Luke 2: 41-52
One often hears the tales from mother to mother, I believe, every
parent experiences this at least once in their lives, a child wanders off. Even if just for a moment, that moment, to a
parent, seems to last forever.
Of course these were different times, Simpler times. The family heads out on an annual excursion
to Jerusalem about a 65 mile walk about a 3 day journey considering most of the
town was heading there. They would have
to stop to rest often especially for the older and the youngest among them.
They spend their days in Jerusalem for the festival and then
set out to return. About a day into the
journey Mary realizes that Jesus is nowhere to be found. Martha Spong imagines it to go something like
this;
“The whole family has
been to Jerusalem, to the temple, traveling with friends and neighbors. They
made the journey together. Everyone keeps an eye on the children. One of the
mothers counts repeatedly. It takes pressure off the others. She hates to tell
Mary. A good boy missing could mean a boy in real trouble. Time matters. Has
someone taken Jesus? She calls to his mother. "I'm sure we can find
him," she says, but she can hear the sharp edge in a voice usually so
soft, when Mary cal1s, "Joseph Come quickly!"
That’s when people
tell the mother to breathe, but she can’t get a breath at all.
Word spreads. Some go
ahead, in case he ran that way. Boys do run off, she says to Mary. Boys will be
boys. Don't worry. Not yet.
Not yet. That's what
they say. Boys will be boys.
Some go back,
retracing steps. Some look on the side of the road, just in case he fell, or
worse.
Mary's heart beats
fast. How can a heart beat so fast?
Joseph and Mary run
back to Jerusalem. After three days, they find him at the temple, talking to
the elders as if he knows what he's doing.
He didn't know how
they had worried. He lost track of the time. He has work to do, his Father's
business. He is an unusual boy..
Boys will be boys.
Jesus will be Jesus.
You want to yell at
them, when they finally come home. You want to yell and cry, but you don't. You
hug them, if they’ll let you.
Mary is unusual, too.
She takes these things and keeps them. She keeps them in her heart.”[1]
Julie Craig reflects on this as well saying “I Understand
Mary and Joseph’s point of view here. I
know the frantic feeling of losing track of a child for a moment. I cannot imagine three sleepless nights and
three terror filled days of not knowing where my child was. (As a mother I have
to say I find Jesus’ response her to be not very Godlike, but that of a sulky
tween. Good heavens, child!)”[2]
I believe both these reflections can give us a more human
perspective of Mary. Poor Joseph is kind
of just there but not really in the picture even Jesus when referring to his
father is not speaking of Joseph here.
I think Luke may be trying to do a few things here and the
scholarly research seems to back me up.
First we hear language used at the end of the birth sequence for
Luke. Jesus goes from birth to
presentation at the temple for naming and then “The child grew and became
strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40)
That was Jesus as a baby and now we have Jesus as a boy and this passage ends
in a similar way as we heard “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in
favor with God and humankind alike.” (Luke2:52) Now we know that Jesus actually
had a childhood for there are no other canonical accounts between birth and
Jesus’ ministry except this one.
Does this story serve
any purpose besides showing that Jesus had a life somewhere between birth and
ministry? If so what is being shown to
us?
I see a young boy …though not so young for those days, he is
about to enter manhood officially. He is
also is fully aware of his role and basically admonishes his Mother for not
assuming where he would be. It would seem Mary forgot…Really? Do you think Mary could forget what was said
in prophesies concerning Jesus? I mean the angel, the cousin, Simeon, and Anna? And that is just in the Book of Luke. Do you
think Mary could forget the visitations form scholars from the east? Forget
that even lowly shepherds were stopping by to see the baby? Do you believe Mary simply shrugged off
Josephs dream and their flight into Egypt and back again?
If one adds all this up this makes Jesus’ admonishment seems
even more “Un-Godly like” UnGodly only if you forget the one phrase here. Mary kept all these things in her heart. This is not only said after this passage but
also right after the shepherds left.
Mary, for Luke, is a record keeper.
She doesn’t proclaim all these things but keeps them in her heart. After all she doesn’t want Jesus to get a big
head.
The parallel here is also drawn to the death of Jesus. This would not have gone unnoticed by those
who heard this story in the first century.
Jesus is missing for 3 days and Mary and Joseph are looking for
him. Just as they looked for Jesus in
the tomb but he was not there for he had risen.
Something else I find interesting here is Jesus is basically
holding his own in the ancient tradition of Jewish teaching. Jesus is seated with scholars and they are
posing questions to him and he is answering and posing questions to them. One scholar describes it this way;
Probably in one of the
many chambers which tradition says were built against the walls of the temple
and its enclosures, and opened upon the temple courts. The sacred secret which
they knew concerning the child should have sent them at once to the temple to
seek for him]; sitting [Jewish scholars sat upon the ground at the feet of
their teachers] in the midst [the teachers sat on semi-circular benches and
thus partially surrounded by their scholars] of the teachers [these teachers
had schools in which they taught for the fees of their pupils, and are not to
be confounded with the scribes, who were mere copyists], both hearing them, and
asking them questions [He was not teaching: the God of order does not expect
childhood to teach. He was among them as a modest scholar, and not as a forward
child. The rabbinical method of instruction was to state cases, or problems,
bearing upon the interpretation or application of the law, which cases or
problems were to be solved by the pupils. For typical problems see Matthew
22:15-46 ]:
47 and all that heard him were astonished at
his understanding and answers.
48 And when they [his parents] saw him, they
were astonished [Mary and Joseph stood as much in awe of these renowned
national teachers as peasants do of kings, and were therefore astonished that
their youthful son presumed to speak to them]; [3]
This may be Luke trying to give us a glimpse of the human
and God in one. Jesus being the Christ
could hold his own with the best of them and of course as a young man he is no
threat but a joy. Jesus being a young
man thought nothing of sitting down and engaging in conversation and assumed his
parents knew where he was without telling them anything, a typical teenager.
In this analysis of Luke we find Jesus a young man fully
living into his teenager-hood and yet being fully divine and, unfortunately,
for his parents at this time, this is not compatible. We also may take an impression that it is
truly not his time yet. For the passage
tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom over the years.
In ministry matters one of the many resources I use there is
a prayer that states
“Lord, you know our
confusion this day when the gospel reflects that moment in Jesus' life when he
is found in the Temple learning from and teaching the Elders. We haven't really
gotten over the mystique of Christmas, the birth and angels and shepherds, and
suddenly we are cast, just for this moment, into this scene. We aren't ready
for Jesus to be the 12year old boy. We want to keep him a baby. Like the
worried parents of Jesus, we are frightened by his disappearance. Why weren't
his parents more diligent? Why didn't they know where he would be? When Joseph
and Mary found Jesus, they were upset. They wanted to know how he could be so
thoughtless; but he responded with a rather cryptic message about being in His
Father's house. What did that mean? What does that mean to us? We come to this
building, for this time of worship, and we say we are in God's house. And for
this time we feel a sense of the spirit; of the presence of God. But then we go
back "into the world", and lose that feeling. God's house is our very
selves. God makes God's home in each of our lives. The gathering time we have
and call worship is a time to remind ourselves of God's abiding love and to
celebrate with each other God's infinite presence and challenge to be God's
community. Open our hearts this day, Lord, to understand your loving presence
and your challenge to us. Make us ready to serve you in this world. AMEN.”[4]
This kind of reminds mean…this passage in many ways is all
about this season. Maybe we did take the
time to pay attention to things around us.
Maybe we did slow down to see God in this world, in this messy, messy
world. Perhaps we did make room for the
Christ Child and the spirit of the season was allowed to invade our hearts and
infuse joy into every moment….But now that day is gone and many spend rest of
the year looking to get it back. Others
are off to focus on Mardis Gras and get ready for lent and then Easter Sunday. Then we are off for the summer until we start
prepping for Christmas again.
If we find ourselves moving from holiday to holiday, moving
form point A to Point B only to pause in that moment and move on again…we have
left the baby on the bus, or more appropriately, we have left the baby in the
manger.
You see the whole concept of the angels singing, the Christ
child arriving, the shepherds and the wise men being brought to their knees…The
whole thing of Joseph and Mary desperately looking for Jesus and Jesus just
casually reminding us he is about Gods business.
“But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,'
faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again.
"Mankind was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence,
were, all, my business. The deals of my trade were but a drop of water in the
comprehensive ocean of my business!” Dickens a Christmas carol.[5]
I couldn’t resist this for what Marley is saying; what Jesus
the young man is saying to me is we should be about our creators business. For Jesus at this time it was to learn and
grow in wisdom. For you it may be
something different. You see the
business of being human is to do it in an engaged way so that it is always Gods
business.
You see even for Joseph and Mary…
“The problem was that they were engrossed in their own
business. Now there was nothing intrinsically wrong with what they had been
doing. They had been obeying the law and going to worship God at the temple.
They were being very religious, but in their attempt to fulfill the
requirements of God’s law, they lost the one and only Christ. Why? Because what
they were involved with – the journey home – and this wasn’t Jesus’ priority.
They left Jesus behind because they were distracted by getting home.
How easy is it to be distracted from God’s priorities? We
fill our lives with all sorts of good things – just like Joseph and Mary did,
but we leave Jesus behind because even these good things, aren’t necessarily
Jesus’ priorities. The starting pistol fires and we are off doing our thing,
and we leave Jesus behind, doing God’s thing.” [6]
Now our thing and God’s thing may be the same thing or
better yet can be the same thing as long as we make a conscious decision to
welcome God into our daily lives not just Christmas or Easter. Not just an hour
on Sunday! This is about prayerfully
allowing God to be a part of your day.
As you go about the daily business of being you, take the time to stop,
and say ok God just checking in...Thank you.
Now I am going to suggest something that is very scary for
some people what if you took a half day or a whole weekend and made a spiritual
retreat. What would that do to your life to give God a half day to be alone and
meditate on how God is moving you, shaping you …is God preparing you for
something new, Something different? Is God
calling you to keep doing what you’re doing but maybe be a bit more diligent
about it? Is God drawing you into
something deeper maybe something more spiritual?
We live in a very rich area here and there are opportunities
for private retreats…there are opportunities to take the time and do your own
thing by the ocean or in the woods.
There are places to go for silence or for guidance. I can name 3 different retreat centers off
the top of my head that have planned programs throughout the year. They also allow one to make their own quiet
private retreats if they wish.
There are churches and organizations with hundreds of
planned events if one seeks them out.
Stillpoint of California has many day retreats from lectures, to story
writing to art projects all done prayerfully.
The catholic Missions, besides being historical, often have some of the
most beautiful grounds for just silent meditation as does the path around the
lake at Echo Park.
I think this is an opportunity to see the baby Jesus arrive,
see a panicked parent trying to keep their baby though he has become a young
man and our own panic of just trying to live, all incorporated into one
story. The story of Jesus from beginning
to end is about connecting ourselves to our humanity and connecting that to our
spirituality.
We often separate the two…here is our daily life…and Sunday
is for God…that is if I have the time and nothing better is on TV. But Jesus, God, came into this world a child
fully human and Fully God to teach us how to be fully human and fully connected
to God. We are being called to stop
panicking and running to seek for God and discover that “God with us” Immanuel.
Even Handel’s messiah gets it right
“For unto us a Child is born
Unto us a Son is given
And the government
Shall be upon His shoulder
And his name shall be called
Wonderful
Counselor
The Mighty God
The Everlasting Father
The Prince of Peace. -
This does not say was…this is a very much a in the present thing. We must stop seeking God and allow ourselves
to be in God and of God and about Gods business. Amen!
[1] The
Abingdon Creative Preaching Annual (Tennesee: Abingdon Press, 2014), 229.
[2] Ibid.,
228.
[3] Bible
Study tools, Jesus living at Nazareth visiting Jerusdalem at twelve, 2014,
accessed December 21, 2015, http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/the-fourfold-gospel/by-sections/jesus-living-at-nazareth-and-visiting-jerusalem-in-his-twelfth-year.html.
[4] Nancy
Townley, Pastoral Prayer, 2015, accessed December 21, 2015,
http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/3445/worship-connection-december-27-2015.
[5] Charles
Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings, Penguin
classics (London: Penguin, 2003), Digital eBook.
[6] David
Elvery, Leaving Jesus Behind, January 1, 2004, accessed December 21, 2015,
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/leaving-jesus-behind-david-elvery-sermon-on-jesus-life-85539.asp?Page=2.
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