Some years ago, I was browsing through a clothes rack in a department store when a woman suddenly darted by me in great distress, looking here, there, and at no one in particular. “My little girl, have you seen my little girl? Where is, she was, where?” Mouthing monosyllables in her frenzy, she darted off in another direction, calling her daughter’s name over and over again. Then suddenly, the child was right there. The two virtually dissolved into each other’s arms, the mother sobbing uncontrollably. Their separation, lasting no more than five or six minutes, had seemed an eternity.
By comparison, Luke’s account of the young Jesus being left behind in Jerusalem and finally found in the Temple is subdued. It states the facts without arousing undue anxiety. Mary and Joseph do not find Jesus in the caravan, so they go back to Jerusalem to look for him. However, when Luke discloses that their search lasts three days, we know that they have endured excruciating anguish. We may feel as relieved and as hurt as Mary when she asks Jesus, “Why have you done this to us?” Jesus’ answer that he had to be in his Father’s house was clearly not understood nor expected by his earthly parents. The Gospel somberly states that Mary kept and pondered all these things in her heart.
After the Holy Family is reunited, Jesus returns to Nazareth with his parents to whom he is still subject. Invariably, sermons on this closing passage of Luke’s infancy narrative remind us that Jesus is the model of perfect obedience, and we dutifully nod. We understand that we are to teach our children obedience and that we too must obey and continue to strive to do God’s will.
On the familial level, the lesson of obedience in this Gospel passage rings true, but many of us are still left wondering why Jesus caused his parents so much anxiety in the first place. Luke, however, is not mainly relating the story of a lost child; he is drawing us into a much greater story, that of Emmanuel, God-with-us, as intimated in Jesus’ own words to his parents. Throughout the Gospel, the mystery of the person of Jesus and his relationship to his heavenly Father is revealed little by little, always in his obedience to the will of the Father. Who Jesus is will be most fully revealed only at the cross and resurrection.
Yet on a deeper level, the attentive reader notices that the child is found on the third day. With a masterful stroke, Luke evokes a later time in the Gospel when two of Jesus’ disciples on the road to Emmaus tell the Stranger who is walking with them that, “it is now the third day” after Jesus was crucified. “The third day” should mean something to them. Had Jesus not announced to his disciples that he would be put to death, “and on the third day be raised” (Lk 9:22)? Their eyes will be opened at the breaking of the bread, but for our purposes, the incomprehension of Mary and Joseph parallels the disciples’ lack of understanding, and they are reproached for being so “slow of heart to believe” (24: 25).
From this Gospel passage on the Holy Family, we may begin to see why the Church would choose it as the exemplar for the ideal family. We who are so much like the disciples in the Gospels, slow of heart to believe, it is for our benefit that Luke repeats, “Mary kept all these things in her heart.” When it was instituted over a hundred years ago, this feast was specifically intended to offset the social ills that assailed the welfare of the family from many sides in modern culture, including from materialism, the erosion of morality, and the failure of simple human decency. To strengthen the needs of all the members within the family, the scripture passages chosen for the Mass of the Holy Family emphasize familial duties and the virtues supportive of good relationships in family and society.
- Sirach, from the Hebrew Scriptures, always practical and balanced, warns adult children to honor both parents without fail if we want to have a long life. Above and beyond any egotistical motive, we know “the wisdom that we need for successful living is imprinted on [the] hearts [of our elders].” (Bergant, 20).
- Psalm 128 assures us our lives will be happy if we are God-fearing and just. The way we treat one another, indeed, every one of God’s creatures, makes all the difference.
- Lastly, Colossians offers us an awesome list of Godlike qualities that describe what the world looks like when God reigns. God’s reign is what Jesus lived and died for. He insisted that what mattered above all were the relationships of love that prevailed among people, women and men. For Jesus, it never mattered who was in power. And his apostles, like Paul, passed on to us that where God reigns there is “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another... as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do” (12-13).
In the company of the Holy Family and empowered by the Holy Spirit of Love, we are called to model this heartfelt compassion as parents to our children; as big brothers and sisters for our younger siblings; as teachers for our students; as elected officials for our constituents; as neighbors in our neighborhoods; as stewards of our planet for the well-being of all. How is this possible? Through the Holy Family we are intimately united with one another and with Emmanuel, God-with-us, Jesus, in unconditional and universal love.
Sources
- Dianne Bergant, The Word for Every Season: Reflections on the Lectionary Readings, Cycle C (New York/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2009).
- Leonardo Boff, Jesus and His Abba, A Little Christology, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2024).
- Megan McKenna, Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Stories and Reflections on the Sunday Readings (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998).
- Days of the Lord: the Liturgical Year, Vol. 1, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany (Collegeville, Minnesota: Order of St. Benedict, 1991)
Photo of Bolivian sculpture of the Holy Family's exile to Egypt by Dan Moriarty.