Greetings beloved,
Today is the Octave of the Epiphany, or the last of the Feast Days of Epiphany. While most Churches are remembering the Baptism of our Lord, I choose to comment on the Gospel reading for today as contained in the 1928 BCP. It is the account of a young Christ in the temple having dialogue with the religious scholars, and it's found in the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 2 verses 41-50. This account is the only glimpse we have in any of the Gospels of Jesus' boyhood.
Following all the events surrounding His birth, St. Luke tells us here that Jesus' parents were leaving Jerusalem after being there for a whole week celebrating the three feasts (the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First-fruits), and going back to Nazareth. Joseph and Mary had been travelling for a full day before they discovered that Jesus wasn't among them. Now they weren't being lax in their parental supervision; they were treating Jesus as an adult, which now that He was a twelve year old their custom demanded, and they thought that Jesus would meet up with them at a given point. When He didn't, they searched for Him among their kinsfolk and then turned and traveled back to Jerusalem to find Him.
After three days (referring to the third day after originally leaving Jerusalem), they found Jesus in the temple sitting in the midst of the most famous bible scholars of the day. St. Luke says that Jesus was, "...both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46,47). Mary who undoubtedly had been worried said to Jesus, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously” to which Jesus replied; “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:48,49). In responding this way, Jesus was in no way discounting His love and loyalty for Joseph, His earthly father. Rather, I believe that Jesus' answer here was inspired by the Holy Spirit to awaken Mary and Joseph to His true mission and purpose, attending to His Heavenly Father's business.
ONE of the key component to living a happy, fulfilling and rewarding life is to live your life with a purpose.... WHY? Because if you are not living a life with any purpose, then you're not getting the most out of life. Instead, you'll be living for the sake of living and in many ways - living the life that other people dictate. Well the truth is, you were made by God and you were made for God. And until you understand that, life isn't going to make much sense. God says in Jeremiah 29:11; "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God has a plan for our lives. We might try to live our lives the way we want to, but we will only really be of great value to anyone when we are doing what God has planned for us, when we are about His business. He has a very important plan for each of us, and God wants us to find it and fulfill it--all with His help, of course! When we discover what God’s business is for us, we find great joy in being what God made us to be. As a matter of fact, we’ll find a lot of satisfaction in doing things we never dreamed of. Are you busy doing your Heavenly Fathers business?
Pray with me... Everlasting Father, we thank you that you have a plan for our lives. Help us to discover Your business plans and and purposes for our lives and help us to be obedient to them. We want to be useful to you. In Jesus’ glorious name we pray. AMEN!
God's blessings to you all,
Fr. Ernest+
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment