Sermons from St Faith's
The Holy Family
Revd Denise: December 30th, 2012
Isn’t it strange how quickly we move on: only a week ago we were
anticipating the great joy of our Saviour’s birth, singing
carols and welcoming The Word made flesh, Christ’s light and
love into our lives. Already the mood has moved on from those
familiar sights and sounds to the coming year ahead.
Today our Old Testament and the Gospel readings relate striking
encounters between mothers and sons in the context of religious
life in Israel and I think today’s gospel reading will resonate
with many mothers. It’s likely that most will be able to recall
situations when a son or daughter has been out much later than
they were expected to be, perhaps gone travelling abroad for the
first time or he/she had not made the promised
telephone call having reached a particular destination. The fear
and panic that sets in is indescribable, with a sickening sense
of desperation; fortunately for most these fears are transformed
to overwhelming relief when all is found to be well. However let
us never stop praying for the families of children who have gone
missing and never been found.
Like parents everywhere Mary and Joseph knew the strains
and stresses of family life and had already had their share of
difficulties. Few young couples would have experienced the
degree of hardship which confronted Mary and Joseph when they
searched for shelter prior to Jesus’ birth, let alone their
frantic flight into Egypt to save their child from the wrath of
King Herod and his army. They knew what it was like to be
refugees in a strange country without any money and then on the
way home from their Passover visit to Jerusalem Jesus, aged only
12 went missing.
Perhaps the first strange thing about this story is that Mary
and Joseph were happy to set off with their large group without
checking that their son was with them. This tells us a lot about
the kind of world that they lived in where people lived together
in close-knit mutual trust. Of course had this all happened
today the story would have had a very different impact because
now most 12 year olds carry a mobile phone and Mary could easily
have made contact with Jesus. But then the only option open to
Mary and Joseph was to return to Jerusalem by themselves to
search for Jesus. Without the rest of their party the city was
potentially dangerous with lots of dark allies and strange
people, not the place for them to go searching and certainly not
the sort of place you would be happy to leave your young son for
a few days.
It is hardly surprising that Mary objected to Jesus’ behaviour
although at 12 he would be ready to take his place as a man in
the Jewish religious community. Apart from today’s reading we
don’t have any information about Jesus’ childhood in the
canonical Gospels but Luke’s Gospel is clearly saying that
Jesus’ greatness could already be recognised in his adolescence.
We can appreciate that Jesus is quietly asserting an
independence and vocation. Jesus is in fact ‘Vocation’ himself,
he is called to do his Father’s will. Let us remember that we
all have vocations; we must be receptive to them and follow
them, each of us in the way God planned for us.
So although most of those early years of Jesus’ life were hidden
from us we learn about his upbringing simply by looking at the
cultural patterns and habits of home and family life at that
time. The family was the school of Jesus’ early life as it is
for us and our families. And fundamental to the Jewish way of
life was daily worship in the home. Jesus would have been used
to reciting passages from the scriptures and the Ten
Commandments morning and night. At 12 a Jewish boy attained bar
mitzvah which meant becoming a son of the Law. His life in
Nazareth would have been steeped in Holy Scripture, prayer and
observing the Sabbath. It was, and still is in orthodox Jewish
homes, a life which revolved round God and his law, a life of
obedience, prayer and worship. If only our lives mirrored that
example today!
However when Jesus was 12, the annual family pilgrimage to
Jerusalem for the Passover did not turn out according to plan
and Jesus just like many other young adolescents he acted
without the permission of his parents. After all he came among
us in human form and so can’t be exempt from the more complex
aspects of his development. That would be less than true
incarnation. Writer, John Pridmore once wrote, ‘Faith in
incarnation means that we believe that there was once a gawky
lad, experiencing all the startling and confusing changes that
adolescence visits on us, yet lives in abiding union with God.’
Yes Jesus did act thoughtlessly with regard for his parents but
he showed on this occasion a passion, a conscientiousness of a
special relationship with his heavenly ‘Father’.
Finding Jesus engaged in dialogue with the teachers of Israel
may have been astonishing but it didn’t lessen the anxiety that
his parents felt and Mary had every reason to feel upset. It
seems rather irresponsible that the academics themselves didn’t
question the whereabouts of Jesus’ parents, presumably they fed
him and provided him with sleeping accommodation. I wonder if
they were the same people who later went on to indirectly
sentence Jesus to death by sending him to Pilate?
It is in the Temple that Jesus is driven by an overwhelming
sense of God’s presence and a deep desire to think, speak and
act within that very special relationship and he can’t tear
himself away. Even his parents can’t make sense of his words
because they cannot relate to such a strong sense of attachment
and relationship. Jesus realises that he has another Father, a
Father who is not looking for him, but a Father who has found
him and made him at home in the Temple. ‘Did you not know that I
must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ Says Jesus to his
parents.
The incident offered just a glimpse of what was to develop and
Mary kept all these things in her heart. At 12 Jesus was no
longer a child but not yet fully adult. He was at the stage of
losing and finding, of leaving and entering, of letting go and
making a commitment. Being the child to human parents must now
give way to the greater authority of the heavenly Father and
later Jesus was to echo that theme throughout his teaching; you
must let go of life in order to find it, bread must be broken
before it can be shared and Jesus had to die in the flesh before
he was raised from the dead.
Having glimpsed the future, Jesus went back to Nazareth to live
in obedience with Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph would
probably no longer take him for granted as their child. Perhaps
after today’s service you may want to reflect on a time when you
thought that you had lost someone very precious. We live in a
society of lost and damaged souls, this past year has been
nothing short of tragic for some and disappointing for others;
the news has been filled with stories of victims of abuse, break
up of family life, the women bishop’s debate, gay marriages,
murder or abduction.
So how do we respond? Do we just take Jesus for
granted? After all if Mary and Joseph did there is every reason
to suppose we can too.
Like Mary and Joseph we mustn’t assume he is always accompanying
us as we go about our own business and lives. But if we feel a
sense of God’s lack of presence then we too must go back to
search, search hard for him in prayer, in the scriptures and in
the sacraments. We mustn’t give up until we find him again.
We must also be aware though that when we do meet up again he
will not necessarily direct us in the way we hope or expect. God
does have his purpose for each of us his children and as Jesus
was busy with his Father’s affairs the same should be true for
us too!
Amen.
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