Number 6 comes from the HOPE series and is another imaginative retelling of a Jesus-story. A twelve-year-old Jesus finds shelter and refuge in the Temple.
At Home In God’s House - A Jesus Story Retold
STEP ONE: BREATHE
Take a deep, cleansing breath. Allow the air to fill your lungs and expand your body. Exhale and empty yourself into the room. Repeat three times - once for the one who Created you, once for the Incarnate One who walks beside you, and once for the Spirit whose life fills your being.
STEP TWO: DWELL IN WORD
"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him."
Luke 2: 41-
Where was that boy? It was the only thought occupying the mind of a frantic mother. "That child is going to be the death of me," Mary announced to whoever would listen and be sympathetic with her dilemma.
The crowd that surrounded her and her husband, Joseph, was not insignificant. They were pilgrims heading home after the annual trek to the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Passover was such a festive time, and the ancient city swelled with passion and people. The movement of people was reminiscent of the exodus itself, on which the ritual celebration centered. Through the sharing of time-honored traditions, foods, and prayers, the faithful did more than remember what God did to liberate the ancestors from slavery in Egypt. They ate, danced, and prayed for they were part of God's ongoing work of liberation. Through a mysterious warping of time, they and their children were the ones that Moses was leading out of bondage.
Fear displaced any memories of festive joy for mother Mary. Where did her son go? As Mary and Joseph scrambled among the subgroups of relations, friends, and fellow Nazarenes, their anxiety increased exponentially. At first, they thought that Jesus was with someone else. For safety reasons, the pilgrims traveled together. The migration was so massive that smaller groupings of folks naturally formed.
Unfortunately, the boy Jesus was not in any of them. To make matters worse, they were already a day's journey from Jerusalem. Their son, not even thirteen (which the Jewish tradition considered as the age of adulthood,) was alone in a city that could be a dangerous place.
Separating themselves from the safety of the caravan, the worried parents head back to Jerusalem. Mary's heart was racing and filled with trouble. Was this what the old Simeon spoke of when he foretold, on their first visit to the Temple with their newborn son, that "a sword will pierce through your own soul?" As Mary and Joseph hurried along the road of uncertainty, away from the safety of their fellow travelers, it was as though someone had run a sword
straight through their hearts. They hastily offered a prayer - dear God, protect our child, and may we find him.
For three days, the search continued.
The metaphorical sword did more than pierce the distraught parents' soul; now, their soul was bleeding out. Was their son still alive? Such horrible thoughts were forming in their minds like the gathering of a foreboding storm. What would they do, if?
For a moment, they needed to suspend their search. Mary and Joseph went to the Temple. They needed to connect with God as their souls were weary. Entering the porticoes and grounds of the Temple complex, they felt more secure. Not too long ago, it was in this place that Simeon praised God after having seen their newborn child. So did Anna. These two older people were previously unknown to the new parents. They seemed to think that their son was something special, a fulfillment of ancient prophecies.
This warm memory of Anna's joy-filled, toothless smile and the glint of a happy tear in the corner of Simeon's eye momentarily distracted Mary and Joseph from their persistent worry over the loss of their boy. Our child brought them such hope that God remembered long- standing promises.
As she was pondering the treasured remembrance, Mary's focus drifted beyond their crises. She wondered about larger realities as bigger pictures came into her imaginative view. Joseph's excited hand shook her back to the present. "Mary, Mary, I have found him!"
Joseph led the perplexed mother a short distance to a group of men gathered on some steps. They were teachers, each having dedicated their lives to the studying of the Torah. Among
them, Jesus sat and listened. Their boy was unharmed! If that wasn't enough to make his mother overjoyed, he was engaging in reflection upon the Torah. It was a Jewish mother's dream!
It didn't take the parents long to swift emotional gears from relief to anger.We were so worried! You better have a good explanation, young man, for what you put your poor mother through...
Before emotions escalate, the gospel writer Luke steps in and redirects the conversation. Where else would the one, whose birth the angels sang, be but in the Temple? God's chosen
messiah - even before the ritualistic coming of age at thirteen - finds a home in the studying of and reflection upon Torah.
Here we find the necessity - a 'must' of this gospel - of Jesus dwelling in the shelter of God's Word. Throughout the narrative that follows, scripture will play a critical role. It will guide, comfort, and be a companion for the fullness of Jesus's ministry. At times, Jesus will quote it directly. Other times, it will underlay Jesus's actions or words.
Jesus's teaching is inseparable from the ancient story of God's salvation. Put another way - Jesus's life, death, and resurrection are linked to the bigger account of God's restorative love for the whole universe.
God's love doesn't start in Bethlehem, but it was birthed a thousand times before in each interaction that God had with humanity going back to the first breath into Adam's clay frame.
According to Luke, this is something that the boy Jesus knows even before he becomes an adult. Nestling in God's Word, we too, find a place to connect our life story with a cosmic tale
that is as old as time itself. It is a place for us to linger amid all the drama and trauma that life brings our way.
STEP THREE: RESPOND IN PRAYER
Gracious God, let me find a place of shelter in your Word. Let me trust in your promises and dwell in the sure and certain hope that you will always be near to me to comfort, correct, guide, challenge, and resurrect. Through Jesus, amen.
Permission granted to share with friends and family. Copyrighted 2019. Walt Lichtenberger