I came to Canada (Penticton) in 2012. In 2017, December 27, I had the joy of returning home to Nigeria after 5 years. I was happy I was returning to my family, to where it all began for me. It was a time to also reconnect with my kindergarten, elementary and high school friends. I couldn’t locate one of my friends, not even on Facebook. After Mass one morning, he came to say hi. “Where have you been” I asked. “I have been looking for you. I couldn’t even find you on Facebook.” “I’m sorry I changed my last (family) name.” I asked why he did that. His reply was: “Fr. Obi, I have studied our family tree. It is really nothing to write home about. So many hurts. I do not want to be associated with that.”
There is no family without its own story. There is no family that does not have its own challenges. There is no family in which everything is perfect.
A study of the genealogy of Jesus which we read every advent (just read it few days ago) surprises us. There, the Gospel writer Matthew added the names of four women: Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba. They were prostitutes. Ruth was a foreigner, a gentile. So, Jesus came from an imperfect lineage. Though there were good people in His lineage, it was still messy and broken. Yet it was in this messiness and brokenness that He came to be born. He was not ashamed to be associated with relatives who were prostitutes. He’s come to sanctify every lineage and to make it his own. Our story becomes his story. Matthew, by including Ruth in the genealogy shows us that Jesus came not only for the Jews but for everyone, including us who are gentiles. His salvation is for all of us. Nobody is excluded.
Sometimes when we look at our families, we realize it is not perfect. And yet, Jesus remains with us in all the messiness, brokenness and imperfection. Christmas is truly a time to be family, to embrace each other in all our beauty and challenges and to ask Jesus to heal and restore what is broken. He can help us.
This Sunday, we hear the story of St. Joseph: a story of the beauty and challenge of family life. It wasn’t what Joseph expected or planned. Before coming to live together, Mary becomes pregnant. Joseph, being a just man wanted to dismiss Mary quietly. Even in his disappointment, he still wishes her well and did not want to bring shame or disgrace to her. Joseph was attuned to the mind of God, to God’s purposes and plans which can be difficult sometimes.
This Christmas, I pray for our families – for new love, that the Holy Spirit may help us to love and embrace each other, to be patient with one another, to wait on the Lord and to seek His purposes even in the midst of difficulties and challenges.
Maybe there is a family member who feels far way from God or is struggling in sin. Maybe there is a family member who sometimes feels like an outsider or maybe you are the one. May we pray for one another. The miracle of Christmas is this: we can still be family. Jesus is here. Emmanuel: God-with-us!