The image we may have from the nativity stories of the Holy Family may feel comfortably familiar to us. An isolated couple with a single child in a strange place, with just a few friendly strangers around them. Countless Christmas card images underpin this view of what could be a very modern nuclear family, at least if we replace the ox and ass with a TV.
Regardless of the circumstances of Jesus actual birth, that is not an appropriate image of his his early life. That would have been much more like the extended family that is familiar to us from Italy to Russia to the immigrant communities of Boston or New York in the early 20th Century – a welter of aunts and uncles, cousins of countless different degrees, and plenty of others with maybe no blood relationship but still “part of the family”. The occasional references to Jesus’ family in the gospels reflect this. This is not a subject of any significance to the writers because it was entirely normal and unremarkable.
What is also normal is the account we hear today of Jesus being taken to Jerusalem to be “presented” in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40), just as we would take a child to church for baptism surrounded by family and friends. Of itself this would not have been worthy of any mention. What makes it special in Luke’s telling is the interaction with Simeon and Anna. These people attest to Jesus’ importance in a wider world. Just as the shepherds and the magi at his birth reflect his significance to humanity as a whole, all “classes” and all “nations”, so Simeon and Anna represent Jesus’ connection to his Jewish society and tradition.
The isolation of so many modern families from the society around them is frequently noted by sociologists. The challenges of so many children growing up surrounded by fractured relationships are obvious to us. While we can and should take comfort from the strength of a family of three, or even two (since it seems likely Joseph was older and didn’t survive into Jesus later life), we should also recognize that this family was deeply embedded in the society of their time. Whether through the relationship of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, or Jesus to the family of his friend Simon Peter and Simon’s mother, and his tight bond with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, kinship links were a critical part of his life.
And so it is for us. Our links to wider family and society are essential to our wellbeing, not just in a practical and psychological way, but also as a spiritual connection. Our spiritual life is not as an isolated individual, within an isolated family, but as part of a raucous and maybe confusing extended family which links us outwards in so many directions. We should cherish and sustain those connections, even if sometimes they frustrate or irritate us. Just as for Jesus, our Christian family life is a very wide flung affair.