{"id":71268,"date":"2019-10-13T05:45:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T09:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=71268"},"modified":"2019-10-12T09:00:39","modified_gmt":"2019-10-12T13:00:39","slug":"a-case-from-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/10\/a-case-from-the-border.html","title":{"rendered":"A Case from the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Laurie Gudim wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If the Holy Family were to seek refuge in the U.S. today as they did all those centuries ago in Egypt, a report much like this might be generated:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis family of asylum-seekers is questionable at best.\u00a0 The head of household, Joseph, says that Herod, the corrupt dictator of the country from which they have fled, is seeking to kill their son.\u00a0 There is no apparent basis for this highly improbable allegation other than a couple of dreams this man relates in which he is purportedly warned by an angel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, there is some abnormality in the relationship between this man and the child.\u00a0 This family comes from a culture where sexual relations outside of wedlock are punishable by stoning, and yet the child was obviously conceived before the couple was married.\u00a0 When questioned as to whether the child is his son, Joseph hesitates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mother, Mary, is young and abnormally self-assured.\u00a0 She appears to suffer from the delusion that she and her child will be protected by supernatural forces.\u00a0 Is this a postpartum psychosis or a psychological issue of longer duration?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family claims that they would be residing in the U.S. only temporarily, hoping to return to their country when Herod is no longer in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the very least asylum should be denied Joseph, since he likely has no biological relationship with the purportedly threatened child.\u00a0 The mother, Mary, is not a reliable source of information. We have to ask: how likely is it that her child is perceived as a threat by such a powerful man as is Herod?\u00a0 Perhaps Herod\u2019s recent Purge of Innocents has sparked this woman\u2019s fantasy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy recommendation is to deny asylum to this entire family.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As someone who works mostly in the realm of history, there is an instinct to say that the flight to Egypt is only recorded in Matthew, and is introduced to make comparison and contrast between Jesus and Moses, and so is at best of questionable historicity. But the point of biblical texts is not always history, and the point of reading doesn\u2019t have to be exclusively that either. Asking about immigration, refugees, and hospitality in stories that are part of one\u2019s sacred heritage is also important. Doing so in this case may force people to think differently.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen some (including Kermit the Frog drinking tea in one meme<\/a>) respond to this by saying that Judaea and Egypt were both part of the Roman Empire during this period, and so the flight to Egypt wasn\u2019t like fleeing from Guatemala to the United States. This intersects with a discrepancy between Matthew and Luke, but sticking once again to the narrative level in Matthew, the events occur while Herod the Great is still king, and so prior to the transfer to direct Roman rule.<\/p>\n

What happens when you try to read the Bible in relation to contemporary events and concerns, and you\u2019re familiar with historical issues related to the stories in question? Do you agree that it is crucial to get comfortable reading texts in different ways and from different approaches, precisely because doing so makes us uncomfortable?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurie Gudim wrote: If the Holy Family were to seek refuge in the U.S. today as they did all those centuries ago in Egypt, a report much like this might be generated: \u201cThis family of asylum-seekers is questionable at best.\u00a0 The head of household, Joseph, says that Herod, the corrupt dictator of the country from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":71271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[14656,5043,5677,5920,7075,7932,10121],"class_list":["post-71268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gospel-of-matthew","tag-border","tag-immigration","tag-jesus","tag-joseph","tag-mary","tag-nativity","tag-refugees"],"yoast_head":"\nA Case from the Border<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Laurie Gudim wrote: If the Holy Family were to seek refuge in the U.S. today as they did all those centuries ago in Egypt, a report much like this might\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/10\/a-case-from-the-border.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Case from the Border\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Laurie Gudim wrote: If the Holy Family were to seek refuge in the U.S. today as they did all those centuries ago in Egypt, a report much like this might\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/10\/a-case-from-the-border.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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