The angels sang about Him, and He
is still the theme of the greatest music. Luke wrote about Him, and He is still
the subject of the greatest literature. The shepherds hastened to behold Him,
and He is still at the centre of the greatest art. Teachers listened to Him and
marvelled, and He is still the focal point of all truth and wisdom.
In His development as a child,
‘growing up’, Jesus was perfectly balanced: intellectually (wisdom), physically
(stature), spiritually (in favour with God), and socially (in favour with man),
and He is still the greatest example for childhood and youth today. He alone is
worthy of our worship! 'Oh, come!' We sing. 'Let us adore Him!.'
Today, in the gospel reading we catch a
glimpse of Jesus as a boy. Joseph and Mary used to go all the way to Jerusalem
every year to celebrate the Passover. When Jesus was 12 it was time for him to
go too, for at 12 a Jewish boy became a man. He then became ‘a son of the
law’ and had to take the obligations of the law upon himself. So at 12 Jesus
went up to the Passover festival for the first time.
The city would be crowded for the
festival. Families and friends travelled there together, the young folk met up
with friends and relatives and enjoyed being in each other’s company. After the
Passover the women usually set off earlier in the day for they would travel
more slowly than the men. Later on the men would set off and the two groups
would not meet up until the evening. Mary and Joseph supposed that Jesus was in
the other’s company. Joseph thought he was with Mary’s group and Mary thought
he was with Joseph and his group. They
supposed him to be with one of the groups when in fact they had left him
behind. (Jesus – home alone – news headlines). Every mile they travelled took
them further away. It was not until the evening when they had searched the camp
that they knew he was missing. As they had travelled a day, it took another day
to return to Jerusalem. By now Joseph and Mary were distressed and anxious for
the safety of Jesus. As any parent would be.
When they found him he was in the
Temple. At the Passover it was custom for the Sanhedrin to meet in the Temple
to discuss religious and theological matters. And there was Jesus among them.
Jesus was fascinated by them and their words.
He was learning from his teachers. Hum – or were they learning from
Him!? (where else would he be - than being with the person and doing the things that he loved doing/hearing/asking?)
You can feel the relief and
anxiety in Mary’s voice as she says, ‘Child, why have you treated us like
this?’ Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’
In his reply Jesus gently takes
the title of ‘father’ from Joseph and gives it to God. As a good Jewish son,
now that he has come of age, he must be about his Father’s business. Here is a
pointer to who Jesus really is. Being Son of the Father does not free him from
obedience to his earthly home. The references to growing in strength and in
wisdom and in divine and human favour is the Greek word charis meaning grace, which are good Jewish
qualities as reflected in 1 Samuel 2:21, 26.
We too, like Jesus, can appear to
get lost and there are many ways to get lost. There is a lovely story of an
absent-minded professor from Edinburgh. He used to travel regularly by train
and all the ticket collectors knew him. Once by the gate he was anxiously going
through his pockets and after a while the ticket collector asked if he could
help. ‘I have lost my ticket’, said the professor. ‘That’s all right sir, we
all know you. You can get on the train.’ ‘But’, said the professor, ‘I need my
ticket because I do not know where I am going.’ It is easy to get lost in this
world. Do you know where you are going?
It can be easy to get
side-tracked from time to time and loose our focus on God and our relationship
with Him. It is easy in the business of
everyday living to put other things first instead of readying the bible or
spending time in prayer, or even trying to find a solution to a problem without
asking Him first. We end up getting lost in….. whatever! Which can lead to
other problems.
Jesus in coming to earth as a baby and
growing up like you and I learnt the law, (rules and regulations of life),
obedience, to love, to work, to study scriptures. He has giving us the Rules
for Holy Living, so that we don’t get lost in our relationship with him or
others. In the Colossians reading we are
reminded that as chosen by God for this new life of love, we are dressed in the
wardrobe God picked out for us: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength,
discipline. We should be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to
forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave us.
And regardless of what else we put on, wear love. It’s our basic, all-purpose
garment. We should never be without it. And we should let the peace of Christ
keep us in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going
off and doing our own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of
Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. We should give it plenty of room
in our lives. We should be helping to instruct and direct one another using
good common sense. And sing, sing with our hearts out to God! Let every detail
in our lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus,
thanking God the Father every step of the way. (Colossians 3:12-17 from The
Message).
God wants us to wear the grace-clothes,
not the grave-clothes! If our focus is on things heavenly, we will obey God in
things on earth, just as Jesus did and especially in our relationship God and with
others.
As we stand at the edge of a new
year, and within this Christmastide, perhaps we, like Jesus did, in this coming
year, may lose track of ourselves from time to time, pray that we do so; so
that we can be attentive to what makes us hungry for God–and in turn, what we must
do about that hunger. Amen.
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