"Mary..? By any chance did that angel tell you just how we are supposed to raise God to be human once you give birth to Him?"

"No Joseph, no child comes with an instruction manual... And whenever God attempts to instruct adults who can very well read scripture... Even you tell me, 'Now that went well.'"
 
"Oy Vey!"

Over the many years of my ministry, I have from time to time had some agnostic person attempt to convince me that Jesus sinned according to a number of passages in the Bible. Now, I have to concede that not everything that God tries always works according to plan the first time out of the gate, but then again I would always counter by saying to the aforementioned agnostic person that they would be right only had Jesus not been The Christ. The Son Of God... But since Jesus is God. Buzzzzz! Ya got it wrong! Next contestant please!

Many times in The Old Testament God blew His top with a number of His prophets. That was not sin, because He is God... Master of The Universe. The same goes for the occasion where the twelve year old Christ is presented in the Temple on His thirteenth birthday, then His parents discovered that He was not in the company of people they were traveling with back home to Nazareth. So, Mary and Joseph turn back to Jerusalem where after a three day search they find their brand new teenager calmly standing at a lectern spouting scripture before a bunch of priests and scribes in the Temple's public courtyard. This sight alone floored them! But then...

"Young man," Joseph interrupted, "Why did You treat us this way? Letting us think You were on your way home within our group, but then staying behind like this... We were worried to death... Do you have any idea how much trouble we had finding you? We have searched this entire city for three days. Son, this is the very last place..."

Jesus right smartly cuts Joseph off telling him: "Why did you have to search for Me, did you not know that I would be in My Father's House?"

Now, the Bible is quite uncomfortable at dealing with teenage rebellion, so in the places where it does appear, it is always played down. The sheer brevity here though is glaring. Let's fast forward to 2013 and take for an example two parents searching Washington D.C. for three days to finally find their kid preaching in the pulpit of The National Cathedral... The situation begs the question: What a big to-do must have taken place when they found their child? Surely not just the few words stated in The Gospel of Luke. So we jump back two thousand years but if in modern teen-speak, Jesus really said something more like this:

"Well, first off, you of all people should know that you're not My Father... Secondly, neither of you obviously know Me very well at all after having raised Me for twelve years when all I ever talk about is the Temple. If you had paid attention you would have known just where to come find Me without it taking you three days to blunder into Me..."

The Bible just tells us that Mary kept all these things in her heart. Rightttt... Okay, if I had said a thing like that with attitude to my parents when I was thirteen, I would have had the board of education applied to my seat of learning. Most likely Joseph would have liked to go there as well had Mary not been there, but then again, my parents were not charged by God with raising God... Yet Mary most likely kept Joseph from beating Jesus's bottom to a rosy red, but yet again both Joseph and Mary realized for the first time they were hearing Jesus speak with the authority of The Christ. As such, it only appears that He broke the commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother." The Bible tells us that Mary and Joseph marveled at the response Jesus gave to them that day in the Temple. The verdict is in! The boy Jesus did not sin!

Then again, maybe Jesus still got spanked. Jewish Law of that time prescribed laying a rod on a child for disobedience, and Jesus even went one step further by talking back to Joseph. In all likelihood, the priests gathered listening to Jesus would have called for Him to be given the rod for back-talking to Joseph in the Temple Court.  Luke just tells us that: "Jesus went down with them and was obedient to them." There is no mention of if Jesus received punishment or not. Certainly a normal child in the same circumstances would have been punished. Where The Old Testament prescribes parents killing their children for certain misbehaviors, The New Testament is almost silent when it comes to the physical discipline of children. The Holy Family was in the presence of the Temple authorities, the highest court of both Jewish life and Jewish justice. They did not know who this boy was, indeed, twenty years later when they did discover His identity, these same authorities would send their guards out to arrest Him for daring to proclaim Himself God.   

In light of all this food for thought, we must remember, that before Jesus was even conceived, an angel had told Mary that her child would be The Son of God. Therefore, Mary and Joseph not only knew they were raising the world's Creator sustainer and redeemer, from the get go, but their own personal Saviour as well. Imagine the parents of Jesus trying to wrap their minds around that! From their point of view, Mary and Joseph most likely grabbed Jesus, begged their leave from the priests and once clear of the Temple gates ran at top speed all the way back to Nazareth. They had just wanted Him a Bar Mitzvah like any Jewish boy turning thirteen, not to attract the close scrutiny of the entire Sanhedrin.

Well, they made it to safety, and the next time the Bible speaks of Jesus He's a grown man about to begin His ministry and is about to get in trouble again. Jesus tells His mother to mind her own business when she informs Him that they have run out of wine at the wedding feast they were attending. Unlike the previous occasion, this time, Mary stands her ground, letting her Son know that it was her business, thank you very much! They were honored guests at a family wedding! Without another word, He does as She commands: Jesus turns jars of water into wine. This is the first time Mary intercedes with her Son on behalf of humans. A function that she continues to this day. God not only honored Mary by choosing her to be His mother, but also honored Her as the only human who could tell Him what to do. The rest of us have to ask. That is called prayer!

We are reminded of Mary's honored role in heaven every time we see an icon of The Theotokos.

Pray for the intentions of She who prays unceasingly for us.

+Joel

 

The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend? or Two plus Two equals 5.867 squared?



WHO... Got it! 

 

WHAT... Got it!

 

WHEN... Got it!

 

WHERE... Got it!

 

WHY...  Duh?




 

Father in Heaven,


We pray for those killed, those in critical condition, and those maimed and wounded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Lord, we have no idea as of yet as to the motive... Both the Waco, Texas event and the Oklahoma City Bombing took place in the middle of April. Then too, tax day is here as well, and our country is still embroiled in financial disputes and distress. And Father, those a just a few domestic issues from American history that come to mind.

Overseas there are thousands, even millions who wish to do us harm, and even though the war on terrorism has been fought diligently, that fight is far from being over. Is there ever to be an end to human suffering brought about by humans? Is it not enough that natural events and accidents each year cost countless lives?

We of faith are sensitive to the needs of the one, yet we tend to look at numbers and tally them when tragedies occur... As if the greater the number the greater the tragedy. Father of us all, numbers do matter, but we must consider this:

How do we know if the next great world leader is among the dead no matter if one, or one thousand, is killed in a given incident? The next great scientist? The long awaited diplomat that could bring the Israelis and Palestinians together at last? How can, how could we ever know? We cannot!

That is why every single life is precious. Say that one life lost; is not destined for greatness. Is that death diminished? No! Father, through your Son's actions at the grave of Lazarus we know that no life is ever diminutive. That every life has a purpose even if that purpose seems to be unseen except by You and never witnessed by human masses. 

Heavenly Father, the death of the one is a tragedy, the death of many a holocaust; Yet we pray to you for them all.

Oh hear our prayer, and let our cries come unto You, Oh Lord of Mercies.

Amen.

To Brothers and Sisters in Christ in Africa:

 

 

Our Patriarch has been unpacking the many boxes of church files and going through them while I have been reworking and developing our presence on the world wide web.

 

 

Today, our Patriarch made me aware of a great number of letters that were sent to the recently deceased second patriarch of our church. Letters that went unanswered due to his illness over the last year of his life. I am told that most of these letters are from priests and bishops in countries on the continent of Africa.

 

Let me assure our brothers and sisters in Christ in Africa, that our new Patriarch will respond personally to your letters as soon as humanly possible. We ask that you understand that the oversight in not replying to your letters was not intentional, but again; was brought on by the changing of the administration within our church headquarters in the United States, due to the sickness and death of Patriarch +Mar Markus I. We apologize sincerely and beg your forgiveness for not have realized these mistakes sooner.

 

Please know that we of The Byzantine Catholic Church in the United States are praying for you all, and we understand what we are reading in the letters that you sent to our offices so long ago. We realize that Orthodox Christianity in your part of the world has to struggle in order to survive against great sources of power and many dangers. We fully intend to do everything in our power to assist in the survival of your ministries.

 

In the meantime, if you find this new website, please e-mail us and let us know that you have previously written to our church but received no response, and we will get back to you by email as soon as we receive yours.

 

You are not alone!

 

 

In Christ Jesus,

+Metropolitan Joel

Apostolic Chancellor to His Holiness +Mar Laurentius

The Third Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Church   



A Letter from the Apostolic Chancellor

 

 

My brothers and sisters in the Lord,

 

 

We have been through some interesting struggles in the past three weeks since the death of our second patriarch. Since he maintained his own office, it was closed by his family when he died. The files were sealed in numerous boxes, the telephone was turned off, and all of this had to be reinvented at a new location.

 

A new downtown Los Angeles telephone number was installed. Of course the office had to be set up from scratch, and files gone through and purged of years of stuff that no longer needed to be kept. Then begin the filing of the files that we kept which will be going on for some time. Our newly elected and enthroned patriarch ordered a full facelift update of our web presence that took weeks to complete. Whew! Are we done yet? Not!

 

None of these activities leave any time for reflection or morning of the passing of a man that led the church for forty-six years. We are just now beginning to slow down a bit and catch our breath, yet there is still much work to do.

 

Those of us that lead the church constantly pray for you and we hope that at this time of change in the church that you will pray for us as well.

On a lighter note, we have discovered that one side effect of the gallons of coffee we have all been consuming, and the little sleep we have been getting, is that we now all talk to each other in staccato. For you non musical folk, that means; "choppy." We really sound quite funny. Our new patriarch has dubbed it as "barking" at one another. The result of the barking means that we are constantly asking each other: "What did you just say?, or Would you repeat that please?" The flip side of that is; "Yes, got that, can we now just move on to the next thing on the list."

 

Now do you see why we are hoping that you are praying for us?

 

Sincerely at work, I remain yours in Christ,

 

+Metropolitan Joel