Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Traveling
The boy remained behind in Jerusalem, but the parents did not know it.
In the middle of a beautiful warm sunny afternoon, I took a few minutes to see the new MacBook Air colors at the Apple Store in our nearby outdoor mall, the Domain. I sorted through traffic and made it to the front of the store. Just as I got there, a car was backing out of a prime parking space.
I put on my turn signal a second or two after the person in a car coming the opposite direction put on her turn signal. I had the right of way, but she beat me to the punch. I left my signal on, though, a bit of aggression showing through. She pointed at the spot, claiming it for herself. I ignored her, at least at first. The car pulled out. She pulled in, quickly, not sure what I was planning.
I did have the right of way, didn’t I? But I couldn’t stay upset very long (although I guess I’m telling you the story a couple of hours later). She had a child in the car, too, which gave her an extra dose of permission to swing through my lane and park. And I don’t think she was going to leave her kid in the car when she went into the Apple store to shop.
I thought of the woman and her child when I read the story about Jesus’ parents leaving him behind in Jerusalem. They didn’t leave him intentionally, of course, but … still. Wouldn’t they have noticed him missing before they left with their friends? What would DCFS say about it? This is usually labeled abandonment in legal language, I think.
But Jesus was 12 years old, just a year away from the Jewish traditional initiation into adulthood called Bar Mitzvah, when 13-year-old Jewish boys become “sons of the commandment,” and they become responsible for keeping the laws of the Torah.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
It’s reasonable to think that Jesus had become a “son of the commandment” a year early. He was fascinated by the teachers, and the teachers were fascinated by him, although his parents, who had known him since his birth, didn’t much care about that.
When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been very distressed looking for you.”
This day celebrates the Solemnity of Joseph, Jesus’ father on earth. Surely he backed up his wife in her frustration with their son. Did Jesus look away from his dad at all, hoping his mom would understand? At any rate, what he said next was not about Joseph.
Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This was not what they expected from their obedient son. Jesus knows more about his genealogy than his parents expected. Being humans growing older by the day, their memories might have been a little clouded about those first days with Jesus.
They did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them.
Each of our kids, Chris, Marc, and Andi, had their coming-of-age moments, when they made choices on their own that did not include, necessarily, what we thought they should decide. I wonder when the child in the car with the woman I met today (through our windshields) will mark her own independence.
We have no more stories of Jesus as he grew up. But this story is special, because it marks not only Jesus’ own independence, but also a markedly increased awareness in his parents of just who this boy is. He will be prophet, priest and king. Already he is well on his way.
Jesus walked in the footsteps of Abraham, if he walked in any footsteps at all.
Abraham is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said. Thus shall your descendants be.
These stories, thousands of years apart, run alongside each other. And then again I think of my friend in the other car, carrying her child when she was pregnant, raising her as she grew, loving her as mothers love their daughters.
That Jesus too was human brings me to my knees, as I think of the multi-colored history of humanity, thousands of years sown separately into one amazing quilt by parents, child, and Father.
He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.
The Solemnity of Joseph. What a day.
(2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89, Romans 4, Psalm 84, Matthew 1)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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