site for Jews, Christians and Muslims since here in the cave of Machpelah Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca as well as Jacob and Lea found their last resting place….On the twenty-fourth day of the Coptic month of Bashans, which corresponds to the first of June, the Coptic Church celebrates the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the Land of Egypt. On that day, the churches throughout the land pray in the words of the Doxology:

“Rejoice, Oh Egypt; O, people of Egypt and all ye Children of Egypt who live within its borders, rejoice and lift up your hearts, for the lover of all mankind, He who has been before the beginning of ages, has come to you”.” Flight into Egypt by Sister M. Danielle Peters

When it was safe the holy family was instructed to return to Egypt. “They had covered approximately 1242 miles typically with a donkey, sometimes on a sailboat down the Nile and often by foot.” Flight into Egypt by Sister M. Danielle Peters

None of this would have been easy, but the life of our Lord was never easy. He endured all of this affliction and suffering even before the start of His preaching. He endured every aspect of the human condition except for sin, in order to redeem us from our afflictions and the sufferings caused by sin. He undertook and overcame all of these trials and tribulations in order to demonstrate to us His great mercy and love toward mankind. Let us flee to this Lord Jesus as He at one time fled to Egypt for refuge.

Source: Sermons