Now what’s happening? We just celebrated the birth of Jesus, and today’s Gospel is about his resurrection!
This passage was chosen because it is the feast of John the Apostle. “The disciple Jesus loved” (who appears only in John’s Gospel) was thought to be John himself.
It is said that John died a natural death at a ripe old age. On the other hand, Jesus was brutally killed at about the age of 30.
It may seem strange to say it this way, but in the great expanse of time and eternity, the length of each one’s life hardly matters.
Who Jesus was and what he did mattered very much especially the way he accepted death. But the cruelty of his death, and at so early and age…In the perspective of eternity, those details become less important. Jesus is “seated at the right hand of God” – an expression that describes his glory. John too enjoys the happiness of heaven.
In this Christmas season, we celebrate that God became one of us and opened the door to the fullness of life. It’s a good time to settle back and think about what it means to have a future that lasts forever.
Legends of the Holy Family in Egypt
The Holy Family’s flight to Egypt and their stay there gave rise to fascinating tales composed centuries later.
It is said that their journey to Egypt was blessed with many miracles – lions and leopards wagging their tails in homage, palm trees bending down to give them fruit.
Legends dating back to the fifth century say that the Holy Family stayed in the city of Matariyah, just northeast of the present-day Cairo. One story says that as a child, Jesus grew balsam trees producing balm that cured almost anything, including snakebite.
Another tradition is that the family passed through a city about 150 miles up the Nile and as they did, the pagan idol statues bowed to them.
A monastery further up the Nile claims to be on the site where the Holy Family lived for six months. One of the apocryphal gospels tells the story that while there, two robbers set upon the Holy Family, but one repented when he saw Mary’s tears.
These turned out to be the same two robbers, goes the legend, who were later crucified with Jesus. The one, who back in Egypt, had been moved by Mary’s tears, ended up to be the “Good Thief” on the cross.