April 4, 2025
The Aha Moment
Friends, with the birth of the Christ Child, Mary and Joseph went from a family of two to a family of three. Of the three, two were saints. Being a saint does not mean perfection. Perfection was, of course, reserved for their newborn Son.
In the Gospel of Luke (Lk 2:41-52) we hear that Joseph and Mary lost track of Jesus, a twelve-year-old, for three days. This is hard to fathom, but they were not perfect people. They goofed, right? Well, maybe.
When we read that they had great anxiety we can understand this for as any parent knows, thinking your child is missing, even for 5 seconds, is harrowing. I can't imagine their mental state since, to put it plainly, they lost God!
This Gospel may be an extreme way for God to get His point across to us, His only begotten Son going missing, but I think the takeaway isn't about losing track of Jesus but rather, how and where Mary and Joseph found Jesus. It seems to be lost in the middle of the Gospel that they looked first among their relatives and acquaintances. Interesting that they spent almost three days with this approach. Then, we learn that after three days they found Him!
The focus here can easily be on Mary and Joseph and just how they could have lost their Son and how they must have coped with it all. I cannot imagine they remained calm and collected. Surely they knew their roles as parents but did this cause them to question God? Did He make an error in choosing them to parent His Son? Of course not.
FINALLY
They finally found Him. Of course, they had to be relieved as any parent would be when they laid eyes on Him but I wonder if they didn't have a sort of an "Ah ha!" moment. After all, they found Him in the temple. And with our struggles and our anxieties, this is the point. This is where we need to go, too.
Interestingly, in Luke's Gospel, it does not say that Jesus was there preaching to the elders. No. He was in their midst listening and asking them questions. This is precisely what we need to know, that Jesus is anxious to be among us to listen and pose questions.
He is waiting.
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