A Moving Experience

Of all the strange, beautiful and even miraculous events associated with that first Christmas, to me one stands our as more miraculous than any of the others.

I refer, of course, to the Flight Into Egypt.

Modern manger scenes compress the events surrounding the birth of Christ.

The star, the shepherds, the inn, the wise men, the slaughter of the innocents, the annunciation, the circumcision, John The Baptist, angels, Simeon, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Anna, gold, frankincense and myrrh — it all gets jumbled together in our minds and consolidated as though it all happened in one silent night.

Bible scholars tell us that these events actually took place over a span of two to four years.

This morning I’ve been thinking about the Flight Into Egypt because on Friday my daughter and her boyfriend moved in together from their separate apartments into a new home.

And on Saturday Donald and Helen moved from their separate apartments into their new home.

Eve hired professional movers.

Six or seven of Donald and Helen’s friends volunteered to help them move.

These young men — strong, handsome and pure-hearted to a man — spent their entire Saturday lugging boxes, beds, and books up and down stairs. They loaded a U-Haul, two pickup trucks, an SUV and a van with stuff to move across town.

Ah yes, as the Scripture says, “Greater love hath no man than that he helps some dumb friend move just a week before Christmas”!

Or something like that.

To complicate matters, the previous owners of Donald’s home were moving their stuff out of the house at the same time as Donald, Helen and friends were moving their stuff into the house.

Ginny and I delivered pizza to the moving crew.

That was our only contribution to the migration.

I just don’t have the stamina to do more.

But these kicked-ant-hill events got me to thinking about that most unusual of biblical miracles, the Flight Into Egypt.

You see, Moses only parted the Red Sea. Joshua only made the sun stand still. Elijah only called fire down from Heaven — but Joseph moved.

He moved his household in a single night.

Here’s what the Bible says:

“Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream saying, ‘Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him’.

“When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod…”

Wow!

Talk about a miracle!

Ever move anywhere with a baby?

I remember how it was just going across town to visit Grandma.

I’d load the car with a contraption called a Porta-Crib. Then strapped the baby in a car seat. Then there was the diaper bag, the teddy bear, a case of Similac, bottles, squeaky toy, change of clothes, lawn mower, pop-up books, fishing gear, bottle warmer, blankie, and a partridge in a pear tree — all the stuff it takes to go anywhere with a baby.

So, here’s Joseph, sound asleep, and this angel appears telling him to pack and move that same night.

No indication that this angel told Mary anything.

Joseph got the job of informing her.

“Honey, wake up. We’re moving to Egypt”.

So the couple begin loading their donkey with car seat, Porta-Crib, diaper bag, etc. etc.

Of course the insane jealousy of the child-killing king spurred them with a bit of incentive, but this young couple moved whatever they owned.

Yes, they moved.

By themselves.

In a single night.

Right at Christmas time.

It’s a shame they didn’t have good friends like Donald and Helen’s to help.