The story of Jesus at the temple when he was twelve shows him in his humanity as a member of a natural family, as a child
growing up in the traditions of his people, the Jews. At the same time it points beyond the natural family to a special
relationship with his heavenly Father. In showing him in his ordinary family and yet having also an extraordinary character in
a different kind of family relationship, the gospel points us beyond our natural families to the fulfilment of our potential to
become children of God.
Parents of Jesus, his natural family in Jewish custom
Mary and Joseph are seen in the infant narratives in Luke as ordinary Jewish parents doing what was expected of them in
their society. At the right time he was taken to the temple: and yet strange things occurred which gave them cause for
wonder at the character of their child.
(Luke 2:27-33) Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do
for him what was customary under the law, {28} Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, {29} "Master,
now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; {30} for my eyes have seen your salvation, {31}
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, {32} a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your
people Israel." {33} And the child's father and motherwere amazed at what was being said about him.
Later, he would be introduced to Jewish teaching in the synagogue and taught the practices of prayer, attendance at worship
and reading the Hebrew scriptures, which he followed `as was his practice' in his adult life. In the story from the Gospel for
today, the trip to Jerusalem when he was twelve was also part of this ordinary Jewish upbringing. On that occasion, he was
given a good deal of freedom when they thought he was with friends on the return journey. Nevertheless they showed
normal parental anxiety:
(Luke 2:48) When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us
like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety."
See how he used his freedom to begin to work out his primary purpose in life, revealing as always in these stories more
about him than his ordinary parents expected:
(Luke 2:43-52) When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his
parents did not know it. {44} Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day's journey. Then they
started to look for him among their relatives and friends. {45} When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to
search for him. {46} After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and
asking them questions. {47} And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. {48} When his
parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your
father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." {49} He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did
you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" {50} But they did not understand what he said to them. {51} Then
he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her
heart. {52} And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
The people of Nazareth never forgot his natural family of origin:
(John 6:42) They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now
say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
And Jesus himself maintained the traditional teaching on the importance of the family. When Jesus was asked about eternal
life he responded with what God required of them and referred to the Old Testament commandments: to love God and your
neighbour, saying you should honour your parents:
(Luke 18:20) "You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal;
You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.'"
Marriage and divorce
There can be little doubt that the natural family Jesus understood and reinforced in his teaching was a family founded on
marriage. The natural family was important and marriage was especially important to him. Jesus saw marriage as based in
the natural order of creation, and being used in the purposes of God [See also the sermon One Flesh and others linked to it].
(Mark 10:2-9) Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" {3} He
answered them, "What did Moses command you?" {4} They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of
dismissal and to divorce her." {5} But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this
commandment for you. {6} But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' {7} 'For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, {8} and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no
longer two, but one flesh. {9} Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
But there were more important relationships than of parents with their child and more important than the bond between
husband and wife.
The priority of relationship with God
Some of his sayings are so strong as to appear to contradict his support for the natural family, but they are understandable as
part of the memory of his teaching in the early church under conditions of persecution. They knew that what Jesus said
about the natural family was to be kept in perspective as part of the teaching of Jesus about the primacy of our relationship
with God, which was after all the purpose of his mission. Christians need to remember this at Christmas time when the
human family can be raised to a position of idolatry.
If anything stood in the way of the Kingdom or of our potential to become children of God it had to take second place:-
(Matthew 10:37) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me;
(Matthew 12:50) For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
(Luke 14:26) "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.
These sayings are also understandable in view of the function of the natural family to prepare us for the completion of God's
plan for the world, the purpose of human life being fulfilled in the family of the new age. The radical departure from the
natural but fallen way of life which the coming of the Kingdom occasioned inevitably bought tensions: not peace but the
sword:
(Matthew 10:35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
(Luke 12:53) they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against
mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
(Matthew 10:21) Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and
have them put to death;
So the rewards of heavenly love in a new family would be greater than any that had been lost:
(Matthew 19:29) And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my
name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.
Beyond marriage and the natural family -- in the new age
It is for the sake of the Kingdom that the old law is superseded in this life as it will be in any case in the age to come. That
was shown in what Jesus said about both marriage and relationships between parents and children.
(Luke 20:34-36) Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are
considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
(Romans 9:7-8) ... not all of Abraham's children are his true descendants; but "It is through Isaac that descendants shall
be named for you." This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted as descendants.
The key to understanding his attitude is the power he had to enable people to become children of God:-
(John 1:12) ...to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
(1 John 3:1) See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
(1 John 5:1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent
loves the child.
(Romans 8:14, 21) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ... {21} that the creation itself will be
set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Only beyond this life do we enter fully into our inheritance as children God, adopted already into the family of God though
we may be (and adoptive parents and children can love one another just much as members of a natural family). But we begin
to know its value and its character in this life now as we enjoy the fruits of the Spirit by whose witness we know that we are
children of God.
There is a strange innocence about the children of God:-
(Philippians 2:14-15) Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children
of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.
(Colossians 3:12-17) As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, and patience. {13} Bear with one anotherand, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other;
just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. {14} Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds
everything together in perfect harmony. {15} And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were
called in the one body. And be thankful. {16} Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another
in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. {17} And whatever you
do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
(Matthew 5:9) "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
The peace extends to fulfil his purpose of unity for all humankind. So our being children of God is both a result of the
coming of the Kingdom and a means of its extension.
(John 11:49-52) But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all! {50}
You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation
destroyed." {51} He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die
for the nation, {52} and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So it was the purpose of Jesus to be about his
Father's business, beyond the natural family within which the hope of better
things is nurtured, to gather into one family the dispersed children of God.
All praise and thanksgiving to God who in the Holy Family laid the foundations
for us to belong to the family of God. Amen.