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Gospel: Luke 2: 41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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If you read a transcript of all the conversations you had with your family over the course of a day, it might include a combination of questions and commands, such as:
“How was your day?” … “Stop hitting your brother!” … “Why should I clean my room?” … “Put your phone down.” … “Dinner’s ready!”
Communication is an essential part of family life.
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Yet there are only three recorded conversations in the Gospels between members of the Holy Family.
Joseph is a silent figure. He never speaks. Nor do Mary or Jesus ever speak to him.
Mary speaks to Jesus twice.
Jesus speaks to Mary a whopping three times!
Given the scarcity of their dialogue, when they do speak to each other, something important is being revealed about the nature of their family life. Today’s Gospel includes one of those conversations.
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It begins with their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, revealing they were a religiously observant family.
Joseph and Mary would’ve seen themselves as Christ’s first teachers; it was their responsibility to teach him what it meant to be Jewish, and from a human perspective, how to worship God.
And like us, they experienced conflict… even on their way home from “church.”
Heading back from Jerusalem, Mary realizes that she’s lost Jesus. Any parent can empathize with that fear of losing a child.
After searching frantically for three long days, Mary finally discovers Jesus sitting in the Temple, conversing with the religious leaders, leading to the first words she ever speaks to him in the Gospels:
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety!”
If I were in her position, I would’ve also added, “You’re grounded young man!”
Like a typical teenager, Jesus withholds an apology, issuing his own type of reverential rebuke: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This curt back-and-forth between Mary and Jesus offers several precious insights.
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For the first time in the Gospels, Jesus breaks away from Mary and Joseph, planting himself firmly in the Temple, where he claims that God – not Joseph – is his true Father.
Previously, the only mention of Christ’s divinity comes from the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation. Now Jesus makes this declaration on his own. He is, in fact, divine.
This effectively concludes the infancy narratives, starting a new chapter in his life: the teenage years, when Jesus grows “in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”
At age twelve, children were considered old enough and responsible enough to make the faith their own, which is why the Lord chose this moment to reveal his divinity and his deepest obligation – to be obedient to his heavenly Father.
Here Jesus also becomes a model for young people, who often receive the Sacrament of Confirmation around the same age.
After years of religious preparation by their parents and faith community, youngsters are expected to take ownership of their faith as they publicly declare their own desire to love and serve God.
How well might our young people relate to Jesus in the Temple? As they age, are they becoming more religiously mature? And in what ways might we as a parish continue to encourage them along their faith journeys?
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Notice Mary does not rebuke the Lord after he speaks with her. Rather, she keeps “all of these things in her heart.” Literally, she tries “stitching together” the meaning of his words.
Mary doesn’t know where Christ’s path will lead; she doesn’t have any foreknowledge of his public ministry, his healing power, his bloody cross, or his empty tomb.
But even as a young mother, she understands that the heart of parenting is not about making Jesus obey her; rather, she must encourage him to obey God, which will lead to both grief and glory.
It takes another twenty years before Mary sees where it all leads. But through it all, she’s patient, she trusts, and she surrenders.
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Like Mary, how supportive are we of our children, especially when they attempt to follow God’s plans, not our own?
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Communication is an essential part of family life. Often our conversations include questions and commands, like: “How was your day?” … And “stop hitting your brother!”
May it also include the words of Mary: “Do whatever he tells you.”
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Image credits: (1) Covenant Network (2) Heinrich Hoffman, Jesus in the Temple, BYU Museum of Art Store (3) We Are Saintly