Date: 2011.1.2
And after three days they found Him in the temple
sitting in the midst of the teachers.
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
"Where is Jesus?" This is the first question you should ask when looking at any Scripture. Jesus is there. What is He doing? What is He saying? Where is He?
Now, on most occasions in Scripture when we hear about St Mary and St Joseph, we can take them as examples. When Mary is pondering and treasuring things up in her heart, we would do well to imitate her. When Joseph is being a righteous man before God by faith, rather than a righteous man before man by deed, we would do well to imitate him. The Holy Family, as they are called, are good examples for us. But not in our Gospel reading for today, at least not at the beginning of the story; St Mary and St Joseph lost sight of Jesus, they didn't bother to ask: “where is Jesus?”.
For us, the meaning of this goes beyond parenting. As important as it is for us parents to take seriously our God-given responsibility as protectors and providers, there is One thing of greater importance for us, and for our children, and for every man, especially for every single individual in our congregation: We must never lose sight of Jesus.
