Todays Gospel is the familiar Story of young Jesus wandering away from his parents and teaching the elders in the Temple, and ends with the words, “and his mother kept all these things in her heart; and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man”. It’s worth noting that from the very beginning of Jesus’ life among us, the Holy Family was at odds with the religious authorities and practices of the time. He was born to an unwed mother and father in circumstances that made his parents socially unacceptable even as they were living their “yes” to Abba. They were dark skinned immigrants immigrants traveling to Egypt and looking for safety, kinda like many families are doing today.
As we experience and understand families today, they are a lot different from what most of us knew growing up. The words of Scripture for today help gain insight to what is going on regarding families. The young Jesus is teaching the temple authorities: “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”. My first reaction is wondering what would happen if church managers actually listened and took serious what our young people are saying today, learning their questions and not claiming they already have all the answers. The very notion of what a family is, and how a family is made up, is being questioned today, as is so much about how we see ourselves. Ideas are surfacing that are seen by many as a serious threat to so much of what we have held dear for many generations. When we look around us at what many refer to as “non-traditional families” we also see love, goodness, commitment, dedication, caring. We may have to rely on our belief that each of us is created in God’s image and likeness, and ask for the wisdom and courage to be open to what the Spirit is doing among us, and where the Spirit is leading us. In our tradition we do not try to understand in order to believe, we believe in order to understand.
The notion of gender identity is relatively new in our time on the planet, and it is generating energetic, and not always respectful, actions on all sides. At the very least this requires honest and open dialogue, questioning, and a willingness to be led by the Spirit without giving the Spirit marching orders on where we will let ourselves be led. Our comfortable familiar answers are not always correct The fact that we are not comfortable with some ideas does not mean that that they or wrong, or that Abba has finished revealing Abba’s Self to us. Jesus reached out to everyone in love and caring, and if we are serious about learning from him, we have to do the same. People are people, love is love. Abba is not finished showing us who Abba is. None of us has all the answers for everybody. We all have questions that differ according to our own traditions and experiences. Questioning is good, denying unpleasant answers is not.
I’ve come to know several “non-traditional families” as a consequence of my cardiac situation, the people I’ve been meeting and the discussions we’ve been having. When folks are preparing to stick a needle in me and want to talk about their personal life, it’s good to listen. I count the whole thing as a privilege given me at this time on my own journey. At times I’ve noticed a high level of anger among folks who talk about these families as sinful, to be condemned and punished, etc, always of course in the name of God. I’m not sure where it comes from. I wonder if the angry folks are dealing with other issues.
Abba is always and still revealing Abba’s Self through creation and life in all its forms, and the more we learn about creation and life, the more insight we have of Abba being Abba. When we set limits on how we will accept Abba, we may find it safe and easy to feel we know all there is to know and have Abba all figured out, but we keep ourselves from growing in the Spirit of Abba. “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”. Abba, what are you saying to me in this? “Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son; Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways”. Can I say this openly and really mean it in my own life? In the Story Jesus was “sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions”. Questioning is important and necessary as we grow. Answers lead to more questions, and the same questions can receive different answers at different times, depending on where we are on our journey, and our willingness to be open and trust the Spirit. The peace of Christ is not a nice experience because more often than not it’s calling us to do something we might not want to do. And that’s ok. We ask for grace, or not. Growing beyond our comfort zone can be a frightening experience for anybody.
To quote King Charles III in his Christmas Message, “The example that Jesus gave us is timeless and universal. It is to enter the world of those who suffer, to make a difference to their lives and so bring hope where there is despair.” Each of us as we are is created as Abba wants us to be. While we might be okay with this in our own life, at times we are not okay with this another’s life. Am I open to God’s word, or am I saying what I will and will not hear? If this is what I’m doing, I’ll never know Christ’s peace, and I won’t know that I don’t know it. Just sayin . . .