"After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother," the angel said. "Stay there until I tell you to return because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod's death." (Matthew 2:13-14a NLT)
Today is the day that I de-Christmas the house. As much as I love the tree and the lights and the festive front porch, I’m always ready to pack it all away and return our home to some sort of normalcy. This year, I’m especially grateful for the educator’s schedule; it’s a gift to start the new year with a clean house and an uncluttered soul.
In our text today, Joseph and Mary are also packing up. It’s time to leave the nativity scene. The shepherds and wisemen have both made their appearance. The holy family have been to the Temple to dedicate their son. The time has come to return to previously scheduled programming, only God had other ideas for them. And He communicated through angelic dream, of course.
Joseph low-key amazes me. God kept interrupting his life, rearranging his plans, and Joseph’s only recorded response is obedience. Have you noticed? He’s wordless. The step-father of the Son of God never spoke so much as an objection to the ongoing divine disassembly of his life. He simply obliged. (This is perhaps why Joseph was chosen as earthly father rather than Zechariah.)
Christmas didn’t conclude after a few happy days for Joseph and Mary. The Christ Child went home with them and His presence redirected their lives entirely. They learned to live in deference to the will of God.
We like to cram Christmas into a few days or hours with family and then pack it all back into the attic and return to our regular lives, don’t we? We fail to see: the Christ Child needs to go home with us. His presence changes our routes and routines. We know we have received Christmas rightly when we refuse to pack away our awe, our wonder and our joy over a Savior who’s come to live with us, to dwell in us. We’ve received Christmas rightly when we open our homes and our hearts to His divine rule, when we’ve determined to live differently on the the other side of incarnation. We may pack away the ornaments and greenery, but the light of Christmas never leaves our eyes because Jesus has come at last to live in us.
Thinking about Joseph and Mary moving away from their their cozy Christmas quarters makes me consider my own response to the interruption of advent. This year was different. Stiller. How will I move forward? Midnight mass flickers into my mind again; the ancient rhythms of call and response, solemnly sung scripture in the warm glow of candlelight. The priest’s impossible instructions at the close of service: “Go in peace.”
Peace is tough for folks like me. I’m more likely to go in turmoil, with questions and concerns. But I feel the call of Christ at the close of this Christmas season. An invitation, really, to exit this advent with the Prince of Peace quietly reigning over the four chambers of my heart.
"Daughter," He said to her, "Your faith has made you well. Go in peace." (Luke 8:48 NLT)
Lord, please forgive us for our tendency to leave the Christmas season the same way we came in. Let this year be different. May we be changed, affected by Your presence and ready to walk in humble obedience. May we learn to quietly live out our ‘yes’ to Your will as Joseph did so readily. Let us leave advent but not Your presence as we faithfully walk into the new year. Amen.