Musical Prelude and Service.
Luke 2:41-52
We are still in the Christmas season of course, but this morning we hear a story from about 12 years after that nativity story.
Jesus has been growing and learning and has clearly developed the ability to create anxiety for his parents. He has a love of questions and isn’t afraid to test the adults around him. And people are starting to recognize that there is something special about him.
God comes into the world as a human being. God comes and experiences all that it means to be human. To be alive I this world.
This is an odd story in some ways, but as I have reflected upon it this week while preparing for Christmas eve, and looking forward to a sort of quiet day with my family on Christmas, I will admit I have been struck by the somewhat ordinariness of this story. A child, growing into adulthood, who tests his parents, drives those parents to distraction, and is also seeking to find where he truly belongs. Where else would I be but in my father’s house?
I have heard some laughter in the past because Joseph and Mary apparently lose track of Jesus, but I think this in many ways says something about the environment Jesus was raised in.
Jesus is part of a close and interconnected community. Family, neighbours – they all worked together to raise the children. Mary and Joesph, in taking care of their own business, trust their extended family and their neighbours, all of whom made the trek to Jerusalem to mind and care for each other’s children. This is not a nuclear family like we tend to presume. Children are part of a tight and caring community.
And so, it takes a while for Mary and Joseph to start asking questions when young Jesus doesn’t make an appearance.
So while Jesus is clearly not completely like the rest of us, in many ways his upbringing, his background is remarkably normal.
And yet from that ordinary family, that caring little community in the hinterland, comes our salvation.
The seeds of our hope, the source of our love, is being nurtured in the lives of ordinary, hard working and loving people, just trying to get by in a challenging and often uncaring world.
I think it is also instructive that the priests and rabbis his parents find with Jesus, are taking his questions and his thoughts on scripture seriously. They are not just entertaining him. They are listening and responding. They are in active conversation with this young man. They aren’t humouring him. They recognize him and value him as a member of their community, worthy of their time and attention.
God comes to live with us. To experience all that is part of the human experience. The mundane, the remarkable. The joyful and the painful. And God does this as part of the community.
We are part of a community. We care for one another, listen to one another, protect one another, love one another.
Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789
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