Jesus as a refugee and homeless person

‘Get up and flee with the child and his mother to Egypt. Stay there until I call you again,

... Joseph got up and that same night departed to Egypt with the child and his mother. (Mat. 2:13-14)

‘But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle to fly to her place in the wilderness, where for a time and two times and a half she would be cared for, beyond the reach of the serpent. (Rev. 12:14)

The New Testament begins and ends with a story of escape. In both cases it also involves a woman who has just given birth and must be taken to safety because an oppressive ruler wants to kill her and especially the child. What else do we read about refugees in the NT? And how is God involved in these refugee situations?

Jesus’ life begins with a flight
An angel speaks to Joseph in a dream: ‘Get up and flee with the child and his mother to Egypt. Stay there until I call you again, for Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him.’ (Mat. 2:13) When the wise men did not return to Herod as he had asked them, this must have prompted him to make inquiries. When he found that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious and decided to have all the boys aged two and under killed.

Probably immediately after the departure of the wise men from the East, the angel appeared to Joseph to tell him to flee to Egypt. Since the time of Alexander the Great (4th century BCE), many Jews had settled in Egypt. They lived in the metropolis of Alexandria. This flight to Egypt is reminiscent of Abraham (Gen. 12:10), Jacob (Gen. 46) and Jacob's sons (Gen. 42 and 43) who were also driven to Egypt. Thus the similarity between the youth of Jesus and the youth of the people of Israel also becomes clear. The flight of Mary and Joseph themselves is again a picture of a later event, the flight of the church in the end times (Mat. 24:16,22; Rev. 12:6,13-14). So this flight of Joseph and Mary into Egypt has great significance and important theological lines can be drawn to the context of the Christian congregation today. But at the same time, we must also stick to the factuality of this event. We must not let this flight story evaporate into a theological message.

The harsh reality is that Joseph and Mary have to seek ‘asylum’ in Egypt with their newborn baby Jesus. This involved a journey of at least 300 to 500 km depending on the location in northern Egypt. On foot and with a donkey or mule for luggage, they could travel at most 25 km, often no more than 15 km per day.1

So this trip lasted at least a month. And it was done in downright life-threatening conditions. The classicist Fik Meijer argues that traveling for pleasure in the first century in the Roman Empire was only done by wealthy Romans who could protect themselves. Traveling without protection was perilous. “Wherever he was, a stranger was always in danger of falling victim to robbers and pickpockets ... Theft, extortion, street robbery, murder and manslaughter were ... the most common thing in the world. Outside the city walls, travelers faced even greater risks.” (Meijer,pg. 151)

Were Joseph and Mary assisted in this journey? By friends or some kind of ‘travel agent’? In Egypt they found shelter and protection as refugees. At the same time, Herod had all the little boys under two years old in the region of Bethlehem killed. Jesus and his parents had to flee political and religious persecution. Both are also reasons today to flee and seek asylum in another country.

Jesus was poor and homeless
‘The foxes have dens and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head to rest.’ (Mat.8:20)

Not only at His birth, but also later during His public ministry, there is no place for Jesus to lay His head, a picture of homelessness and absolute poverty. In Jewish apocalypticism, the Son of Man is a heavenly figure in God's immediate presence, pre-existent and hidden by God in heaven until the moment He reveals Himself to execute the final judgment. So the contrast of using this title in our context is quite stark. He who is homeless on earth and lives in absolute poverty and dependence is the majestic heavenly judge. The repeated use of ap-erchomai, ‘leave, depart’ (8:18,19,21,31,32 and 33) and the expulsion of Jesus from the land of the Gadarenes (vs. 34) indicates that Matthew is speaking of being literally homeless. The reader recalls the words from Mat. 6:25-30, where Jesus spoke of God's wonderful care for believers who had fallen into poverty. As an itinerant preacher, Jesus knew the living mode of the migrant, who has a home somewhere (in Capernaum, Mat. 4:13), but has no place to lay his head in the land to which he has left. Some Christians in the West behave as if a quiet and easy life is part of the normal Christian life. From the very beginning, the life story of Jesus overturns such a premise.

Mission, persecution and flight
‘When they persecute you in one city, flee to the next’ (Mat. 10:23). When Jesus sent out the twelve he prepared them for possible persecution and told them to flee in that case. He asked them to persevere to the end (vs.22b), but with understanding. We see here that this means that they should not seek martyrdom. In fact, Jesus says they should avoid it if possible and flee to another city, and then preach the Gospel there. And this situation is not temporary, Jesus tells them, but this persecution and fleeing will continue until He returns in glory 2: ‘for I assure you, you will not yet be round the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes’ (vs.23b). These words of Jesus are variously interpreted (see comm. Study Bible). But the simplest and therefore most plausible explanation is that He means that the disciples should not count on their task being easy or that they will be finished quickly. On the contrary, they will not finish until He returns, and they will face much opposition and persecution all the while. Literally Jesus says, ‘You will by no means finish/complete. This can be about ending the fleeing as well as accomplishing the task of preaching. The immediate context of vs.22 suggests rather the former, but Mat.10:5-6 again rather the latter possibility. By the way, both options are not mutually exclusive.

So the cities Jesus speaks of are places to which the disciples can flee. Thus this word becomes a word of comfort: you will not lack cities to which you can flee until the Son of Man returns in glory. Not in Israel and not in the world. It is a word of comfort, but Jesus does describe the time until the Second Coming here as a time of persecution and fleeing. Something we as Western Christians find hard to imagine. Yet already in the book of Acts we see these words being fulfilled. After the murder of Stephen, persecution breaks out in Jerusalem (Acts 8:3). Many, including Philip, flee to other regions outside the city. And the situation will not get better as the time of the Second Coming approaches, on the contrary. Jesus also spoke of this.

Flights to the mountains
‘So when you see the “devastating abomination” spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place - reader, understand this well - everyone in Judea must flee into the mountains.’ (Mat. 24:15-16) As with the encirclement of Jerusalem by army camps in 70 A.D. (Luke 21:20-21), Jesus also commands his disciples, and especially those who reside in Judea, to flee to the mountains in the days when the anti-christ will reveal himself in the temple. According to Daniel's prophecy, the desecration of the temple will be followed by a persecution of the believers (Dan.11:31-35).

Jesus also foretells this. It will be a great horror such as there has not been from the beginning of the world until then (24:21-22). The situation for Christians in the world will worsen dramatically, Jesus says. Again, the advice is to flee, but not to another city, but to the mountains. It will be a crisis situation. The flight will have to be done very quickly (vs.17). Whoever is on the flat roof on that day, with his steps along the outside wall, will not have to go into his house first to bring anything more. He who works in his shirt in the field will not have to go home first to get clothes (vs.18). ‘How disastrous it will be for the women who are pregnant or have a child at the breast in those days!’ says Jesus (vs. 19). For they are least able to withstand the rigors of rapid flight. When I read this, I see before me the images of mothers with crying children, carrying nothing but a backpack with some provisions. They are going through what can happen to us as Christians. But for us, despite all the persecution, there is hope, because for us there is promise.

We began this article by quoting from Rev.12:14. The context is the same as Mat.24:15, namely the time of the antichrist. The woman, an image of the people of God, is persecuted by the dragon (the devil) and the beast (the antichrist, Rev.13), but will be brought by God as on eagle's wings to a place of safety, where He will take care of His people throughout the time of the antichrist's reign (Rev.12:6).

The ‘blessed of my Father’
What should our attitude be in times when we are not persecuted, but live in peace and tranquility in the land where we live? Those ‘blessed by the Father’ will soon receive the perfect blessing at the Great Judgment and partake of His Kingdom, for, “I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me; I was imprisoned, and you came to me.” (Mat. 25:35-36)

Nuts
1. F. Meijer, Traveling in the Roman Empire, pg. 147; http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_vla016200401_01/_vla016200401_01_0033.php)

2. I believe Jesus is speaking of his coming in glory here (Mat. 24:30; 26:64); for other options see comm. Study Bible at Mat. 10:23 in the New section.

3. See comm. Study Bible at Mat. 10:23 in the section'New‘.