Gospel for Sunday, December 29: Luke 2:41-52
Holy Family
“41His parents went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover feast. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up there according to the custom of the feast. 43But when the days had passed, as they resumed their way back, the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, without his parents noticing. 44Believing that he was in the party, they made a day’s journey and then set out to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances; 45not having found him, they returned in search of him to Jerusalem. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and questioning them. 47And all who heard him were filled with amazement at his intelligence and his answers. 48At seeing him they were amazed, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I, distressed, were looking for you.” 49And he answered them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must attend to the things of my Father?” 50But they did not understand what he had told them. 51He therefore went down with them and came to Nazareth and was in subjection to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.”
Lk 2:41-52
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
JESUS IN THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
1. Of Jesus’ life in the family, we are first struck by the absolute primacy of God over all other values and affections. Even as a boy, at the age of twelve, when he “ran away from home,” or rather, left his parents to stay in the Temple in Jerusalem to argue with the doctors. He could have at least warned his parents: we certainly do not think that Our Lady and St. Joseph would have objected to their Son … wanting to stay “in the Church.” But Jesus did not warn them, certainly not playing the part of the model son. The fact caused Mary and Joseph great apprehension, to the point that Mary rebuked him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I, distressed, were looking for you” (Lk. 2:48).
Jesus responds by announcing the absolute primacy of the things of the Father over everything, including family ties: “Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must attend to the things of my Father?”(Luke 2:49). Of course the parents were astonished: “But they did not understand his words” (Lk 2:59). “Here we already catch a glimpse of the Master making the choices of his mission without allowing himself to be influenced by the interference of family members. His autonomy is not the result of an attitude of self-sufficiency or contempt for a human condition that evolves and grows in family and emotional relationships, but is the expression of his unique relationship with God…. It is an expression of the new and shocking reality that the Christian faith has made intuitive in the ordinary and daily texture of a human existence: the unique Son of God” (R. Fabris).
Jesus does not only want to emphasize the uniqueness of his relationship with the Father: Jesus as a boy begins with paradoxical gestures and words to emphasize that the love of God and for God must for all
supersede all other relationships. Every son must have no other reference than the unique Fatherhood of God (Mt 23:9).
2. The episode (2:41-51) is prophecy of the second journey Jesus will make to Jerusalem, the one for his Passion and Resurrection (19:28): both times Jesus lingers in the temple (2:46->19:47; 21:37; 22:53), during Passover (2:41->22:1; 23:54); both times there is sorrow for him (Joseph and Mary in anguish because they have lost him: 2:43. 45.48; disciples “sad” (24.17) over his death); Joseph and Mary search for him (2.22), disciples also search for him (24.5); parents find him “after three days” (2.46) in his “Father’s house” (2.49), “on the third day” (24.7.46) Jesus rises again (24.6.46) and ascends to heaven (24.51).
3. Mary is an example of a mother who is not apprehensive: she looks for her son only after a day of his absence, “believing him to be in the caravan” (Lk 2:44): how many of us would not have moved earlier, perhaps even going to have a look, to see if our son needed anything? When she finds him again, she has no problem rebuking him, gently but firmly: this is something that biblical commentators generally leave out, embarrassed. But Mary is very adamant in reminding Jesus that his “flight” was an offense against family harmony: “Son, why have you done this to us?” (Lk. 2:48): note that “us,” which emphasizes that Jesus’ act had had precise implications on the family, becoming a source of “distress” for the parents… Then Mary shows herself to be a delicate wife, putting Joseph’s anxiety before her own in rebuking Jesus: “Behold, your father and I, distressed, were looking for you” (Lk 2:48).
4. Mary is a non-possessive mother, ready to accept the mystery of her son’s vocation even without understanding it: “When they saw him they were amazed…. They did not understand his words” (Lk 2:48, 50). Throughout Jesus’ public life, Mary will remain “on the outside in the background” (Mt 12:46), so as not to interfere with her son’s mission.
5. Mary is the model of the believer: she experiences God’s silence, seeks God anxiously (Lk 2:48), does not understand his plan (Lk 2:50), questions him forcefully (Lk 2:48); she is the believer treated by God with “harshness” (Lk 2:41-51; 8:21; 11:27-28); she is the believer called to understand that God is “other,” and that it is only up to him to obey in faith.
6. Mary is a model of listening: servant of the Word (Lk 1:38), “she kept (sunetèrei) all these things by pondering them in her heart…Her mother kept (dietèrei) all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:19, 51). Mary is an example of listening ruminated (meditatio), contemplated (contemplatio), prayed (oratio), announced, obeyed and put into practice (Lk 8:19-21; 11:27-28). It is fundamental for Israel to “keep” and “guard” the Word of God: these two verbs are, in the Bible, specifications of the dimension of listening.
7. Mary is a woman of total obedience: “Let it be done to me as you have said” (Lk 1:38); “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5): she is thus type of the true disciple. Her greatness lies precisely not so much in her physical motherhood as in her full following of God: “Blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of the words of the Lord” (Lk 1:45; cf. 11:27-28; Mt 12:47-49).
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.