We do not know how long the Holy Family remained in Egypt. Some say three years, while others say five. Afterward, they returned and settled not in Bethlehem, as they had originally intended, but in Nazareth (Matthew 2:23), where they lived in a dwelling resembling a cave.
Let us suppose that the journey from Bethlehem to the Egyptian border lasted ten days. How much would the Holy Family have needed for food and lodging during that time? We should also take into account the needs of any animal they may have used for transportation, since it, too, would have required food and water. Another ten days may be added for the return journey.
Let us also suppose that the Holy Family remained in Egypt for three years, or approximately 1,095 days. How much would they have needed for food and accommodation throughout that period? Purely as a modern illustration, if we estimate their daily expenses at 30 dollars, the total for three years would amount to approximately 32,850 dollars. Including the twenty days of travel, the total would reach 33,450 dollars. This was certainly a considerable sum for Joseph the carpenter.
However, God had already provided for their needs. Among their gifts to the infant Jesus, the Magi offered gold (Matthew 2:11). According to a pious tradition, the Holy Family used this gold to finance their journey to Egypt. The gift of gold may therefore be understood as one of the ways in which Divine Providence provided for the needs of the Holy Family during their journey and residence in Egypt.
When they returned from Egypt and settled in Nazareth, however, they had to work in order to survive.
Did the Theotokos work?
According to Orthodox tradition, Joseph had children from his first marriage. Four sons are named in the Gospel: James, Joses, Judas, and Simon (Mark 6:3), while sisters are also mentioned. The household may therefore have included several people, and a considerable amount of money would have been needed to support such a large family. This suggests that the Virgin Mary also worked to help provide for the household, in addition to caring for and raising the child Jesus.
Saint Jerome describes the Virgin Mary and the righteous Joseph as “a workingman and a working woman” (Letter XIV to Heliodorus the Monk, 11; Patrologia Latina 22:354).
Saint Jerome does not specify what kind of work the Virgin Mary performed. According to one tradition, she cleaned other people’s homes, cooked for them, and washed their clothes. In other words, she worked as a domestic servant. Although this tradition cannot be historically verified, the Theotokos, in her profound humility, would not have objected to performing such work in order to support her family. We should therefore be careful not to judge humble forms of work according to modern social assumptions.
At the age of thirty (Luke 3:23), her Son Jesus left His hometown of Nazareth and began His public ministry, thus commencing the work of our salvation. His Mother also left Nazareth and went out into the world so that she might remain close to her Son.
At that time, she would have been approximately forty five or forty six years old.
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Next in this Series: The Theotokos’s Sorrow During Jesus’ Ministry and Passion
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