Luke 2: 41-52 – The Holy Family, Year C (Audio Bible, Spoken Word)
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
The infancy narratives of Jesus are more than mere history. Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ infancy constitute a theological and Christological prologue to his Gospel. Many great truths of the Gospels are here prefigured. We may think of the Jesus’ infancy narratives given to us in Luke as a beautiful gateway, through which we enter to encounter the Gospels as a whole. This would certainly be appropriate to the spirit of our celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice that God has answered our calls to be with us, as we celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation.
Once more in these Bible verses, we find Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ family, observing the Old Law, travelling to the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. The New Testament is strongly rooted in the Old, and comes as a fulfilment of the Law, as of the whole of history. We inevitably think of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ later journey to Jerusalem for the Passover, which would become his Passion. So much of Luke’s Gospel is structured around Jesus’ final ascent to Jerusalem. It is wonderful to think of the annual Passover pilgrimage being a part of Jesus’ hidden years.
It may seem strange to us that Mary and Joseph should travel a day on their return from their Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem and not realize that they do not have Jesus with them. We need to realize that in Jesus’ time, men and women would be accustomed to travelling in separate groups, while children would be free to travel either with the men or the women. Both Mary and Joseph must have assumed that Jesus was safely with each other.
It must have been a great bombshell, a very distressing experience, for Mary and Joseph to realize that Jesus was not in fact with them. They return to Jerusalem, and it is striking that theirs is a three day search for Jesus, before they find Jesus in what we are able to recognize as being his rightful place, which is the Temple, the house of God.
So many times in the Gospels, we read of those who listened to Jesus being astonished at his words, because he taught with authority, and not as the scribes; Jesus was entitled to interpret Scripture anew and also to offer fresh teaching, because he was the Son of God. Jesus was not bound to adhere to the letter of the Old Law, as it had been handed down and as it had become convoluted over the centuries, such that highly and overly elaborated understandings of the Law had in some ways ceased to help people, failing in some respects to show to the people the way of God. Jesus comes with a complete and absolute knowledge of the intentions underlying the Law, and so Jesus is able to teach us anew, to restate the Law in such ways as truly bring us to the light, to the will of God, then we may sin no more.
Mary is baffled by what is happening. When she asks how Jesus could have done this to her and to Joseph, she is met with what is to her, as we are told, an incomprehensible answer. It might seem to us impertinent, and hardly kind: ‘How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?’
We sense here something of the divisions about which Simeon prophesied, of the rival claims between friends and family and fidelity to God’s intentions. It may seem to us extraordinary that it should be Mary to experience this sign of contradiction first. We may think ahead to when, during Jesus’ adult ministry, Mary and others of Jesus’ family think that Jesus has gone mad and come seeking to have him put away – what we would now term sectioned. There is much to be endured by Mary. We know that Mary does encounter the difficulties she faces with purity of heart and with a mother’s love. She is the perfect example to us. Mary is a great beacon as we contemplate our struggles in our most intimate sphere, including our family, and as we hope in Jesus and seek to follow his way.
God, our Father,
in the Holy Family of Nazareth
you have given to us the true model of a Christian home.
Grant that by following Jesus, Mary and Joseph
in their love for each other and in the example of their family life
we may come to your home of peace and joy.
We make our prayer through our Lord.