The Work of the Holy Family

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one

In Genesis, before sin entered the world, God commanded man to work

a.  He told Adam to cultivate the garden – to work with his hands in making the world a better place

b.  When God came to earth, he came into the home of a laborer, Joseph, of the Tribe of Benjamin

                                         i.    There, in that home, in that workshop, he spent the bulk of his life. 30 years Jesus was in Nazareth – at home and at his adoptive father’s trade

1.  What could be so important about home and work that God come to earth would choose to be at home and at work ten times as long as He would choose to be on the road, preaching, healing, and working miracles?

two

Of course, Joseph wasn’t the only member of the family who worked

a.  The Mother of Jesus did a Mother’s work – the most important work there is

                                         i.    Mothers nurture and form images of God

1.   And in Mary’s case, she formed and nurtured the Eternal Image of the Father

b.  It’s time to stop saying that mothers who stay at home “don’t have a job,” or “don’t work”

                                         i.    They may not have a government job, or a job in the public economy

1.  But the government and the economy are secondary to the family – in fact, the government and the economy exist precisely to protect and support the family

c.   So if we don’t have people who are going to care for the family, what’s the point of everything else?

                                         i.    Mary shows us that work in the home is the most fundamental kind of work there is. It’s no surprise that it was to that work that God called the most perfect of all created persons.

three

This is what a family is supposed to be: a community of persons all working for the good of all

a.  Is that what you see in the families around you?

                                         i.    So often today we have this idea that a father goes to one organization, which consumes nearly his whole life

                                       ii.    And the mother goes to another organization, which consumes nearly her whole life

                                      iii.    And then the kids go to schools and to the various sports teams that consume their whole lives

b.  And then, if they’re lucky, the various family members cross paths occasionally in the kitchen, or maybe share a car ride somewhere every now and then

c.   That’s not what the Holy Family shows us

                                         i.    In the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary and Jesus were a unit, a community working together, in the home, each bringing their different gifts to build up their family.

                                       ii.    The family is the community towards which all activities are to be directed. And without that kind of basis, that kind of priority and unification, the family can’t be a foundation either for the family members, or for the broader society as a whole.

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What this means, primarily, is that our work has to be directed not just to the support of our families, but to our family’s edification and education

a.  Work can’t just be the “mysterious” place a parent goes – the place that competes for the parent’s time

                                         i.    It has to somehow serve to enrich the culture of the home – it has to be integrated into family life.

b.  Look at how much Joseph’s work affected Jesus’ identity. He was actually known as the Carpenter’s Son.

                                         i.    Joseph included Jesus in his work; he introduced his adopted Son into his trade

1.  As one ancient anonymous source points out, Joseph taught Jesus how to work with wood and nails

a.  And Jesus used wood and nails to save the world

                                       ii.    Don’t divide your work life and family life. Make them part of one great enterprise, and watch what God does with your kids.

five

Work and Family: Where Sanctification Happens

a.  It’s remarkable how little the Gospels tell us about Nazareth. After the Holy Family returns from Egypt, the only story we get about Jesus’ childhood is the finding in the Temple – and that doesn’t even happen in Nazareth

b.  Maybe its just that there wasn’t much to report.

                                         i.    That’s how it is, a lot of the time, with work and family. There’s not much to report.

1.  People say, “What’s new with work? What’s new with the fam?”

a.  And we say, “Oh, not much. Things are good. Same old.”

                                       ii.    And maybe because there’s not much to report, we start to think that work and family aren’t important.

c.   The thirty years Jesus spent with Mary and Joseph at Nazareth remind us that, actually, the opposite is true. The unsensational, unexciting, regular day-to-day rhythm of work and family life is the most important aspect of human life

                                         i.    It’s in that rhythm of work and family that God-made-man spent most of His time on earth. It’s in that rhythm of work and family that sanctity is primarily found.