Home Alone...ish....

December 30, 2018

I don’t know first-hand but I can tell through my own parents and my friends who are parents…parenting isn’t easy.    My pastor friends who are parents tell me that the two paths (pastoring and parenting) are somewhat similar, with somewhat similar fears and pressures:  the pressure of saying the right thing, doing the right thing, being the shepherd the people need and the Lord expects…so I think I can take that perspective, along with the experiences of being an uncle to the world’s greatest nephew, and get a window into parenthood. 

Then I thought about Mary and Joseph in this morning’s Gospel lection.  We find them traveling, as they did every year, to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Hebrew Observance of the Passover.  Here, thousands of Israelites would offer their sacrifice of offering in accordance of the law.  So Joseph, Mary, with their whole, extended family, and friends, and neighbors, would pack up the family truckster (either a camel or a donkey) and make the 93 mile pilgrimage from Nazareth to Jerusalem, on foot (31 hours). 

This particular pilgrimage took place 12 years after the birth of Jesus.  The Passover has concluded, and the family are on their way back home.  We don’t know how it happened…maybe it was a hunch, maybe it was routine reconciliation, but it was discovered that Jesus was not in the band of travelers.  They continued traveling while they searched through the travel party for Jesus – and the group was so large that it took a full day to move through everyone to come to the realization:  They lost Jesus.

And here’s where the pressure part comes in.  It’s hard enough to be a parent.  Can you imagine being the Mother of Jesus?  Or Joseph – the earthly father of Christ?  This child…the savior of the world.  The Word made Flesh.  God’s only son…and we see today that they lost him.  I don’t imagine the events unfolding would have been filled with pleasantries.  I’m sure there was a fair amount “I thought you had him”…”he was with you last time I saw him”…what was so important that you lost our son over”….you get the picture.

So they turn around, and travel back toward Jerusalem.  The pressure mounting, and building.  For 3 days.  So now we’re at least 4 days into loosing Jesus.  I can’t imagine what was going through their head at this point.  I’m sure it was a lot of doom and gloom stuff...combined with “we lost the Son of God”.  We misplaced the Word made Flesh.  We overlooked taking care of the “I am”.  What happens now?  What’s protocol here?    

But, to their relief, they found him.  In the temple.  I could think of a thousand places to look for a lost child…toy store, ice cream parlor, bakery, park, playground…church wouldn’t place real high on that list.  But that’s where they found Jesus…at the Temple.  He was sitting among the Temple leaders and teachers, “talking shop”.  They were discussing religion, and theology, and things that stump the most educated of people…and he was leaving them in amazement with his answers!

His mother and earthly father spot him and run to him.  We see what they ask him “why did you do this – we have been worried sick looking for you – we turned our whole caravan around to come back and find you”. 

Jesus responded “why were you looking for me?  I’m at my father’s house.  Where else would I have been?”  And we see that they understood this just about as well as we do…which is not much at all.  But we do get that feel good “Home Alone” ending when we’re told that everything turned out OK.  Jesus and his family returned to Nazareth, and Jesus was obedient to his parents.  His mother cherished every word he spoke, and he continued to grow and mature in both years and wisdom.