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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Duty and Habit February 15, 2010 |
A daily |
Frontline Devotion for Monday, February 15, 2010 by: Fritz Foltz
Luke 2:49 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’
Every since a very young age I have wondered about this puzzling passage. Why in the world would those who put together our canon choose this one, and only this one lifetime experience from Jesus’ birth to thirty years old? It presents Jesus’ parents as neglectful. They did not even miss him for a day and did not find him for three. It presents Jesus as insensitive and disobedient. It is bad enough to disregard telling your parents what you are doing. Jesus tops that off by chastising them for caring.?
There were many other childhood stories that appear in gospels that did not make it into the canon. Why not use them? Well, to be honest they are even worse: Jesus pushes friends from roofs or stretches boards in the carpentry shop after making a false measurement.
It leads many to believe we really do not know anything about Jesus until he comes to John for baptism at about thirty years of age. It appears this story might have been chosen to go along with the ones about his parents doing their religious duties after the birth, such as presenting him at the temple. They also celebrated the Passover feast at the temple at least in his twelfth year. No mighty deeds, no miracles, just a young couple performing their parental duties like we all should. Notice Jesus is portrayed as simply a good student who asks the right questions, because he wants to learn.
I think that is the lesson we are hear. Jesus parents were ordinary parents with the same abilities and responsibilities we all have. They used what they had to do a good job. They brought him up right so at the right time he heard God’s call and began the ministry that changed the world.
I hear too much about miracles, too much about being just common people, and even more too much about letting children make their own decisions for their religious lives.
Becoming a good person is not really about “making a decision” to be good. Becoming a good person is about parents teaching the good life by taking their children regularly to the house of Him who is the Father of us all. “Regularly” is important, because the good life is a habit. We show our children, we inspire our children, so they form proper “habits of the heart”. That way they will know who they are and not have to make decisions in the back seat of car. They will know who God is and so recognize his voice when he calls.
Let us pray: As we prepare for Lent, Father, grant us the
discipline to be regular in our religious duties. Grant this to us all, but
especially to our parents. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.