2nd Epiphany
Luke 2, 41-52
Every year his [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem
for the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they took him
with them. Now after they had gone there and fulfilled the custom during the
days of the feast, they set off on their way home. But the boy Jesus remained
behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; they thought he was among
the company of the travelers. After a day’s journey they missed him among their
friends and relations. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem
to look for him.
After three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in
the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And
those who heard him were amazed at his mature understanding and his answers.
And when they saw him, they were taken aback, and
his mother said to him, “My child, why have you done this to us? Behold, your
father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
And he said to them, “Why did you look for me? Did
you not know that I must be and live in that which is my Father’s?”
But they did not understand the meaning of the
words he spoke to them. And he went down with them again to Nazareth and
followed them willingly in all things.
And his mother carefully kept all these things living in
her heart. And Jesus progressed in wisdom, in maturity and grace [favor] in the
sight of God and man.
2nd Epiphany Sunday
Luke 2: 41 – 52
It is such an everyday occurrence that it fails perhaps to
amaze: after sending out green leaf after green leaf, suddenly something new
appears—a complete change of form and color into blossom; and further on, a change
into fruit. Nothing in the leaf predicts these changes.
Human lives too often undergo astounding transformations.
The child who year after year just grows bigger suddenly transforms into a
stranger. Or years of doing the same thing as an adult result in a change of
career. Or a chance encounter turns the direction of a life.
This archetypal pattern was taken up by the young Jesus and
guided into
As an infant he had received from the three Magi three inner
gifts: the radiant gold of wisdom; religious devotion in fragrant frankincense,
and the healing capacity in self-sacrifice in bitter-sweet myrrh.
Through the youth’s own inner efforts, these gifts progress
into the all-embracing world knowledge of his people. His reverence develops
into devotion to both his Heavenly Father and his earthly parents. And despite
the glorious revelation of his nature in the Temple , his capacity for mature and wise
self-sacrifice returns him to his humble home in quiet beauty and grace.
He achieves wisdom, maturity and grace through his active
struggle to balance the inner demands of a changing soul with the requirements
of earthly life.
There are times in our lives when we humbly and patiently
send out our green leaves, building a sustaining inner and outer structure.
Then comes the moment of blossoming revelation, when our work shows its true
purpose, embedded in a greater whole. We continue then to develop fruitfulness, not so
much for ourselves, as for nourishing and sustaining others, for life itself.
Wisdom, maturity and grace are the fruits of the soul’s
work, the signs of an individual in alignment with both self and the world. One
day this young man, by dint of his own work on himself to produce wisdom,
maturity, and grace, would be qualified to say, “A good tree cannot bear bad
fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit… You shall recognize them by their
fruits.” Matthew 7:18-20
