I Samuel 2:18021,26
Luke 2:41-52
He was a perfect child! Can you imagine? Have you ever seen one? I don’t think I have. Even the newest of infants begin, ever so slowly, to show autonomy, that trait that leads us to do the selfish things we do. I have three grandchildren now and can look at their behaviors differently than I did as a new mother, and I can assure you that there are NO perfect children. But HE was a perfect child! Is it possible? This past week I heard a report on the BBC about a new archaeological find in Nazareth. The claim is that a home typical of the homes of the era in which Jesus lived was found; the archaeologists even claim that it IS the place where Jesus grew up.
This made me reflect on the places I lived as a child. They were pretty ordinary for the 1950s and 60s – post WW II housing built in new neighborhoods for GIs and their young families. Here we grew up with our siblings and shared days of play with kids in the surrounding neighborhood. One house and the people in it were not too different from the others. I imagine Jesus living in similar circumstances. He had siblings. Surely they fought. Surely he felt the need to retaliate if a friend wronged him. Of course, this brought me to the age-old question: when did Jesus realize who he really was? There are legends not included in our scriptures that tell amazing stories of his life as a child, but they’re not included in the canon that we accept.
He grew up in a household of devoted and devout parents. There existed a requirement that all men who lived within twenty miles of the temple in Jerusalem were required to go there for special feasts, and especially for the Passover festival. Although this was not required of women, Mary went up to the temple with Joseph and their son faithfully every year. They most likely attended the temple regularly – it was expected. As some of us grew up, the expectation of church attendance was no different. It was something you just did.
From the beginning of the Christmas story, we hear of obedience by both Mary and Joseph. They both accepted announcements given by the angel. Obedience was a natural extension of their lives. We’re told that Mary treasured many special moments in her life with Jesus. The shepherds came to visit at his birth with an amazing story. When the infant Jesus was presented at the temple eight days after his birth, a man named Simeon and a woman named Ana approached the young family and said things that Mary “pondered in her heart”. In the next year, kings who had traveled far from the east visited them in their home and brought gifts. They too had an amazing story.
Now young men weren’t considered to be men until they were thirteen years old. After their Bar Mitzvah, they were considered to be men with all the attending responsibilities. In today’s Gospel, we’re told that Jesus was twelve when he became separated from his parents. He wasn’t of age yet – still considered a child. They traveled to the Passover feast in a group – probably for protection on the journey. Men probably walked with men, women with other women, and children with others that they could play with along the way. When Jesus was noticed missing, it was a day after their journey home had begun. Today we would have called out Interpol and the FBI along with any other officials to help search for a missing child. Here, Mary and Joseph return to Jerusalem on their own.
When they find him, they’re understandably perturbed, and Mary asks him why he has treated them so badly. She doesn’t have the hindsight we have now. Perhaps in pondering her treasured thoughts over the years, she expected Jesus to be a king like David or Solomon. But Jesus’ answer makes her further ponder any questions she may have had. He said to them both, “Why are you alarmed? Didn’t you know that I had to be about my father’s business?” He didn’t say this with any regret or sorrow. His heart was beginning to understand what he was to become. And then he returned home with them obediently. His behavior here was not one of rebellion. He obeyed both his Father in heaven and his parents on earth. We don’t hear anything about him again in any of the Gospels until his baptism by John. We’re simply told that he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and people. Yes, he grew physically, he grew mentally and emotionally, and, yes, he grew spiritually.
In scripture we’re told that Jesus was without sin. He had to be to accomplish what he did in taking our iniquities with him to the cross. He had to do this fully as a human and as God. He came as a child to experience all the things we experience, except for sin. It took more than half of his life for him to realize what his purpose would be. He learned this through obedience. I leave you with these questions: do you listen and follow God in obedience? Where does God want you to be right now? What is your treasure?
Marsha Wenhold is a Commissioned Lay Pastor (CLP) in the Presbytery of Genesee Valley. She served an internship at the Byron Church in 2008, and we are happy to have her return as our guest on the Sunday following Christmas. Marsha is an educator during the week, and she lives in Lyndonville with her family.
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