The Hiddenness of the Holy Family: Unveiling the Tent and the Ark (Part II)

-- PART I --

This series explores Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the aspect of their Hidden Life. Namely by drawing on 2 Maccabees 2:4-8 which mentions how at the time of the Babylonian conquest Jeremiah hid the tabernacle tent, ark of the covenant and altar of incense in a cave. Part II of IV looks at God's incremental unveiling of the Mystery of Jesus, the Tent, followed by Mary, the Ark.

A depiction of the Ark of the Covenant, 16/17th Century, Unknown Painter.

PART II: UNVEILING THE TENT AND THE ARK

1. Step One: Unveiling the Tent

 

1.1 Why Show the Tent First?

We know that Jesus is the center of the Holy Family, the culmination of its glory and the reason for its greatness. Quite simply, this is because Jesus alone is God. Hence we learn why God hid the other two persons of the Holy Family—Mary and Joseph, in their individual identities and trinal-dynamic in relation to Christ, from explicit awareness. God first wanted to establish a firm foundation of faith in the Person of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Incarnate God. ‘First things first,’ as the saying goes. This Christocentricism first had to be established in His Chosen People—the New Israel of the Church, made of Jew and Gentile alike. A Christocentric foundation had to be laid before the glories of Mary and Joseph (glories caused by God, and pointing to Him) were apprehended, lest misunderstanding arose.

1.2 Purging Idolatry

After all, the converted pagan Gentiles, like the Babylonians with the temple articles, and even like the idolatry inclined Judeans of old, might have easily deified Mary and Joseph to the status of gods; worshiping them as deities alongside Christ. This might seem like a ridiculous notion, but the stupendous dignity of Mary above all, if understood with the clarity we possess today after two millennia of Marian dogmatic development, but without the same corresponding Christological precision that has developed over centuries, some of the early Christians could have easily transferred their worship of pagan goddesses to the Virgin Mary, and even Joseph might have been seen as an additional deity.

This possibility is demonstrated when one considers that Saints Paul and Barnabas in their journey to Lystra and Derbe were hailed as pagan gods—Hermes and Zeus—because of the miracles God worked through them (Acts 14:11-12). If such idolisation took place over these holy men who were inferior in dignity to Mary and Joseph, it’s not hard to imagine that it could have easily took place regarding Mary and Joseph if God wasn’t so prudent in ‘holding back’ the explicit and widespread knowledge of their God-given dignities. The first Jews who came to Christ might have been more inclined to reject Jesus as the Messiah if a faulty understanding along this line took place. They’d flee from anything smacking of idolatry. Hence we see the wisdom of God who first weaned the Gentile Christians from idolatry to monotheism—to first recognise the Tent-Pitcher, Christ Jesus, as One with the Triune Godhead. Partially veiling the dignity of Mary and Joseph from the Church in the meantime

1.3 God's Incremental Style

Another reason God kept Mary and Joseph mostly hidden until centuries had passed in Mary’s case, and over a millennium in Joseph’s, is because God prefers to reveal His secrets, His precious truths incrementally to the human mind. It took thousands of years for God to finally reveal Himself in the Incarnate Word, preparing the way through various holy men and women and prophets. There are many reasons we can intuit as to why God would act thus. Take for example a rare and precious liqueur. If stored in a cabinet and given out and drunk once every now and again a sense of specialness is preserved, and the taste is appreciated all the more. Yet if an endless supply was at one’s disposal and it could become a daily affair, drinking it anytime one wanted, a sense of its specialness would be lost, and familiarity might even lead to contempt for it. As the proverb goes, “Hast thou found honey? Then eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” (Prov 25:16).

In His wisdom God thus pours out His truths portion by portion, and never all at once, so that each truth is savoured and appreciated accordingly. God is thus glorified to the maximum and the Church is illumined all the more from taking time to savour each and every truth across the generations. Yet if God laid out every truth in manifest awareness to the Church from the beginning, the fallen human mind couldn’t duly process such a bombardment, and like someone who gorges themselves at an ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’ and becomes sick and starts to loathe even the sight of food, some of these truths would inevitably be ‘vomited up,’ not ingested—not understood, and thus disrespected, and all the truths would be less appreciated because of such an overwhelming manifestation.

1.4 Christ the Tent in Whom All is Revealed

The thing is, God has manifested His truths fully in the Person of Jesus Christ—Truth Incarnate. In the words of John of the Cross, quoted in the Catechism: "In giving us his Son, his only Word... he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say" (CCC 65). Yet Jesus is like a hive which is made up of countless deposits where honey is stored, and the Father has spoon fed His Church portions of honey from numerous of these deposits, but only later has He started spoon feeding from those deposits containing the honey of truths about Mary and Joseph. We are not simply encouraged but commanded by the Father to eat and savour the abundance of honey which the pallet of the Church in Her earthly members is able to savour today. Hence we read, “Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.” (Prov 24:13).

1.5 First the Christ-Section, then the Mary and Joseph Sections

To fit in with the aforementioned buffet and tent analogy we might say Jesus is also like a catering tent in which countless bain-maries are stored, and like a chef, the Father only uncovers one dish at a time, so that each is savoured and digested. The Mary and Joseph section of the Heavenly Catering Tent has been ‘opened up’ later than the Christ section, the central and main section.

This ‘Christ section’ was opened by Jesus at the Last Supper, beginning the 'endless course' of the endless Feast enjoyed by the Church on earth—and which will continue until the end of time, and forever in heaven. Yet later on it has pleased the Lord to open up the Mary and Joseph sections. Sections which complement the Christ section, the Main Meal. Perhaps we might think of Mary as the desert section and Joseph as the salad bar or drinks bar. Jesus is what it’s all about, the main meal of the faith, and this is why God hid the desert section and salad/drink bar partially for a time. Yet providing everything is excellent, whenever has a desert, salad or drink subtracted from the main meal? Never! It adds to the meal, and helps us enjoy it more.

This is why God has always intended to ‘open them up’ to the pilgrim Church, because He wants us to enjoy Divine Life in His Son to the full, and He wants to delight in us to the full as well. God accomplishes this by sharing with us His beloved Mary and Joseph who only lead us closer to God's Son who is also their Son. But in due order, after Jesus, God first shared with the Church the gift of Mary His Mother.

2. Step Two: Unveiling the Ark

Once belief in Jesus had been firmly pitched and pegged down—the Christocentric Tent firmly in place—then and only then did God reveal the second article of His Spiritual Temple, the New Ark, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in full array as it were. That is, then and only then did God lead the Church as a community to learn more about Mary and Her dignity. For example, only after four hundred years in 431 at the Council of Ephesus was the first explicitly Marian teaching defined as dogma: Mary as the Mother of God. Over the centuries additional dogmas would be defined, most recently the dogma of the Assumption in 1950. Sure, the Church was never totally ignorant about the dignity of Mary, but nor was the pilgrim Church fully aware either. True, there were individuals and sectors of the Church in all ages who were ahead of their time Mariologically speaking, but even so, often these elements and the Church as a whole lacked the Marian clarity we have today, a clarity we will necessarily gain into the future.

2.1 Unveiling to the Pilgrim Church What is Already Unveiled in Christ Her Head

It is also very important to note we are not talking about God making new revelations that inferred more about Mary. Revelation was completed in Christ who is the Revelation of God. This revelation chronologically ended at the death of the Apostles (CCC 66-67). We are simply speaking about a deeper penetration of that fullness of Revelation already completed in Christ, and which the Church possesses in Him, but is yet to fully unpack. This unpacking includes aspects of Divine Revelation relating to Mary which the Church over time developed its awareness and appreciation of. As the Catechism states:

Even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. (66).

Therefore, because a Christological foundation had been set, the focal point established, the development of the Marian dogmas complimented and deepened this Christological focus. Far from taking away from the worship of God, the development of the Church’s understanding about Mary led the Church into higher planes of understanding and worship—a worship conscious of Marian intercession and secondary-mediation, and a greater understanding about who Jesus is, as God made man, “born of a woman” (Gal 4:4). Yet also who we are called to be “as God’s adopted children” (Rom 8:17). This is not too complicated to grasp, since truths open way to truths; and learning about someone’s mother only ever helps us know more about that someone.

2.3 The Ark Glorifies the Lord

When we think back to the ancient ark, it was at its best not an obstacle to the worship of God, but a profound aid and instrument to advance Israel’s worship of the One God. We mustn’t forget—God commanded the construction of the ark, and God doesn’t order idolatry, nor make mistakes, but knows what is best and beneficial. The misuse of the ark on the one hand, and the dismissal of the ark on the other, hampered divine worship, and this fault lay with the people, not the ark, hence why God preserved the ark in hiding, while He allowed His people to be chastised in exile.

In the same way, the dignity of Mary show-cases the dignity of God who operated and operates in Her. God commanded the first ark to be built; and similarly God decreed the existence and maternal office of this Second Ark, the Blessed Virgin Mary. This New Ark of the Testimony does not take away from God’s glory, but She testifies to the glory of God, as this Ark, the Virgin Mary, declares as such in the hymn of Her praise: “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Lk 1:46).

God simply hid most of the contours of the New Ark from the Church until the Church had been prepared to receive Her accordingly. We should be grateful to live in a time when the New Ark of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands mostly revealed in the midst of our Temple, the Tent of God’s House on earth—the Church. This Ark can help us worship God more perfectly, and know Him more intimately. We would be naïve to think the Church has attained a complete apprehension of the understanding about Mary’s dignity which it mysteriously already possesses in Christ. For one thing, the magisterially employed terms mediatrix, co-redemtrix and advocate are yet to be expounded upon definitively. There is always more we can learn, in breadth and depth.

2.4 ‘Heaven was Opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was Seen’

There are a few powerful passages in the Book of Revelation that can be interpreted regarding God’s unveiling of the dignity of Mary to the pilgrim Church.

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child (Rev 11:19-12:2)

When read in sequence, without dividing the portions of text according to chapters, as the text originally would have appeared, we see that the Ark and the heavenly apparition of the woman are connected. The ark is seen within God’s temple, accompanied by mighty signs, “and a great portent” appears in heaven: “a woman clothed with the sun” and she is “with child”. This is not a stretch considering the flow of the narrative and the use of the conjunction “and” (και) in the Greek. Even thematically there is an undeniable connection, since Mary has long been referred to in ark imagery, and the woman here in Revelation has long been understood according to one layer of interpretation as Mary. For example, Oecumenius in the 6^th century writes, “It is speaking about the mother of our Savior” she is depicted “as in heaven and not on earth [… because] she is exalted, wholly worthy of heaven, even though she possesses our own human nature and substance.”[i]

The above passages from Revelation can thus be understood as God’s revealing to the Church about the Woman Mary, the New Ark. Opening the heavens to show the Church more about Her. A revealing complete from the perspective of eternity, but which is unfolding here in time in the apprehension of the Church on earth. This gradual unveiling about Mary to the Church is symbolised by the successive wonders that accompany the ‘seeing’ of the ark in heaven: first lightening, then voices, thunder, an earthquake and hail—each separated in the Greek by the conjunction και (“and, and also”). One could interpret each of these five signs as representing the four proclaimed Marian dogmas which were defined one after another over many centuries, and the fifth postulated dogmatic decree yet to be proclaimed.[ii] Yet putting such matters aside, our main point here is to show how God gradually and slowly has the led the Church into a deeper understanding about Mary, who as the New Ark has mostly been brought out of ‘hiding’ and obscurity from the cavern of the Church’s mind. A process still taking place. For "many daughters have gathered together riches," many souls are filled with God's grace and glory, but "thou [O Mary] hast surpassed them all." (Prob 31:19)

In Part III we'll explore the unveiling of St. Joseph, the Altar of Incense of the New Covenant. 

---

[i] Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 12.1-2, as found in William C. Weinrich and Thomas C. Oden eds. Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament XII (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsityPress, 2005), 174.

[ii] Mediatrix, Co-Redemptrix, Advocate.

The Hiddenness of the Holy Family: Hide and Seek (Part I)

This article is the first of a four part series. The series will explore Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the aspect of their Hidden Life. Namely by drawing on 2 Maccabees 2:4-8 which mentions how at the time of the Babylonian conquest Jeremiah hid the tabernacle tent, ark of the covenant and altar of incense in a cave. Part I looks at how and why God hid the Holy Family.

'Cave of Jeremiah,' Selina Bracebridge, William Henry Bartlett, c.1825-60.

PART I: HIDE AND SEEK

1. Introduction

In 2 Maccabees we read a record of how the Prophet Jeremiah climbed a mountain “and found a cave” and there hid “the tabernacle tent and the ark and the altar of incense,” sealing “up the entrance” until the time came when the Lord would reveal it (2:4-8). This took place as Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonian army. The whole city was reduced to rubble, and the first temple built by Solomon was destroyed. God instructed Jeremiah to hide the three most holy things from the temple in order to keep them safe and secure until a future date.

2. Jesus, Mary and Joseph: The Tent, Ark and Altar

These three holy articles of the temple serve as symbols of each member of the Holy Family. The associations attached to the articles could easily vary, but those we will draw are pertinent.

The tabernacle tent was the original dwelling place of God used from Moses' time until the reign of Solomon. It was in this sense, the original temple and holy place. It was likely stored in the temple once the temple was built, and thus Jeremiah was able to take it away. Jesus, specifically in His humanity, is aptly symbolised by the tabernacle tent because the Greek word used in the Old Testament for the holy tent was σκηνη, the same word used in the passage from 2 Maccabees above. This word in its verbal form (σκηνόω) appears in John’s Gospel when he writes: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14). The Greek word for “he dwelt” being ἐσκήνωσεν, literally, “he tented,” “he pitched his tent” among us.

The ark of the covenant was a wooden box gilded with gold upon which God’s Presence rested. It was crafted under Moses’ leadership. The ark symbolises Mary, since Mary is persistently referred to in Catholic tradition and devotion as the Ark of the Covenant. For it is in Her that God’s Presence dwelt in the Incarnate Word.

The altar of incense was made of wood and gilded with gold. Placed in the temple, every morning and at twilight incense was offered to God upon it, directed toward the holy place where the Ark dwelt. Already we can see how Joseph is symbolised by the altar of incense. The incense of his devotion was perpetually offered to Mary, and his worship to God in the child Jesus. His love would have been especially offered upon waking up in the morning, and at twilight when he retired after work before sleeping—for then he could best contemplate the gift of Mary and Jesus within his life.

In the Scripture we see God referring to the altar of incense as “most holy to the LORD” (Ex 30:10). This is not an absolute statement, because clearly there were holier things (i.e. the tent and the ark) but after these came the altar of incense. This parallels the status of Joseph—third in holiness within the Holy Family, and excepting Jesus who is God, the most holy person after Mary.

3. The Hiddenness of the Holy Family

As Jeremiah hid the literal tent, ark and altar of incense within a cave, God hid the figurative tent, ark and altar—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—in obscurity, namely in the holy house of Nazareth. We learn from this that God hides precious things, holy things, and even, holy people. It is a profound mystery that the holiest people to have walked the earth were in their own contemporary terms, almost completely unknown in Mary and Joseph’s instance, and relatively unknown in the case of Jesus—it would take years for the personages of this Family to be made known to the world at large. In fact, even in our own day the members of the Holy Family remain in the shadows of people’s awareness, and in certain ways, even more so than in the past.

3.1 ‘The Holy Family…Who Were They?’

Considering who they really are, most of the world does not know the Holy Family. Even Jesus is poorly understood. For example, in 2015 a poll of 4,000 people in England among whom 57% identified as Christians, 1 in 4 did not think Jesus was a real person and 57% disbelieved in the Resurrection (this means some Christians also disbelieved in Christ’s resurrection).[i] In a cross-generational study in the U.S., 9 in 10 believed Jesus was a real person, but only 56% believed He was divine, and only 31% strongly disagreed with the statement that “When he lived on earth, Jesus Christ was human and committed sins, like other people”.[ii]

However three quarters of Americans in one poll expressed belief in the virgin birth of Christ, although far fewer accept the Catholic doctrines on Mary’s perpetual virginity and Immaculate Conception.[iii] Still, like Jesus, Mary is reasonably well known ‘about.’ Take for example the National Geographic—a secular magazine—which in a 2015 issue had Mary on the cover, titled: “Mary, the Most Powerful Woman in the World.” I say well known ‘about’ because She is not actually known, that is, people generally know about Mary, but they don’t know much about Her as a person, nor what is actually true.

As for Joseph—I don’t think St. Anthony could even find a poll conducted inquiring views regarding this greatest of all saints following the Virgin Mary. I wouldn’t be surprised if many couldn’t name Mary’s husband, and few would be able to say anything more other than name him and perhaps his trade. Yet factual details about Joseph are scant and knowing a breadth of facts about someone does not constitute a grasp of why they are significant. Nevertheless, how many Catholics would be able to articulate the significance of Joseph and something about His unparalleled sanctity? To many Catholics, and I confess, I once was somewhat in this camp myself! He is a boring saint, less dazzling than the red-martyrs, less appealing than St. Peter—a saint known hardly at all. A background guy. If a Catholic was asked who the greatest saint after Mary was, or who was the closet to Jesus after Mary, few would answer Joseph, but many might respond with St. Francis to the former, and John the Beloved to the latter. Joseph really is the most neglected and least understood. Yet without understanding Joseph to some degree, a grasp of the Holy Family is doomed to ignorance and misunderstanding.

3.2 Scriptural Silence

A lot of the ignorance surrounding the Holy Family is understandable—even among Christians and specifically, Catholics. After the infancy narrative accounts, including the visitation of the magi and the forty-day post-natal presentation in the temple, the Gospels record nothing about what tradition calls, ‘the hidden life’ of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. A period which lasts until about Jesus’ thirtieth year. The only exception is the incident where Mary and Joseph lose the twelve-year-old Jesus, and after three days find Him—where? In the temple. We are then told that from the temple “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (Lk 2:51). This one line summarises the entirety of the hidden life—a time when Jesus lived as an obedient Son, under the charge of Mary as Mother, and Joseph as Chosen Father.

Other than this, the Gospels point out that the first years of Jesus’ life were lived in Egypt. The Holy Family only returned when King Herod I, who sought to kill him, had died. As far as we infallibly know, excepting possible yet uncertain apocryphal accounts and various oral traditions, the remainder of Jesus’ hidden life was spent in Nazareth.

3.3 Livin’ in Nazareth

Nazareth was a valleyed countryside region where grapevines grew. It was a very humble and no-where place, at the northern end of Palestine. Such that the Apostle Nathanael, when told about Jesus for the first time, said “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46). As a parallel, one is led to think of rough-suburbs today, or rough-country places; places that bear a negative connotation. These kinds of places are not where most people desire to live. Quite the contrary, they’re held up as archetypal places not to live. God could have lived anywhere. Yet it was to such a place that God decided to live out most of His years—almost thirty years. No one would expect this, especially not the Jews of the time who were awaiting the Messiah—that God would choose to hide Himself for so long in a crummy village. Sure, by doing so God was fulfilling an obscure prophecy Matthew alludes to (2:23), but He did so in an unexpected and unassuming way.

Here in Nazareth Jesus simply lived a normal Jewish life of prayer, work—especially carpentry, and Torah study. Joseph would have worked alongside Jesus, teaching Him the practical side of the trade. Joseph worked to earn a living, to provide for his wife and adopted son who happened to be God—his literal God-son. Mary fulfilled domestic duties, including sweeping, lighting fires, and preparing meals; most notably the weekly Sabbath meal. She made a home out of the house. They would have been hospitable people, generous with charity and tithes, and faithful to the laws of Moses. To all external appearances, excepting their obvious outstanding goodness, the Holy Family was a normal Jewish family indicative of the first century.

It is amazing to think that while God in Jesus was living out His life as a carpenter, alongside the two most exemplary human beings that ever were and shall walk this earth, the rest of the world was clueless, simply doing their thing. People under the Roman Empire in Rome to Egypt, Indian tribes in America, aborigines in Australia, the Chinese subjects of the Xin dynasty and Eastern Han dynasty, and Celts in Ireland, all had no idea that a Divine Being, that God in-flesh was living far away in Palestine in a humble home. Likewise with notable historical figures like Augustus Caesar (27 BC-AD 14), Ovid (43 BC–AD 17/18), Livy (64/59 BC–AD 12/17) and Emperor Wang Mang (45 BC-AD 23), who lived during Jesus’ first thirty-years on earth—they had no idea that their lifetimes were shared by the most important Person to have walked the earth. Never mind the ignorance of the Holy Family’s neighbours and the extended kin of Mary and Joseph. Practically everyone had no idea that the Messiah, that God Himself was right next door! Drawing water beside them from the village well. Making tables for them and praying beside them at the synagogue. Their ignorance is made clear in the Gospels when we read that those who knew Jesus during this time exclaimed later on in dismissal about His teachings, healings and inferred divine status: “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (Jn 6:42).

We see then how successful God was in His covert designs. He hid Himself well. The hidden life of the Holy Family, so ordinary to observation, hid perfectly well the holiness of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—Holiness Itself—from the eyes of men.

4. God’s Wisdom in Hiding the Holy Family

There is a strain of thought that leads atheists, on the assumption of God’s existence, and even ourselves as thinking people, to ask the question: Why didn’t God make Himself more visible? Why did God hide Himself? Why didn’t God carry out a grand tour of the world and manifest His divine power, converting all, and making Himself known? It is a very apt line of questioning, and even the best responses must appeal to God’s mystery, and His knowing what is best, since He is All-Knowing and All-Powerful. Nevertheless, much can be said, and we’ll contribute a little something towards answering it.

We must remember that the last three years of Jesus’ life were spent on a sort of tour of Palestine, preaching, working miracles and teaching about God and His Kingdom. One of the biggest set of miracles Jesus performed was the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, most notably in feeding 5000 men, and women and children on top of that. In John 6 we see that the multitudes responded by wanting to make Him an earthly king, eager to see more signs and to eat more free miracle-food. Jesus is aware of this and criticises the people of being unable to see past the external work and into the spiritual meaning that it reveals about Himself as the Messiah and God Incarnate, who loves and nourishes the souls of those who seek Him. Only faith can make the step to see past the external works of God and to apprehend God the worker. The crowd wanted a Messiah that could feed their bellies, satisfy their agenda and make their lifestyles easier, they were not interested in living anew as disciples of Jesus according to the Spirit.

This is typical of human beings. God could work marvels and convince us He existed, but even the Devil believes God exists. In other words, external miracles do not convince people to have sincere faith, that is to change their minds and hearts and live godly lives—just think of the Devil who saw God in His full glory! — and belief that does not lead to such inner change is dangerous and condemnable. Great outer spectacles of God thus only serve as occasions to nourish a sincere faith already present, or which He knows will be elicited; and may help nudge a soul whose heart is already open to change, or which God knows will change if powerfully touched. Yet we can be sure that if outer miracles would affect change in more people’s lives, God would work them; and He would multiply Damascus-road conversion situations like He did to St. Paul. And though God can never override free will, by being Omniscient He knows what course of action is best to win people freely to Him, and how to best elicit quality believers, true lovers, who seek Him sincerely. In His wisdom God has determined that a more discreet mode of operation best accomplishes this.

God’s reasons for acting discreetly would be numerous, and we could never fathom one reason sufficiently, never mind them all. He sees the greater plan, and how everything interconnects. One thing we know for sure is that God knows how to maximise the possibility for everyone to have the opportunity to be saved—whether religious or atheist; dispensing gifts and working miracles, not always obvious, as it best serves this end; and anyone who does attain salvation does so, even if in this life unknowingly, through Jesus whose salvific mediation operates in His Body, the Holy Church, especially through the most notable of Its members: Mary, Mother of the Church, and Joseph, Father of the Church.

If God doesn’t throw around external wonders and miracles like lollipops, turning chickens into golden turkeys, or whipping up chocolate fountains before our eyes to prove Himself, or flying on the clouds on the backs of angels, we can be sure that this is because by God’s not doing these things it increases our odds of salvation and makes it easier to approach God sincerely to seek a relationship with Him; rather than seeking His outer gifts which do not guarantee eternal happiness, but at their maximum could provide a temporary utopia and fleeting moments of bliss. The latter quest would render us numb in indulgence to stop desiring what matters most: our common salvation in the God of Love, and not our wish-fulfilled pampering.

We can thus apprehend the wisdom of God who chose to come in hidden form, along the path of Nazareth, so that people might come to believe in Him and not chase after what they could get from Him according to worldly standards. God’s humble earthly existence, especially His first thirty-years, are thus a protection and aid from the temptation to get lost in a quest for a Genie-God who supplies our every whim. Spoilt children demand their own whim is satisfied, and parents who accommodate this allow them to grow rotten in behaviour. God wants to spoil us spiritually, but according to His Will which knows what we need to grow as good and loving people. He does not want to spoil us according to our own fancy, for this truly would spoil us!

Only after finishing this article I found an excellent commentary, following the Wedding of Cana in John 2, that touches on this theme by Protestant Minister Rev. Glenn David Bauscher:

Those thirty years of silence and obscurity are in a very real sense more miraculous than the last three years of His earthly Life, considering Who He was and is. ‘Verily thou art a God who hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour’. (Isaiah 45:15). The patience and humility of God are far more surprising and unbelievable to men than His miracles, and these are stumbling blocks to the faith of many, if not all of us […] Consider also the grief of His heart, knowing that so many, if not all, of those who professed faith, believed only in the outward signs, but did not know Him. Our Lord knew that to begin performing miracles would be to come out of hiding (out of character for God) and that would also make Him susceptible to misunderstanding and false devotion, when His usual design is to make men seek after Him Who hides, and recognize Him in His disguises.[iv]

The hidden life of the Holy Family, so ordinary, so plain, so hidden, so seemingly illogical in smallness, is thus a kind of litmus test. Those who can accept that God could, would, and best of all, actually did live like this, are able to be nurtured in a mature faith which believes God comes into our lives not to dazzle it with outer sparkles that impress others and which goes along with our own agenda of what is best; but that God comes into our lives to dazzle it secretly and interiorly, enriching the plainness of our normal lives with the joy of knowing His love and participating in His drama of intimacy—injecting eternal meaning and vitality into every sphere of our mortal existence, even when ordinary and especially when things go south.

5. Why Does God Hide Holy Things?

On this point we return to why God had Jeremiah hide the three temple articles in a secret cave. One reason is because the Babylonians would have sacrilegiously misused them—failing to see the true importance of these articles beyond their mere material worth. This explains why they were hidden from the Babylonians, yet when we look at 2 Maccabees we see that even those Israelites who helped hide the tent, ark and altar were unable to mark out and remember the way, thus prevented by God from knowing the exact location of the hiding place (2:6-7). They were thus even hidden from God’s own people.

The reasons for this could be many, but at least two things can be inferred as to why God hid these holy items, even from the Israelites—specifically, the Judeans. Firstly, God’s people had forgotten to reverence these items appropriately. They had forgotten that these items were supposed to be used as signs and mediums to worship God with. They grew too familiar with the temple and its articles, and had reduced them to sentimental objects, to mechanisms of rituals done out of habit—void of heartfelt devotion. Consequently the worship of God among the people of Judah waned, and so they filled this sound devotional void with unsound devotion, succumbing to polytheism, to idolatry. God’s oracle through Jeremiah makes this clear:

‘You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.’ (44:2-3).

Secondly, and this point extends from the first, God hid the tent, ark and altar of incense because He knew at this moment and in the immediate future the presence and knowledge of these holy items would still remain unappreciated by His people. He knew they would fail to grasp the spiritual significance of these holy items until they had come to know Him better and worship Him alone. They had to be purged of idolatrous inclinations over many years, lest they turned even these holy items into ends in themselves, as objects of worship, or at least, as mere holy things abstracted from their real purpose as signs of the One God. This had already happened in the temple, as we read in Ezekiel:

And he [the Lord] said to me, ‘Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here [in the temple].’ So I went in and saw […] all the idols of the house of Israel.’ (8:9-10).

God did not want this to happen again. Thus only when His people had been purged of idolatrous inclinations, then and only then might these sacred items be revealed and returned and so serve as aids to actually advance the people’s worship of God. In the words of Jeremiah quoted in 2 Maccabees: “The place [of the tent, ark and altar] shall be unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. And then the Lord will disclose these things” (2:7-8).

6. Why Did God Hide the Holy Family?

This leads us to an important reason why God hid the Holy Family—the personification of the three symbolic temple articles—in the unknown dwelling of Nazareth in a life of obscurity.

We might first recall the defensive-rationale of hiding the temple articles from the Babylonians. They would have taken them far away from their proper place, misusing them or perhaps destroying them, melting down their gold. In parallel, the defensive-rationale for God’s hiding the Holy Family in secrecy can be seen in His wanting to preserve them from harm at the hands of Herod; and even other earthly rulers, who if they knew who they were, especially Jesus, might have sought to kill them, or take them away from their true call and foreordained locale as novelty ‘play things’ or trophies.

We see this sort of possibility play out when Jesus was condemned to death. ‘King’ Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, begged Jesus to act as a kind of miracle performing showman. In Herod's words portrayed by Jesus Christ Superstar, "Prove to me that you're divine; change my water into wine." Jesus was vehemently against this kind of worldly agenda, such that His response was complete and utter silence, and Herod ended up dismissing Him as a nobody and madman. This silence of the condemned Christ in the face of worldly authority is reminiscent of the Holy Family’s silence in hiddenness from the world at large. Their greatness was thus looked-over and this preserved them from false agendas being imposed on them.

St. Jerome also cites Ignatius of Antioch (d. 110-130 AD) who comments that another reason for God's hiding His Son in the outward ordinariness of the Holy Family was in order to conceal the true identity of Jesus from the devil, who was kept ignorant of Jesus' virginal conception.[v]

Yet God also hid the Holy Family from the people of Israel, and partially so, even from the early Church to a degree. For just as God hid the holy articles of the temple to preserve their true dignity, likewise with the Holy Family. God hid them so as to preserve their real dignity, revealing them bit by bit, each in their turn, so that they might be sought for who they really are: Jesus as God-Man, Mary as Mother of God, and Joseph as chosen Father to God. This will need teasing out and will be taken up in Part II (click here).

Part III - On Joseph
Part IV - On the Holy Family

---

[i] “Jesus 'not a real person' many believe,” 31 October 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34686993

[ii] “What Do Americans Believe About Jesus? 5 Popular Beliefs,” April 1 2015, https://www.barna.com/research/what-do-americans-believe-about-jesus-5-popular-beliefs/

[iii] A Pew Research Poll as cited in Bill Sherman, “Americans diverge in views about Mary, but poll shows most believe in virgin birth: Poll says most Americans believe in virgin birth,” December 21 2013, https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/religion/americans-diverge-in-views-about-mary-but-poll-shows-most/article_9b7551af-4e42-5242-9942-d504ca4e25f2.html

[iv] Glenn David Bauscher, The Peshitta Aramaic-English New Testament (Lulu Publishing: 2009), 219-220.
[v] Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 1.18.i.