This painting was created by the American artist John Singer Sargent between 1877-79. It is titled The Flight into Egypt. The Gospel account is read during the Christmas season, but the story isn't very Christmas-y and certainly isn't made for young children. After the wise men sized up Herod we're told:
But after they had gone the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up now, take the little child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you. For Herod means to seek out the child and kill him." So Joseph got up , and taking the child and is mother with him set off for Egypt that same night where he remained until Herod's death. Matthew 2: 12-14
I like this painting very much because Sargent has not depicted the scene in a romantic way. There are no angels, no bowing cherry tree, no statues of gods falling to the ground, no beautiful starry night. It is a picture of utter desperation. Mary is so tired she is slipping off the exhausted donkey. The little circle of bright light above the Holy Child's head serves only to indicate who this is. That St. Matthew bothers to tell us that Jospeh set out "that same night" only adds to the feeling of encroaching danger.
But imagine if along the way Joseph had been told, "Take your family and go back to your own country." How sad we'd feel and how different the story would be.
The line, "Go back where you came from," or "Go back to your own country," is an old refrain in our country. My Irish paternal grandparents, from Belfast and Galway, had that bully-ing, menacing remark hurled at them. Every group that comes to this country has to suffer the pain of rejection. And so it is today. Still. How disappointing and what shame we bear as a nation.
Imagine how different the story would have been if Joseph and Mary (with the newborn) had been told in Egypt, "Go back where you came from."
