Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 2:41-51a
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031926.cfm
The Passover feasts at the Temple in Jesus’s time included tens of thousands of people. Luke says that it was something that Jesus and his family did every year. While there were a lot of people, I’m sure there weren’t that many children of Jesus's age that lingered around afterwards engaging with rabbis and other Jewish leaders. And I’m sure none that were impressing the gatherers with their knowledge and understanding. With the way the gospel tells the story, it sounds like it was an exploration and a sharing of faith. Both Jesus and the rabbis had things to learn from each other. It sounds like it was a very engaging conversation, not like the challenges and disagreements Jesus would have later on in life.
Beyond having Mary and Joseph as devout parents, Jesus was very engaged in his religious tradition and working through their and his understanding of God. I’m sure in the later stories of Jesus in the temple, some of them may have recalled Jesus as a young man. Some of those he was then bumping heads with may have been foundational to his understanding of the Hebrew traditions. While Jesus was divine, if he was also fully human, he would need to be nurtured as we need to be nurtured. He would need to develop and the Temple, these feasts, and rabbis were instrumental in that development. Some of Jesus’s more radical teachings were getting the foundation they needed to come into fruition. Youth tend to be a prophetic voice for the future, and Jesus was demonstrating that voice in the Temple.
Beyond the Temple being God’s seat on Earth within their tradition, Jesus was also at home because of the community that was centered there. Jesus was a kinsman. It was his father’s house because Jesus was able to connect to God there through other people. Jesus was able to share in his faith with others. Jesus got to experience “Two or more gathered in the name of God.”
Not much is documented about Jesus’s upbringing, but this story paints a pretty good picture of how he was truly engaged in his tradition. If Mary and Joseph could lose sight of Jesus for multiple days, you could say that they were in a very trusting community. Jesus was also heavily raised by his community both within Temple and those he and his family traveled with to the Temple. Jesus was given the space to explore and learn from others which benefited Jesus’s ministry in how he understood the vantage point of different people and was able to speak to them from their vantage point.
We focus a lot on Jesus, but these people and their role had an influence on who Jesus became and what he was able to do. They were all part of his formation. We all have our place, serve our role, and have the ability to influence and impact future generations for the better or for worse. The kingdom of God is built by those who create these spaces for future generations to learn, explore, and to teach us. It's a balancing act, and we shouldn’t be surprised if we are like the rabbis in the temple who helped nurture and then eventually opposed. May we keep an open-mind to see when the next generation rightfully surpasses as Jesus did within his tradition.
