Strangers

 

Chapter 29 Strangers

From Other Little Ships

"So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." Matthew 2:13-15

We really don't know anything about the holy family's sojourn in Egypt. They probably lived there less than a year.

Joseph and Mary had probably never been to Egypt. People were not as transient then as we are today. They'd probably never been to Bethlehem. Probably never out of Nazareth except to attend festival at Jerusalem.

"Out of Egypt have I called my son." Hosea's 400 year old prophecy. Well, now he's "in" Egypt. And Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are strangers in a strange land. We don't know how difficult and trying this was for the young couple.

Long, long ago, at the beginning of this story, Abraham was called upon to be the first of a new family. Called to be a stranger in a strange land.

No one has ever been more out of place and alien to this world and out of this world in the world --- than Jesus. Being connected to Him, at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the story brings strangeness. Peculiarity. Uniqueness.

When the Bible calls Him the "only begotten" it is translating a term that more precisely means "one of a kind."

The call of God into the plan of God is a call to Christ. A call to Christlikeness. The closer you get to Him the more out of place you will feel in this place.

You will feel uneasy, uncomfortable, unsettled. Something's not quite right.

You won't fit in, you won't speak the language, and everything from your dress to your point of view will be foreign.

The good Squire is right on target when he describes it as being homesick for a place you've never been before.

Well, Jesus had been there before. Imagine how strange he felt.

But he is home now. And He's waiting for us.

I can hardly wait!