Advent Part 20: Mary deals with her fear and anger towards Jesus.
Luke 2:46-52 (NLT)
46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.
51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.
52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
Dear God,
Just this first sentence makes me think about those times when I was so mad at my children when they were little and, after I had really built up my anger towards them and was going to get onto them when I saw them. Then I would find them, hear their explanation, and realize that they had not really done anything wrong at all. Instead, they had done their best to do the right thing. I can only imagine how Mary and Joseph were feeling as they searched Jerusalem for three days. I wonder where they went. Where was the first place they looked? The second place? It took three days (coincidence?) to find him in the temple. I wonder why that was not closer to the top of their list.
So they find him, and they are probably ready to let him have it. How do I know? Because we think Mary told this account to Luke, and she remembers saying, “Son, why have you treated us like this?” Forget the idea of being grateful he was alive. She was just angry at him. How could he do this to her (them)?!?
To be clear, I do not blame Mary for this, and I do not think Jesus did either. He explained himself, but he also learned—as most teenagers need to learn—that his actions impacted the lives of others as well. Jesus still needed some parenting here too. He was still piecing together who he was and how he should proceed. It fits with verse 52 which says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.”
Father, my children are grown now and finding their own way, but as long as I am here, I think you will have some role for me to play in their lives. It might be diminishing. It might be changing. It might be to simply offer at least one source of unconditional love in their lives—one safe place. If that is what you have for me, so be it. And help me to be the son you need me to be for my parents and my wife’s father. Help me to adequately express my love for them and know how to receive from them the things you need me to have.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
