Homily for Feast of Holy Family

Homily for the Feast
of the Holy Family

Dec. 30, 1979

Luke 2: 41-52
St. Paul’s, Congers, N.Y.

“And they did not understand what he said to them” (Luke 2: 50).

1980 is to be the Year of the Family, as this year has been the Year of the Child.  Appropriately, we conclude 1979 with the gospel of the child Jesus in the Temple, of Mary and Joseph’s concern for him and misunderstanding of him, and of Jesus’ obedience to them.

The Gospel is eternal, of course, and not least in the little picture of family relations.  We also gather some insights into family life from secular sources; Mark Twain, for instance, is supposed to have said, “When I was 18, my father didn’t know anything.  When I was 21, I was amazed at how much he had learned in 3 years.”

This morning, I’d like to speak particularly to the youngsters.  Parents and other veterans of life, however, may eavesdrop if they like.

Church of the Holy Savior

Bruges, Belgium

In this little gospel, Jesus has a bit of a conflict with his parents.  Now, St. Luke has already let us know that Jesus is a special person—God’s Son.  And Mary and Joseph know that.  So the story is quite interesting when we see what happens.

1st, either accidentally or on purpose, Jesus gets separated from his parents.  2d, he has a definite idea of what he ought to be doing and wants to do it.  3d, his parents don’t understand him.

How did Jesus get lost?  Was he lost, or did he perhaps run away?  St. Luke doesn’t tell us.  In any case, now that Jesus is 12 years old, he’s on the verge of manhood according to Jewish law and custom.  Apparently he figures he’s able to look after himself, and he certainly does make an impression on the teachers in the Temple.  He’s a brilliant, pious lad.

When Joseph and Mary find him after 3 days, he seems to be surprised.  He asks, “Why were you looking for me?  Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  His Father, of course, is God.

But his parents don’t understand.  Even with the extraordinary circumstances of his birth, even with Mary’s custom of reflecting on all these events, they don’t understand.  They don’t fully understand him or what he’s been up to.

So even the ideal family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had problems.  Even the best of sons, God’s own Son, was misunderstood by the holy couple charged with his earthly upbringing.  If the Lord Jesus had a problem getting Mary and Joseph to understand and accept his growth, his desires, and his maturing sense of independence, can we be surprised if ordinary kids have those sorts of problems?  When the 4th Eucharistic Prayer says that the Son of God became man like us in all things but sin, it means he was subject to every human weakness, limitation, and temptation, including those of adolescence.

We must also notice how Jesus responded to Mary and Joseph and what happened afterward.  Although he seemed so sure of himself and although they didn’t understand him, Jesus did go home with them to Nazareth, and he “was obedient to them … and he progressed steadily in wisdom, stature, and favor before God and men” (Luke 2:51-52).  God’s own Son, the little genius who caused the Temple scholars to marvel, is perhaps already aware of his future career.  But he goes home and obeys his parents, those very human folks who don’t understand him.  And by doing that he fulfills God’s plan:  he grows in wisdom; he grows in height, weight, and age; and he grows in God’s favor and men’s. In other words, Jesus matured and grew up thru his teenage years and early manhood, studying, learning, working, playing, praying, loving, laughing, and crying—all the things you and I do.  He did become a full-grown man, but in the context of a human family with its joys, its troubles, its misunderstandings, its love, its crises.

This gospel story of the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple shows us a lot of things.  But for us young people, it reminds us that the Lord Jesus understands us because he was our age once and had our problems, even the same problems with mom and dad, except maybe for getting the car on Saturday night.  So we have someone we can look to for understanding and guidance when we run into a rough spot within the family.  It also reminds us that even the Lord Jesus grew and matured and took time to become a fully responsible adult; and he did that growing up within a family, doing the ordinary things any son in 1st-century Nazareth was expected to do.  The way to growth in wisdom, maturity, and favor with God and men is the same for all of us.

May God bless you young people, not with problem-free lives, but with insight, patience, understanding, and love.  May you grow into mature Christian persons who can face misunderstandings and use them as steps to greater growth.