Refugees

Fr. James Martin, SJ

“Were Jesus, Mary and Joseph 

what we would consider today ‘refugees’?

"Yes."

“In the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we read the story of the ‘Flight into Egypt’ in which, after the birth of Jesus and the visit from the Magi, an ‘angel of the Lord’ comes to Joseph in a dream and warns him to leave Bethlehem for Egypt (Mt 2:12-15). Why? Because King Herod was planning to ‘seek out the child to destroy him.’ Mary and Joseph do leave, along with Jesus, and, according to Matthew, make their way into Egypt. Afterward, King Herod slaughters all the male children in Bethlehem under two years of age.

“So, according to the Gospel of Matthew, what is going on? A family is forced to flee their homeland for fear of persecution. This is the classic modern-day definition of a refugee. In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines that group of people as follows:

‘A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.’

“The Holy Family, as Matthew recounts the story, was fleeing because of a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’ because of their ‘membership in a particular social group,’ in this case people with young children living in Bethlehem. I am not sure how you could get any clearer than that.”

American Magazine, 12/27/17