“How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

In today’s gospel we hear of the child Jesus and what occurred in Jerusalem in his 12th year. As we know in the Jewish faith a child becomes a full member of the community at 13 years of age. At 13 the child ceased to be a child and became a man, responsible for his actions and a follower of God. In other words he became a son of the covenant or “bar mitzvah” to use the Jewish expression. So in this gospel we meet Jesus as a child.

If you look at the gospel reading carefully you will be struck by the notion of obedience permeating the entire gospel reading. Indeed, obedience occurs on a number of levels. There is the obedience to the natural biological law by Jesus who took on a human body. There is obedience to the old covenant by Joseph and Mary in going to Jerusalem for the Passover. There is obedience to God, the Father, by Jesus who preached in the temple, and there is obedience by Jesus to his to parents.

Let us now look at what obedience means. St John Climicus states that “as flower comes before every fruit, so exile of body or will proceeds all obedience”. Total obedience involves a total renunciation of our own life. We no longer have our own needs and desires central in our life. Further obedience involves the burial of our will and the resurrection of our humility. Without humility you really have nothing – and humility requires that we no longer put our needs and desires first. Indeed, to obey, with all deliberateness, is to put aside the capacity to make one’s own judgement, for a judgement where we put ourselves first is no real judgement at all. Finally, obedience arises out of true love to the one to be obeyed. Obedience, in short, is the journey of the soul towards salvation.

The young Jesus that we meet in this gospel brings into focus the two natures of Christ – the divine and human. Christ, who we are reminded in John’s gospel, was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made, submitted to the biological needs of the human body and to its natural growth. In other words, the Christ as baby, as infant and later as child was totally dependent upon his earthly parents Mary and Joseph for his earthly survival. There could be no greater self emptying or kenosis than this – for Christ to take the form of a baby and to submit to the need to grow just as each one of us grows from babyhood, childhood and to adulthood. If we think about how totally dependent upon our parents we were when we were young for our each and every need to be met then we may begin to get some insight as to the nature of the self emptying of Christ in taking human form. Thus Christ, as king of all, still followed the natural biological laws that apply to all of creation.

We also have obedience in relation to the Jewish faith. We are told as was the custom Jesus went with his parents to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. The old Testament required all Jews to attend Jerusalem, and especially the firstborn males as well, in commemorating the Passover of their escape out of Egypt. You can imagine how hectic Jerusalem would have become with crowds swelling the local Jerusalem citizens, in order to follow the word of the law and to be present for the Passover. Attendance in Jerusalem for the Passover was obligatory if it was possible for Jewish male adults to attend. The distance between Nazareth and Jerusalem is approximately 103km, so you can imagine it was several days walking distance for Joseph and his family. However, in obedience to the religious law Joseph took his family to observe Passover in Jerusalem.

We are told in the gospel narrative that somehow Jesus separated from his parents. No doubt they would have been frantic with worry to find their son. On the third day they located him in the temple discoursing with rabbis. Here, a mere child was causing amazement to the Jewish leaders of the faith by his understanding and his answers to their questions. When Mary chides Christ by saying: “son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously” Jesus responds “how is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” These are the first words recorded by Jesus in the Gospels. They remind us as to whom the father of Jesus truly is. There is a tension in the use of the word father in the gospel, namely in the earthly father, Joseph, and the heavenly Father, God. Christ makes it clear that his obedience is ultimately to God. Further, Jesus was a teacher in his public ministry and in order to be able to teach Jesus must have first been able to learn. And where better to learn but in this father’s house. No wonder he was found in his father’s house.

Jesus however returned to Nazareth and was obedient to his parents. There, Christ submitted to the will of his parents and was cared for by them. As an obedient child Jesus followed in the footsteps of Joseph and became a carpenter. Certainly he continued to learn at the feet of his parents and was able to reference those teachings in his public ministry.

Obedience is something that we can all have more of. As parents we want to ensure that our children are obedient in all things. We want this because experience has taught us that the values of our parents are universal values that we all ultimately aspire to. Each parent wants to impart the discipline of obedience on their children so they can become proper citizens of the world and children of God. It occurs to me that as parents we have the responsibility to ensure that children have proper Christian values and Christian love for themselves and for each other. One sure way of achieving this is to encourage our children or our children’s children to come to church to listen to the word of God. We do not expect children to learn about God through learning rules, however we expect them to learn to love God and then learn the rules as a result of their love for God. The greatest treasure a parent or grandparent can have is to have their offspring in prayer beside them at church. Perhaps, on the first day of the calendar year we can resolve that we will encourage our children and their children to attend church with us in 2012.

Christ said this is my Father’s house. Christ also said we are all children of God. This makes us, in Christ, brothers and sisters. Thus, through Christ, this church is our father’s house for each and every one of us. Let us all come to our father’s house with love for each other and for God. Amen.