In today's Gospel, Luke 2: 41-51, Jesus' parents and Jesus, then 12 year's of age, go up to the Temple for the feast of Passover, as they had done every year. Following the festivities, Mary and Joseph got into separate caravans--probably one for the men and the other for the women. Both think that Jesus is with the other but at the end of a day's journey they are unable to find him so they return to Jerusalem. After three days of searching, they find him in the Temple listening to the teachers and asking them questions. The teachers are astounded by Jesus' understanding of the Scriptures. Upon finding their son, Mary says to Jesus: "'Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.' /and he said to them, 'Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?' But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart."
Imagine Mary and Joseph's anxiety. I can easily imagine Mary and Joseph asking themselves the following questions: What could possibly have happened to him? Is this what the prophet Simeon warned me about, namely, that a sword would pierce my heart? Is Jesus in some kind of trouble? Is he in danger? Did some one, in fact, kill our son?" These questions, I think, would have been normal thoughts for Mary and Joseph! And how does Mary respond to Jesus' answer to her question of why he ever did such a thing to them? She does not scold Jesus but ponders all of this in her heart!
As a parent, I would have been angry with Jesus! I would have exerted my parental authority and placed consequences upon him. She does no such thing! She reflects quietly upon her son's choice to stay behind to listen to the teachers and ask them questions. And she herself meditates upon his questions: "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" She "digs" deeper into the situation. There is a letting go on Mary's part, a surrender to her Son's Father and hers! She lives her faith and trust in God, who called her to be the mother of His Son!
May you and I learn fro her!
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