A pair of Greater Coucal at day break, hidden in the foliage of a nutmeg tree! I happened to notice this on a few days last week. I wondered whether it is their location for the shelter at night ! They feel protected in the foliage!
Jeus of Nazareth needed protection form being harmed by Herod, because of which Mary and Jospeh moved to Egypt.
The symbolism of protection in Egypt came back to me on a few occasions during this week. For Jesus and family Egypt was a foreign land. They needed to stay hidden from being found out by Herod. When children below the age of two years were killed all over Judea, Joseph, Mary and Jesus sought shelter in a strange place which was not a familiar place to them.
The shelter in an unfamiliar or inhospitable place!
What would have been hope giving for Joseph and family was the message they received from the angels about who their child was destined to be! Both Mary and Jospeh had visitations and messages.
It was neither Bethlehem or Egypt which offered shelter or protection to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus as a child was protected by God's watchful eyes on Him, for He was born as the fulfilment of prophecies and promises to people of Israel.
The safety, security and stability which the material world offers are subject to many variables. And yet, like in the parable that Jesus spoke in a parable about a man, who had a rich harvest and rebuilt his barn to store the large produce of his field, and live happy for ever, the pursuit for material security drives humans to feel desperate to be secure.
The prayer, 'Give us our daily bread' that Jesus included in the Lord's prayer gives us another view about life and living that we are called to consider!
For Joseph and family, the vulnerability to the threat to the life of Jesus by Herod was real!
Their safety did not come from the security of their family, familiar situations, or hospitable neighbourhood...! Jesus was safe because of God and His intervention in the life of Joseph and Mary.
God is our shelter and refuge ! That is comforting and affirming!
What comes home to me is how Jesus lived his early childhood hidden!
Living hidden is also an experience necessary for the formative process in our lives!
A seed remains hidden of its prospects to sprout, till it is planted in the soil!
The hidden living is to become complete and integrated as a person seasoned with grace and a calling!
The hidden living in a cocoon is essential for pupa to become a butterfly!
There are times when we encounter a call to remain hidden. There are times when the situations around us enforce us to remain hidden. On both these occasions, it is not an experience of withdrawal but a time to focus on the enlargement of inner life to become loving, gracious and caring!
That was what was written about Jesus after His experience of having been hidden as a child, 'Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God an men'(Luke 2:52).
The season of staying hidden is formative and transformative!
These thoughts arose out of watching a pair of Greater Coucal staying hidden in the foliage!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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