During Christmas our attention is turned towards
what for many is our favourite version of Jesus.
Jesus the Baby…….
Through the trappings of lights, gifts, Christmas Markets,
and all the commercialization, we focus our attention on the sweet, 8 lb. 6 oz, golden-nappied, little bundle of baby God
as we settle into our Christmas routine of Church,
of course, singing routine known and loved carols.
If we have children, then there’s the routine of leaving
a glass of sherry and a carrot out for Father Christmas
and his reindeer
(unless very naughty during the year, in which case,
save your sherry & carrots for a better year).
Then there’s the routine time to open presents,
the routine of Turkey and sprouts for Christmas Dinner,
the routine at 3pm to watch the King’s Speech;
Christmas pud, mince pies, Christmas Cake,
Twiglets, peanuts, Quality Street, Roses Chocs……
Time with family and friends,
sparing a thought for those who might be alone…
The routine celebration of Christmas;
with the glitzy, comfortable, Bing Crosby “White Christmas”!
BUT - This is not the picture we are given today.
We’ve moved-on from the gooey sweet baby Jesus
to that not-so-sweet stage of teenage.
We don’t think of Jesus as a teenager,
breaking, sometimes squeaky voice
and difficult, answer-for-everything hormones.
There is a silence in Scripture about those hidden years;
Teenage is not an easy time, for the teenager,
nor for a teenager’s parents.
…. and if we believe Jesus to be the one proclaimed in the Creed
…was incarnate (by the Holy Spirit) of the Virgin Mary,
and became man….
……then this is Jesus, complete with acne, curiosity, rebellion.
The glimpse we get of him at 12 shows Him becoming a normal teenager.
Luke’s tells us that The Holy Family, including 12-year-old Jesus,
travelled in the company of others from Nazareth, routinely making their way to the city of Jerusalem for Passover,as they did every year.
Jesus was in his thirteenth year.
These days at that age
Jewish boys pass from boyhood to manhood
in a ceremony called "Bar Mitzvah" or "Son of the Law"
on reaching a similar age.
There was no such rite of passage in the time of Jesus,
but at about that age
the child Jesus would be seen to have become a man.
In Luke’s account, taken from Our Lady’s memories,
shared with Luke in Ephesus,
we see Jesus being quizzed and asking questions in the Temple.
This account of Jesus in the Temple serves as a bridge
between the infancy and Jesus’ upcoming ministry,
which will start with his baptism at the River Jordan.
That Jesus stayed behind to engage with the Temple teachers
at the age of 12 demonstrates that he has reached an ability
and an understanding not measured by years.
The Teachers were amazed. He exhibited an understanding equal and beyond these teachers.
As a child, Jesus would have travelled up with the women
on the pilgrim road to the Holy City.
He returned an adult in the faith,
and would join the men, having shown he was more-than ready
to take on manly responsibility in matters of faith & practice.
Mary and Joseph travelled to Jerusalem
in the company of many relatives and friends from Nazareth.
This could explain why neither Mary nor Joseph
noticed his disappearance. He knew them all,
and was safe enough to travel with any of them.
When it became clear he wasn’t with any of them at all,
his terrified parents returned to the crowded city –
“Have you seen my son?
He’s a Jewish boy.
He’s 12.” (so he’s going to stand out then?)
Finally they found him in the temple,
sitting amongst the teachers of the law,
asking questions of them, mature, learned questions, and answering their questions with depth and understanding.
Does he apologize for giving his parents the biggest scare
they’ve had since that night they fled to Egypt?
NO, HE GIVES A TYPICAL TEENAGE RESPONSE:
“Didn’t you know I would be in my father’s house?”
Teenage Jesus, Teenage reply!
“…..For he is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us he grew,
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew…………..”
“Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as he!
Today’s account is far from mild obedience!
This particular Feast of the Holy Family finds us challenged
by the rebellious Teenager-Christ.
Not for us today the gooey-Christmas of a cuddly baby;
THIS incarnation asks us to follow
the realistic, no-nonsense, radical, rebellious Christ,
willing to question everything, and stand up for the Truth.
Teenage Jesus is God-incarnate in the raw!
That God was prepared to be a Teenager shows us the God
who really wants to be one with us and one of us;
who wants us to be awkward, challenging, rebellious.
Lord, Let us have the same vision as that of the teenage Jesus;
Give us the courage to question a world that has grown comfortable with the status quo,
Let us have, with Him, the audacity to challenge a society
which tolerates behaviour and standards
contrary to those of the Kingdom.
Let us be people, Lord,
with Godly young vibrancy, passion and energy,
not tired old things who allow things to drift back
to the way they were.….
and may we too increase in wisdom and Christian maturity,
in divine and human favour.
God of all learning,
When the boy, Jesus, stayed in the temple to learn from the elders,
it was the elders who in turn learned from him.
Teach us, Lord, as you have taught others,
and grant us wisdom and willingness to learn. Amen
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