"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
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