When Mary and Joseph locate him, Mary explodes in anxious relief: “Why have you done this to us? \u00a0Don’t you know that your father and I have been going crazy searching for you?”<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 Mary’s question communicates the intensity of her experience. \u00a0Jesus’ response carries the tone of adolescent exasperation: “Why were you searching for me? \u00a0Didn’t you now that I must be about my Father’s things?” \u00a0<\/em>They do not understand what he is saying. \u00a0Of course not.<\/p>\n Jesus is growing. \u00a0In their very experience. \u00a0Before their eyes, and ours. \u00a0His behavior challenges their assumptions, not just about age-appropriate issues, but about him. <\/em>Mary and Joseph have been raising Jesus as their son; he reminds them (in word and in deed) that he belongs ultimately to God. \u00a0This is the struggle of every parent, isn’t it?<\/p>\n What does it mean when our children venture beyond the direction we have given them? \u00a0What is our response when our children go places (physically and spiritually) that we have not dared go? \u00a0 What about when they translate the living word at an even deeper level than our most earnest efforts?<\/p>\n The NRSV translation has Jesus asking, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” \u00a0But the text has something more along the lines of, \u00a0“Don’t you perceive that I must be connected to the things of my Father? (“about my Father’s business” in some translations).” \u00a0 Jesus is not referring to a physical space but rather a way of being. \u00a0And in this case, the way of being includes a way of listening and asking questions. \u00a0It is a way of growing. \u00a0Mary and Joseph, like many of us, are not entirely prepared for all \u00a0dimensions of our son’s or daughter’s growth, and the ways that their deeper explorations will challenge our plans and force us to to accompany them to places we would rather not go. \u00a0We are stretched by the ways that God nurtures growth among us. In particular, we teach our children customs and practices that are important, hopefully with an integrity that gives testimony to their value. \u00a0But the authentic faith journeys of our young people and the ways they embody a Living Word \u00a0will necessarily break out of the molds we have received and recast ourselves. \u00a0The Christian Church is experiencing this dynamic on a blessedly massive scale right now.<\/p>\n Confirmands are among my favorite theologians. \u00a0One year, in the wake of Christmas, the Confirmation Class and I examined this story of twelve year old Jesus among the teachers. \u00a0We heard Mary’s anguished words, followed by Jesus’ flippant-sounding response. “So Jesus sinned?,” one of the sensitive young people surmised. \u00a0I wanted to hear more. \u00a0“Well, he wasn’t obedient to his parents. \u00a0Didn’t he break the commandment of honoring your father and mother?” \u00a0Now those are discerning questions, deeply relevant for young and growing people (and their parents!). \u00a0I could have answered, “Our doctrine say that Jesus is without sin,” which may be true but isn’t a terribly helpful answer for an inquiring confirmand. \u00a0I’m not sure it’s that much more helpful for a fifty-year-old considering the same “things.”<\/p>\n I listened carefully, and what I thought I heard was an identification with Jesus, an affirmation that here is a Jesus who is really “like us,” in communion with growing people. \u00a0To be able to assert that “Jesus understands me” is an incredibly hopeful development no matter what your age! \u00a0 We went back and attended to the story again. \u00a0We read that Jesus’ family went to the festival as “was customary.'” \u00a0But when the other pilgrims left, Jesus did not. \u00a0The experience wasn’t over for him. \u00a0Though Sunday School and worship have been completed, \u00a0Jesus is hungry to learn more and explore his relationship with “My Father” more deeply. \u00a0When his parents arrive and his mother berates him, Jesus asks, essentially: “Why did it take you three days to find me? \u00a0Don’t you know me well enough to know where I’d be?” \u00a0As a one-time teen and a parent, the story has me smiling. \u00a0When I ask young people, “How many of you have had the experience of growing and developing in a particular way, and your parents seem clueless?,” all the hands go up.<\/p>\n So the next week I suggested: \u00a0“What if we understand “sin” as being outside the will of God? \u00a0Do you think Jesus was outside the will of God?” \u00a0This led to the class into further exploration. \u00a0Is breaking out of routine and custom necessarily sinful, or might it sometimes be a powerful manifestation God’s will? \u00a0Doesn’t God’s new order constantly disrupt the present order? \u00a0Is it possible that Jesus, even in his youth, is already moving \u00a0into an intentional faith life that runs deeper than the one his parents practice? \u00a0If Jesus is already “lost in the love of God,” \u00a0might that be good for Mary and Joseph, too? \u00a0Good stuff. \u00a0The truth of the gospel is that when any one of us is set free in the gracious love of God, it has implications for all of our lives! \u00a0“Keep identifying with Jesus,” I told the young people.<\/p>\n In the same spirit, the Apostle Paul wrote these pastoral words to a growing church: \u00a0“Do not be conformed to his world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and whole (Romans 12:2).” \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>The pastor and prophet Martin Luther King, Jr., preached classic sermons on the same text. \u00a0Dr. King used to say that God inspires us to “creative maladjustment:” \u00a0 “Everywhere and at all times, the love ethic of Jesus is a radiant light revealing the ugliness of stale conformity. \u00a0A Christian is called upon not to be a thermometer conforming to the temperature of a society, but they must be like a thermostat serving to transform the temperature of their society.” \u00a0<\/em>(Or, I might add, their faith community)<\/p>\n So young Jesus may not have been rigidly obedient to his parents but may yet have been “within the will of God,” even embodying it. \u00a0His parents were not wrong to give expression to their anxiety-ridden love but they also needed to accompany their child on these growth passages, together, in a way where everyone is touched, and changed.<\/p>\n In quoting Dr.King’s powerful words above I do not mean to suggest that Mary and Joseph \u00a0have been stuck in a stale conformity; the gospel narratives indicate a far different reality. Both have already made terrifyingly inspired choices in response to God’s startling grace. \u00a0Mary’s “Here I am” statement came when she was barely older than her son is in this story! But they have been living these lives in a world where the forces of coercion never rest. \u00a0I’m sure that returning to scandalized Nazareth after Jesus’ birth exacted a steep cost.<\/p>\n So how about this? \u00a0Let’s assume that Mary not only carries within her the awe of her calling but that she also remembers the blessing she received from Simeon in this very same Temple a dozen years before: “This child is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed, so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed–and a sword shall be passing through your soul, too.” \u00a0<\/em>Who can blame Mary for not wanting such fulfillment to come too quickly? \u00a0Even though Simeon’s words are affirmation of Mary’s own song and testimony to God’s new order being realized, the personal consequences, lived out daily, threaten to overwhelm. A parent knows!<\/p>\n When Mary and Joseph had originally brought \u00a0Jesus \u00a0to the Temple (Luke 2:21-40), also doing what was “customary” at the time, the humble man had appeared and taken the infant in his arms. \u00a0It is a remarkable image of entrusting. \u00a0So wonderfully gifted, Simeon’s voice is liberated to join Mary’s in praise. “My eyes have seen your salvation,” he declares, his own tenderness enfolding God’s mercy. \u00a0His initial words impact me deeply: \u00a0“Master, now you release \u00a0(apolueis) <\/em>your servant in peace according your word.” \u00a0Apoluo <\/em>is one of the two most common verbs in the New Testament meaning “to forgive.” \u00a0It communicates release, loosing, unbinding. \u00a0The spirited Simeon, whose devout life has been lived looking toward the “consolation of Israel,” experiences God’s salvation personally, in the flesh, and is set free to declare that this salvation not only claims Israel but stretches far wider and penetrates much more deeply than he or anyone else has prepared for. \u00a0While traditional interpretation has held that he is now dismissed, prepared for death with a life complete, allow me to suggest that what he is prepared for, gifted for, is new life nourished by God’s radical peace. \u00a0The divine purpose (“plan”) of Simeon’s life is dynamic and will continue to interrupt the dominant narrative, as will Mary’s, Joseph’s, yours and mine.<\/p>\n While it is true that the conclusion of specific chapters of our lives (like having our child grow up) can feel like dying, let us consider that these are particular gifts of “release,” “loosing,” experienced in manifold ways through the richness of relationship, with God and with each other. \u00a0Beyond her anxiety, Mary treasures (“carefully keeps”) \u00a0these divine whispers and breaths in her heart. \u00a0The two scenes from the Temple are \u00a0joined together \u00a0in life, an ever-revealed living word, \u00a0that cannot be contained by any sanctuary. \u00a0 A mother from our congregation smiled and suggested that “treasures” of this nature are like “snapshots” in parent\/child history that are held close and cherished as the years advance. \u00a0They are not framed individually, but essential “expressions” in an unfolding story of fulfillment.<\/p>\n Luke concludes: ” And Jesus \u00a0increased in wisdom and years, and in divine and human favor” (v.52). \u00a0I might translate “favor” ( charis) as “grace.” \u00a0Even as he grows in knowledge and in his stature, Jesus is growing in grace! \u00a0Grace saturates his relationship with God and with all people. \u00a0A story like this one is key to that growing. May it be so for us!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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