Last week Dave McDonald (www.westwinds.org) taught on the incarnation. During Cue people texted in questions. One question asked was, "When did Jesus know that he was the Son of God - or part of the Godhead? What a great question!
Just recently I have begun to understand and appreciate the humanity of Jesus as a deeper level. I now see Jesus as a fully, developing/evolving human person who went through both developmental and spiritual stages.
For years I have consciously held the knowledge that Jesus is both fully human and divine, yet I have been introduced to some new information that has blown up my “box.” I am seeing Jesus to be a lot more HUMAN than I previously envisioned. Having kids and working with kids like I do, gives me perhaps a different perspective on Jesus – the Kid!
Having said that . . . here are some reflections on Luke 2.41-52
(Jesus in the temple when he was about 12 years old)
The family’s yearly journey to Jerusalem may have been like our family vacation with friends and family. Family routines and rules are relaxed as everyone is hanging out together. It is easy to see how one parent thought the other parent knew where the kids were – over with the cousins in the next “cabin.” I can’t imagine what it would feel like to realize that your kid is missing. He’s not over with these cousins, or that uncle or those friends. Where is he?
At 12 years old Jesus is no little kid (toddler) who has wandered off and is lost. Something has caught his attention and his focus has shifted, he’s distracted and pulled in another direction.
He is intrigued by this group of men in the temple. They appear to be learned men and their discussion is interesting. He sits and listens. How long does a 12 year old sit and listen? In our culture a kid could play a video game for 3 days straight! All this information Jesus is hearing doesn’t make sense, he can no longer only sit quietly, so he creeps in closer to the circle of men. Someone notices that he has been there for quite some time. One of the teachers looks at Jesus and asks, “What do you think about this comment?”
And so the questions and answers begin to flow. Hours fly by. Maybe this is one of the first times Jesus has sat with a formal group of teachers. Food is brought in to the group of men and Jesus eats with them. The sky is light, then dark, then light and dark again, but they are inside the temple and no one really notices. I imagine it is a like a young kid on an adventure in the woods – following a trail and then all of sudden realizes they have been gone for hours/days.
There is some commotion, there are some voices, a woman’s voice, something not often heard in the temple. It’s not just any woman’s voice; it’s his mom’s voice. What is she doing in here? All of sudden Jesus is not just “one of the guys” that the teachers are quizzing, he’s someone’s son – a son that has been missing, not just for hours but days! Oh crap – he’s in trouble!!!
His mom is angry, upset, emotional, astonished and relived all at once (women are such complex beings!) What are you doing? Why did you go off and not tell us? We have been so worried about you. . .
Jesus is 12 years old – he just got “caught” messing up. I think he knows that he messed up and comes up with the best possible answer he can quickly find. . . “Like come on Mom? Don’t you know that I’m special – Did you not know that I would be in my Father Abba’s house?” Geezz – he got out of that one. Pull out the big guns – I’m in my Father’s house – the trump card. I think that religious answer just saved his butt!
I can imagine Mary thinking, “I don’t care if you are special and are the Son of God, and you better listen to me – your mom – because I’m the one that is HERE in your face!!
Kids are so amazing. Just when they are ready to send you off the deep end, they say something that blows you out of the water. I seriously wonder if Jesus’ statement was a great escape clause (get me out of trouble with mom) – BUT was also an incredible moment of truth. Truth that was for the first time spoken out loud!
Ever have those moments that you finally say something out loud, something you’ve been thinking about for a while in your mind or maybe you've been having a feeling about something. As soon as you say those words out loud you know that it is a true statement.
Perhaps Jesus’ statement was like that. A statement that was Spirit lead. Perhaps this was a profound moment in Jesus’ spiritual formation. A moment when he got a glimpse into what his future would held.
Anyways they went home. So they went home where they all pondered and tried to make sense of this odd incident in their family’s journey.
1 comment:
Your post really gave me something to think about. Seems we make Jesus something beyond human and forget that his humanity was real. Thanks for your challenging thoughts.
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