1 John 3: 1-2, 23-24
This morning it was my turn to offer the reflection for the Community of Emmanuel, but first Donna read the reading below:
What great love our Creator has lavished upon us! We are called children of God! And so we are! The ones who belong to the ways of this world do not know the Giver of Life. That is why those who do not really know Creator have not recognized us, either. Much loved friends, we are Creator’s children. It is not yet clear what we will be. But we know that when God appears, we will be like God, for we will see God as God is.
This is Creator’s instruction for us: that we trust in Creator’s son, Jesus, and love each other as he taught us to do. All who follow these instructions remain in Christ, and Christ remains in them. We know that God remains in us by the Spirit of love that lives in us.
* * * * * * *
Today is an interesting Sunday. We just celebrated the arrival of Jesus as a baby, but already this week the readings switch focus away from the baby to Jesus as a 12-year-old member of the Holy Family -- and to us also as members of God’s Holy Family.
The first
reading we just heard was chosen to remind us, as we start a new year, how much
our Creator loves us. Did you hear what the writer of the First Letter of John
says? God loves us! We are called God’s children! Because we are God’s
children! And even from a very young age, Jesus knew this. One of the reasons
he became human is to remind us that we are all God's children.
The Gospel story
I am about to invite you into shows us that Jesus, when he was only 12
years old, had a very loving relationship with God. Maybe, when we were
younger, we had a close relationship with Creator, but as we get older, life happens and sometimes we lose that sense of closeness.
If you were close to your parents, did you call them Daddy or Mommy, Mama or Papa? Abba and Ima are the words used in Jesus’ culture, and he likely used them for his own earthly parents – and for God because his relationship with God was very, very close. He wanted to be in the Temple, God’s house, as we'll see in a moment. For him, it was home.
I want to
invite us all into today’s Gospel reading, the story of Jesus’ trip to
Jerusalem with his parents. Make yourself as comfortable as you can, feet flat
on the floor, back straight, arms and hands relaxed. Maybe you’d like to close
your eyes or lower them to the ground. Take a slow, deep breath and let it out
gently and quietly. Keep breathing gently as is most comfortable for you, and
listen to my words as I share today’s Gospel reading in a different way than
usual.
Imagine
walking on a dry and dusty road... See the dust on your feet and sandals... Hear
the sounds of the people around you, walking with you... Your uncles and aunts,
cousins and extended family, cousins of cousins, old and young...
It’s the
end of a long journey to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, a time to remember
how ancestors were delivered from slavery in Egypt, with special food and
prayer and music and dancing, a very big feast and celebration, a time of joy
and love with so many relatives...
Walking in
the shade of a grove of trees, hear your uncles telling jokes as they walk,
some of them holding little ones on their shoulders... See the donkeys carrying
tents and sacks with food... See the women walking and laughing together, carrying
babies and belongings... Everyone is tired but happy, looking forward to
returning home...
Suddenly, Mary is beside you. “Where is Jesus?” she asks.
“I thought he was with you!” one of the aunties tells her.
“Has anyone
seen Jesus?” Mary asks loudly.
The crowd
stops, and people start calling his name and talking loudly about when they
last saw him.
Joseph runs
back from the front of the group and asks Mary, “Is he here?”
“I don’t
know where he is,” she wails.
“We’ll have
to go back to Jerusalem,” Joseph says, and turns to you saying, “will you come
with us?” Some of the relatives quickly pack some food and water to take for
the journey, and you go with Mary and Joseph as they turn back to Jerusalem...
It is late
in the day, and the sun is going down, but Mary and Joseph are worried and hardly
stop... Their anxiety is thick in the air as they speak quietly about how
dangerous it is for a twelve-year-old boy to be alone in the city of Jerusalem... The waning Passover moon and stars are bright in the dark sky as you walk and
wonder where Jesus could be...
The sun is
rising, as Mary and Joseph arrive where many families camped for the festival... They hoped to find Jesus waiting there... He isn’t... After checking in other camps
where Passover pilgrims are lingering, it’s clear he’s not there either...
You follow Mary
and Joseph into the city markets, asking the sellers if they have seen a 12-year-old
boy matching Jesus’ description... You walk the winding streets of Jerusalem
calling his name... Joseph talks to a man he met during the festival, and the man
leads you to a room where you and Mary sleep briefly... When Joseph returns to
sleep, you and Mary go out together to continue the search...
Jerusalem
is a big city, 25,000 people and likely still at least twice it’s usual size
because of pilgrims... Finding one boy among thousands seems impossible... You are all
exhausted, but Mary and Joseph are determined to find their beloved son...
After two
days of searching, in desperation, Mary says, “Let’s go to the temple to pray
for Jesus’ safe return.” You walk together to the highest point in the city
where the temple shines in the sun, hoping to see Jesus on the way there... The
smell of smoke and burning animal sacrifices is thick in the air...
As you
arrive in the courtyard of the temple, feeling how tired you are, you marvel at
the high walls and pillars, but Joseph and Mary are running toward a crowd
sitting at the base of one, so you race to catch up...
There is Jesus!
He is standing in the middle of a circle of temple teachers, talking to them
about God’s love for every being on earth... They are listening with smiles on
their faces, looking at each other and nodding, and one of them claps his hands
in delight...
But Mary
can’t stop herself... She rushes into the circle and throws her arms around Jesus
as if he is about to be swept away in a flood... Jesus laughs, but then his face
turns serious as he sees the tears running down her face as she says, “Why did
you stay behind, Jesus? We have been anxiously searching for you!”
His eyes light
up with love and he says, “I’ve been here in Abba and Ima’s house all along.”
The
teachers who have been listening to Jesus are murmuring, “Abba and Ima’s house... Yes, yes, El Shaddai is loving Abba and Ima to all... We have never seen one so
young with such a beautiful understanding of God!”
Joseph puts
an arm around Jesus and says, “My son, it’s time to go home.” Jesus nods,
smiles at you and takes Mary’s hand as you walk through the courtyard and leave
the temple together...
And now, I
invite you to slowly return from this story to the room we are in right now...
Even as a
young child, Jesus had a deep understanding that he was loved by God, and he
remained in that closeness throughout his life, right to dying on the cross,
where he said, Abba, Ima, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are
doing. He knew that human beings often don’t understand the violence in our own
hearts. We don’t really understand love.
And maybe
that’s because many of us have ideas about God that come from the bad old days,
ideas that make us think that God is like us human beings. We might think that Creator gets mad at
us every time we mess up. Perhaps we live expecting punishment because maybe
our parental figures weren’t aware of the violence in their own hearts and punished us
too much instead of loving us in a good way.
But Creator
is only goodness and love, never meanness and punishment. If we mess up,
Creator is a loving parent who picks us up, dusts us off, and says, “That’s
okay. Try again.” The punishments in our lives once we are adults aren’t from Creator, but are often from our own negative thoughts about ourselves and others.
Jesus came
to prove that Creator lavishes us with love, even when we do stupid things, or
make wrong choices, or hurt others and ourselves. One of my favourite songs says,
Taking everything upon himself, Christ opens the way for us toward faith, toward
trust in God, who wants neither suffering nor human distress.
And so, today’s
big reminder, this Sunday of Holy Families, is that we are family. We are Creator’s
beloved family -- and family to each other. God is a daddy, a mama, who looks at
each of us with a love bigger than the universe, who wants only goodness for
us, and who sends people into our lives to be God’s care for us when we ask for
help.
Thank you, Creator,
for spending all your love on us.
You call us each by name.
We are your children,
and we thank you for surrounding us
We ask your blessings on our parents,
and on all those who have been like parents to us.
Bless all those
and help us to be brothers and sisters,
offering care and attention to those in our lives
who need understanding and love the most.
Make us into your family.
As it says in the first letter of John,
Amen.
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