Dec 21, 2012
Sirach 3:2-6,12-14 | Psalm 128:1-5 | Colossians
3:12-21 | Luke 2:41-52
Why did Jesus choose to become a baby born of a mother and father
and to spend all but His last years living in an ordinary human
family? In part, to reveal God's plan to make all people live as
one "holy family" in His Church (see
2
Corinthians 6:16-18).
In the Holy
Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, God reveals our true home. We're
to live as His children, "chosen ones, holy and beloved," as the
First Reading puts it.
The family advice we hear in today's readings - for mothers,
fathers and children - is all solid and practical. Happy homes are
the fruit of our faithfulness to the Lord, we sing in today's
Psalm. But the Liturgy is inviting us to see more, to see how,
through our family obligations and relationships, our families
become heralds of the family of God that He wants to create on
earth.
Jesus shows us this in today's Gospel. His obedience to His earthly
parents flows directly from His obedience to the will of His
heavenly Father. Joseph and Mary aren't identified by name, but
three times are called "his parents" and are referred to separately
as his "mother" and "father." The emphasis is all on their
"familial" ties to Jesus. But these ties are emphasized only so
that Jesus, in the first words He speaks in Luke's Gospel, can
point us beyond that earthly relationship to the Fatherhood of
God.
In what Jesus calls "My Father's house," every family finds its
true meaning and purpose (see
Ephesians 3:15). The Temple we read about in the Gospel
today is God's house, His dwelling (see
Luke 19:46). But it's also an image of the family of
God, the Church (see
Ephesians 2:19-22;
Hebrews 3:3-6;
10:21).
In our families we're to build up this household, this family, this
living temple of God. Until He reveals His new dwelling among us,
and says of every person: "I shall be his God and he will be My
son" (see
Revelation 21:3,7).