Greeting, wherever you are?
A refection generated by Luke 2:40 – 52 and early recollections.
The sources are extremely meager. Luke’s Gospel provides the
best story when Jesus was 12 years old and in the Temple. His encounter with
the authorities there does allow for both guessing and insight.
He first demonstrates independence. His parents must have
experienced this before, they go a days journey before they notice he is missing.
No bed checks here. Then a strange reference to three days. How many days has Jesus been at
the Temple? How did he provide for himself during the days and
nights. Do we have a self-sufficient 12 years old? We do have the story of a
first born. Although more is expected of us we don’t have any competitors in the
beginning. I speak from experience. We learn to entertain ourselves to some
extent. I grew up on a farm out in the country. The nearest neighbor was a quarter
of the mile down the road.
One time I told my mother I was bored. She said, "Go find something to do." That was that.
Along with self sufficient we could add self starter. Maybe Jesus has an example and model he is following. We will look at his mother’s
comment at the end later in the reflection.
Incarnate Lord may be imbedded
but still embryonic.
I will be adding and editing
this reflection.
I want to jump ahead. I hope to
fill in the detail later.
Two Greek words toward the end
of the story, one for seeking and the other for ponder (treasure) are in the
imperfect indicative. Quoting a language source, “indicatives indicate a continuing
situation in the past. “
Jesus has already been listening,
questionings, seeking. Now he has a new event and location with the Passover and
the Temple/teachers.
The mother has already been
pondering, who knows what else had her in this mode from what Jesus was about.
To be
continued,
Marlin