The First Sunday after Christmas Day: Holy Family
December 31, 2006
12:45PM Meditation
Luke 2:41-52
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Those of us who are parents can imagine what a heart-wrenching experience it must have been for Mary and Joseph to search for their son for three days. Anyone who has lost track of his child for even a minute knows how terrifying it is to imagine one’s very offspring has been kidnapped, or worse. In our Gospel this afternoon we learn of the time this happened to Mary and Joseph. They were understandably upset, having not seen Jesus for three days. But when they find Jesus there is no tearful reunion. Rather, Jesus tells them that they should have known where he was, saying, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49).
We can learn many things from this incident, the only record we have of Jesus’ early life, except the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. However, I want today to concentrate on two lessons, the first of which concerns the importance of putting our relationship with God before all other relationships in our lives.
I will start by noting that Luke’s intention in telling us this story is not to make Joseph and Mary look stupid or lacking in faith. Rather, Luke shows that they simply do what comes naturally. When Jesus is missing they first look for him among their friends and relatives, an assumption we would likely make, also. We are far more likely to call grandparents, uncles, aunts and godparents before we call the parish priest, if we find ourselves looking for a missing twelve year old. But calling on the local priest is exactly what Mary and Joseph should have done from the beginning, for it was in the Temple, in Jesus’ Father’s house, that the Son of Mary was to be found. Jesus wasn’t hanging out with his cousins – he had more important matters to attend to.
We often deceive ourselves by imagining that our children’s most important relationship in life will first be with us, the parents, and then when they get married with their own families, with us coming in a close second. But Jesus at age twelve shows us that we must first be close to our Father in heaven, if we are to nurture the relationship we have with our earthly father and mother. If we don’t encourage our children to have a meaningful relationship with God, then the ties that bind us to our relatives will eventually become strained and weakened. Jesus served his Father first, in order that he would be able to serve Joseph and Mary the way he was called to serve them. Joseph and Mary should have understood this, and because we know the end of the story we know that ultimately they knew where Jesus’ priorities had to be. But for a fleeting moment they were tempted to have Jesus put them first. As Joseph and Mary resisted this temptation, so must we. We must never demand that our children put us before God.
The second lesson we can draw from this Gospel derives from how kindly Jesus treated his earthly father and mother. Even though he was right he did not give them a sermon. He did not mock them or disrespect them in any way. Rather, Luke tells us that he grew in favor with both God and man. That is, Mary and Joseph’s momentary immaturity was an opportunity for Jesus to show them forbearance, not the chance to make sure they knew their son’s spiritual superiority. Indeed, had Jesus taken the route of condescension he would have failed in his calling to bring life to the world, for he would then have assumed the role of master, not servant. Jesus served Mary and Joseph by being gentle with them, by being patient with them, by loving them as a son is called to love his parents. As he was faithful in all other the other commandments, Jesus showed himself faithful to the requirement that we honor our father and mother.
It is often said that blood is thicker than mud, and for the most part this is true. There are, of course, exceptions, but no matter how strained or weakened our ties to our blood relatives become, rarely are those ties ever broken completely. Whereas a minor offense frequently shatters a friendship, a major offense by a son, daughter, mother or father is commonly overlooked in the interest of maintaining the bond between family members. This closeness, this tightness between members of a family, is a great gift to us, because it gives us a surefire group of people to whom we can witness for our entire lives. That is, the Lord has given us in our families a group of people to whom we have a particular and special responsibility. Even as we love God first, the first earthly love we have must be the members of our family. How we love them, and how they see us love others, could well be the manner by which they come to know the love of God, and we cannot squander this opportunity by showing our parents or our children up every time they’re in the wrong. Jesus did not act in this way, and Mary was found at the foot of the cross. If we show our own loved ones the same manner of charity we may soon find them there, too.
We celebrate the Holy Family today to honor the love that was shared between Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, a love whose focus was the Father, even as it recognized the Father as its source. If our families are to be holy, our focus must be the same, and with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, we must recognize that the only reason we are able to love rightly is that God has loved us first. All of us have family members who don’t know how to love, who don’t know the fullness of what love means, because they have not acknowledged God as the source of life and love. If we consistently put our love for God before the affections they demand of us, and do so charitably, patiently, and kindly, we will show these loved ones the love Jesus showed Mary and Joseph, and ours may be numbered among the holy families in heaven.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.