ACC ~ Matthew 2 v15

FUGITIVES EAST AND WEST

CHRYSOSTOM: There is something else here worth noticing, one touching the magi and the other touching the Child. The issue is why didn’t the magi remain with the Child? And why didn’t the Child remain in Bethlehem? Both had to escape as fugitives shortly after they were received with joy: the magi to Persia and the holy family to Egypt. Why? This is worthy of close examination. The magnificence of God’s plan of salvation would not have been believed if he had not come in the flesh. If Jesus had fallen into the hands of Herod, his life in the flesh might have been cut off. Many circumstances were quietly ordered providentially within human history. Even while the flesh of the Christ child was in danger, some dared to imagine that he never assumed our common human flesh, that his coming was like that of a ghost. These impious ideas will ultimately destroy those who do not confess that God has come to us in the flesh in a way becoming to his deity.

As to the wise men, they were sent off quickly, commissioned to teach in the land of the Persians, having thwarted the madness of the king. Herod was allowed the opportunity to learn that he was attempting things impossible, against prophecy, and that there was still time to quench his wrath and desist from his demented plot. It is fitting to God’s power not only to subdue his enemies but to do so with ease, deceiving the deceivers in a way fitting to God’s almighty power. In the same way the Egyptians had earlier been deceived, [1] their wealth transferred secretly and with craft and God’s power made awesome to them. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 8.1. [2]

[1] In the time of Moses; cf. 1 Sam 6:6 LXX.

[2] PG 57:83-84; NPNF 1 10:51**. What messianic-prophetic significance did the secretive flight of both the magi and the holy family convey? Both the magi and the holy family became fugitives, east to Persia and west to Egypt, to attest God’s own humble coming in the flesh for all humanity, deceiving the deceivers in a way fitting to God’s almighty power.

EGYPT THE ABODE OF CHRIST

CHROMATIUS: Joseph therefore was commanded to accept this boy about whom Isaiah had said, “For a boy has been born to you; a son has been given to you, whose rule has extended over his shoulders.” [1] Now he said “a son has been given to you” because Christ the Lord was born as a boy and was counted a son of Joseph and Mary. As to his going down into Egypt, Isaiah predicted this long before the fact when he said, “Behold, the Lord sits atop a swift cloud and will come into Egypt.” [2] By this statement the promise of the Lord’s incarnation was clearly revealed. Since the Lord himself is invoked as “arising from on high, the sunlight of justice,” [3] it is right that he would come on a swift cloud. By this Isaiah means he would come in a hallowed body, a body weighed down by no sin and through which he covered the light of his own majesty with the envelope of the cloud of his body. Hosea as well points to this very fact when he says, “The king of Israel has been thrown down. Because Israel was small, I took delight in him. And I called my son from Egypt.” [4]

After Egypt’s ancient, grave sin, after many blows had been divinely inflicted upon it, God the omnipotent Father, moved by devotion, sent his Son into Egypt. He did so that Egypt, which had long ago paid back the penalty of wickedness owed under Moses, might now receive Christ, the hope for salvation. How great was God’s compassion as shown in the advent of his Son! Egypt, which of old under Pharaoh stood stubborn against God, now became a witness to and home for Christ. God’s compassion toward Egypt was like that shown toward the magi, who deserved to know Christ the Lord. For, although the magi had for a long time dared resist the divine goodness under Moses, they now, having seen but a single star in heaven, believed in the Son of God. The cavalier magicians were handed over to punishment for their lack of faith. Others were brought to glory through faith, since they believed that God had been born in the flesh—God whom the Egyptian magicians were unwilling to recognize in all his divine excellence. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 6.1. [5]

[1] Is 9:6.

[2] Is 19:1.

[3] Mal 4:2; Lk 1:78.

[4] Hos 10:15—11:1.

[5] CCL 9a:220-21.

Mt