December 25, 2009
Sunday Scripture
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, Joseph
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
Luke continues a theme surrounding the activity of Mary and Joseph throughout his Infancy Gospel — the first two chapters of Luke — the fidelity of the Holy Family to the Torah, the teaching of God through Moses. According to Exodus 23:14-17. “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.” The authors then describe the three feasts. They are Passover; Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Booths, Tents). The authors close with this statement, “Three times a year shall all your males appear before the Lord.” “Before the Lord” meant in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Therefore Luke writes, “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover.”
Jesus was now twelve years old. We do not know if the pilgrimage-obligation applied to twelve year old males. A general principle of later Judaism is that a boy reaches manhood on his thirteenth birthday. Nor do we know that Luke thought that the boy Jesus was obligated to pilgrimage. Luke’s intention is to present Jesus, like his parents, as faithful to the commandments of the Torah, as an observant Jew. Whole clans, even most inhabitants of a village, might join in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Travel was difficult and sometimes dangerous. There was safety in numbers. When his parents became aware that Jesus was not with them, it was natural to think that he was somewhere in the traveling group of relatives and friends.
When Jesus did not show up at the end of the first day, Mary and Joseph were rightly alarmed. They returned to Jerusalem and anxiously searched for him several days. Only after three days did they find him in the temple sitting with the scholars, “listening to them and asking them questions.” Apparently they asked him questions also, because “they were amazed at his intelligence and his answers.” Luke is preparing his readers for the many encounters of Jesus with these scribal scholars later in the gospel, some of them not so friendly. Luke uses an extraordinary Greek verb to describe the reaction of Jesus’ parents to this scene — “in shock, panic-stricken, frightened.” Mary’s rebuke of her Son, “Why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you,” tells us that Luke intends a negative depiction of this reunion.
Jesus’ seemingly impertinent answer to Mary only increases the negativity, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” This is only the first instance illustrating what old Simeon had said to Mary when she and Joseph brought Jesus as a little child to the temple, “A sword will pierce thru your own soul also.” This unusual Son was difficult to manage or to understand. The incident does not lead to alienation between mother and Son. Instead, Luke repeats what he had earlier written about Mary’s reaction to the wonders of Jesus’ birth, “And his mother pondered all these things in her heart.”
Every parent who reads this episode can identify with the parents of Jesus. There are few parents, especially of teens, who have not experienced in relation to one or all of their children, even if only rarely, “A sword will pierce thru your own soul also.” Our gospel reading ends in domestic peace, “He went down with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them. .. .And Jesus grew in wisdom, in years, and in favor with God and in human favor.” The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, “thru hom all things were made,” is obedient to two of his own creation/9 the relationship of child to parent commanded by the Torah, “Honor your father and your mother . . . .”
We may assume that the author of this 2nd century B.C. guide for young men takes for granted that a man will respect his mother. He does mention that a mother has authority over her children and those who honor their mother “store up riches.” Mostly he speaks of the relationship of a man to his elderly father. Let us extend it to both parents. There are promises of rewards. Honoring one’s parents atones for sins, keeps one from sinning, causes one’s prayers to be heard On High. Honoring of a father comforts the mother. Kindness to parents, “even if their mind fails,” is balanced against the debt of one’s sins. If “love (charity) covers a multitude of sins,” 1 Peter 4:8, then honoring of parents cancels them out.
This selection is not always read in full form because of these words, “Wives be subordinate to your husbands as is proper in the Lord.” Husbands are also told to “love your wives and avoid any bitterness toward them.” But still, the idea of subordination of wife to husband rankles. A response is found in Ephesians 5:21, “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The Scriptures follow the custom of the time in the first statement. The second statement takes a daring step toward equality, contrary to the custom of the times. Equality of husband and wife is now official teaching of the Church.