The Meaning of the Magi

2 Christmas B January 3, 2021
Jeremiah 31:7-14   Ps 
Eph. 1:3-6,15-19a Matthew 2:1-12

Lectionary Link

   I hate to do this, but I have to deconstruct or de-mystify the prevailing notions regarding the magi, the Wisemen from the East, who also came to have the names of Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior.    Were there just three travellers?  Probably not, since three people probably would have travelled in a protective caravan entourage across the desert for protection.  Why do we say there are three wisemen?  We infer that because there were three gifts there were only three magi.  But of course that does not logically follow.  Were the Christmas travelers magi and kings?  Well no, because the Gospel does not indicate that they were kings.   How did they become kings?  From references in the Hebrew Scriptures about all kings paying homage to a special person, it was inferred that these travelers had to be kings and so we have the famous song, "We three Kings of Orient Are," even though it is no longer politically correct to call Asia, the Orient.  Most every Christmas Pageant has the Magi arriving at the stable, but this violates the text.  The Magi actually visited the Christ Child in a house in Bethlehem after the birth.  Alas, the poor Pageant director cannot do an entire scenery change in the chancel of the church on Christmas Eve, so the magi end up having the stable as their final destination.  Directorial license is taken.

   And the costume designers for the Pageant demand that the magi be three kings.  It allows them to go wild with luxurious costumes for the three kings.  Why would you want three poor scholarly wisemen coming to the manger?  Such plain costumes would take away color from the pageant.

So, we've deconstructed our common visions of the Magi.  What was the meaning of the Magi within the messaging of the early Matthean churches?

The story of the Magi illustrates what was happening within the Jesus Movement.  God-fearing non-Jewish people were having their faith validated within the group of people who were followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

The followers of Jesus, were those who traced their roots to Jesus of Nazareth and they highlighted his special mission with a certain strain within the Hebrew Scriptures.  What was this strain?  It was the universal strain of Judaism. The prophets believed the Temple to be a House of Prayer for all people, not just the people of Israel.  The prophets believed the one God was available to foreigners like the Ninevites.  The prophets believed that God's covenant to Israel was to be the means of delivering the message to the entire world.

And when religious people do not practice the universal accessibility of God, there needs to some more messaging.  The message of Jesus Christ did not come to nullify the mission of the Jews and Judaism; it came to say there was another mission to make the universality of God more accessible to people who could not locate themselves completely within ritual adherence to Judaism.

What do you do to God-fearing seekers who are different from you and not acquainted with all of your ritual customs?  You find a way to indicate to them that they are desirous to connect with the image of God on their lives as it is known in the eternal Word Christ within them.

God-fearing seekers may travel far beyond their own limiting situation to make a journey.  Even we who think that we have found God and God has found us, still need to be God-fearing seekers on a journey deeper into a further realization of God.

The meaning of the Magi is that people who once were regarded as foreign and not God-approved by a certain group of people of God,  became accepted and regarded by God and by a community of welcoming people.

The meaning of the Magi continues through out the history of the church.  The meaning of the Magi continues within the church for people who have sought God and yet who have not been properly regarded with full grace status within the church.

Imagine all of the "superior colonial" missionaries bringing the message of God's love in Christ to people of color all over the world.  Imagine missionaries who brought the message of the love of Christ to people of color but who could not admit people of color to the level of dignity which they themselves held.

Just think about all slaves who professed and sang the love of Jesus and yet who were for so long not allowed the basic dignity of Jesus?  Imagine Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, Black Americans who were called to be ordained minister, being denied their recognized call for so long by "white churches?"  They were Magi worshipping the birth of Christ in their souls but not recognized in the equal call of God's Spirit on their lives.

Think about all of the women, gay persons who have been baptized in churches but who have been told that all of the sacraments are not open to them, like marriage and ordination.  What kind of sacramental justice is there if so many people know a deep call to these sacramental ministries and yet are denied by church policies which still have not caught up to universal availability of the call of God.

Remember Herod?  In the magi story, Herod is the person who feigns interests in the Christ Child and tries to use the magi as spies to do something devious.

How often has the church been willing to live off the gifts and the money of baptized person but then deny those same people the fullness of calling within the ministries of the church? We know the blessing of having opened up the ordained ministry to women and gay persons in the Episcopal Church, but do you know how much of a controversy and a scandal such ministries remain for many people who call themselves Christians?

The meaning of the Magi continues today.  People who are God fearers inside and outside of the church are looking for validation and welcome in community.  And we need to understand our identity as a community to be those who welcome the regarded foreigner and outsider to the community of Christ.  

The meaning of the Magi for us should also be personal.  You and I are to be the wise persons still on our journey to what is yet new in our spiritual journey.  We may have arrived at the place of the birth of Christ within us; we need to journey to those other sites of the growing up of the presence of Christ within us toward spiritual maturity.

May God help us be magi on a quest of further reading the signs of God in our circumstances; but let us also be magi who are always welcoming other magi who seek to find God's presence born within them as the awareness of the Risen Christ.  

Let us live the meaning of the Magi in our lives today, both as continual seekers on a journey, but also as those who are open to accept the full validity of other seekers who may be different from us.  Amen.

Sunday School, January 3, 2021 2 Christmas B

 Sunday School, January 3, 2021    2 Christmas B

Sunday School

Taking a long trip

Did you ever drive on a long trip with your family for a special vacation?  To Disneyland?  Disneyworld?  Lego Land?  

Do you remember the trip?  Do you remember how excited you were as you waited to arrive at your destination?

The story of the Magi or Wise Men is about three people who took a long trip because they could not wait to arrive at special event, the event of the birth of a very special person who would change their lives and the life of this world.

The Magi or Wise men were foreigners.  They came from other countries to travel to Bethlehem to see Jesus.

This journey is the story of the early church.  The early church was a large group of foreigners who left their homes and their ways of living with the gods of the Roman Empire and they accepted the God who was known to them because of Jesus Christ.  They experienced the birth of Jesus Christ into their lives and so they gave everything, all of the most important gifts of their lives to follow Jesus Christ and to share this message of the Gospel to everyone.

Remember that sometimes we have to take journeys to reach important destinations in our lives.  We have to take a journey through school and education to learn important things which will make ourselves better.

Think about your life as a journey.  The star of God is leading you to new discoveries in your life.  We celebrate the story of the Wise Men because it shows us that we are on a journey to know what the birth of Christ means in our life.

Sermon

  Is Christmas over?  Yes and No.  Christmas Day is gone but the season of Christmas last for 12 days.  Perhaps you’ve heard the song about the 12 days of Christmas.  The song is about getting to open one Christmas gift for each day of the Christmas season.  How many of you opened all of your Christmas Gift on Christmas day?  How many of you adults said in July after buying something expensive,”   Dear this is my Christmas and birthday gift?”  How romantic!

  So today is the 12th day of the Christmas Season and when will the Christmas Season end?  It  will end tonight at midnight because, do you know what tomorrow is called?  It is called The Epiphany.  And what season begins on The Epiphany?  Epiphany.

  Today we have read about the wise men who came to see the baby Jesus.  Did any of you play a wise man in the Christmas Pageant?  What did the wise men bring the baby Jesus?  They brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Most of us might like gold for a gift…but frankincense and myrrh?  It depends upon how much one is into aroma therapy to appreciate those two gifts.

  How many of you like getting gifts at Christmas?  Well, if you like getting gifts at Christmas then you should thank the wise men, because they are the ones who inspired giving gifts at Christmas.  So let us say to the wise men.  Thank you for starting the gift tradition.

  But the wise men are not just important for the giving of gifts at Christmas time.  They are important for something else.

  Did you know that the wise men were from a different country than Jesus?  And they travelled a long distance to come and visit him.

  Let me ask you a question.  Do you like chocolate?  How many people in this room like chocolate?  If someone who had never had chocolate came to visit us, should we let them have chocolate?  Why should we share our chocolate?  If is it good an sweet, why should we share it?  Does everyone have the right to taste and enjoy chocolate?

Now if we like chocolate and if we should share chocolate with everyone, what about God?

  If we know that God is close to us, should we let everyone know that God is close to them to?  Or should we hide it from them.  Should we let other people know that God loves them and is close to them too?  Why?  Because the best things in life have to be shared with everyone.  The wise men were looking for the best thing in life and they came a long distance to find it.  They found the best person in life in Jesus Christ who is person who taught us that God is very close to us and who taught us that God loves us.  Should we keep that a secret or should we share it?  Just like everyone should be able to enjoy chocolates, everyone should be able to know that God loves them and that God is close to their lives.  That is one of the meanings of the story of the wise men today.  Let us remember that God’s love is for everyone even for the people whom we don’t know.  So let us always be ready to share God’s love with the new people we meet.

Intergenerational Holy Eucharist

January 3, 2021: The Second Sunday after Christmas

Gathering Songs:

 We Three Kings of Orient Are, Away in a Manger

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

People: And Blessed be God’s Kingdom, Now and forever. Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: We Three Kings ( Blue Hymnal # 128)

1-We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain moor and mountain, following yonder star.  O, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!

2-Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain, gold I bring to crown him again, King for every ceasing never, over us all to reign. O, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God,  you have wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: All us to share in the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our human life, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

Liturgist: A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Please join in reading from Psalm 84

How dear to me is your dwelling, O LORD of hosts! * My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.

The sparrow has found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young; * by the side of your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

Happy are they who dwell in your house! * they will always be praising you.

Litany of Thanksgiving: Chant: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

In the time of King Herod  when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him honor to this king of the Jews." When King Herod, who was also called the King of the Jews, heard this, he was frightened, and as well as the people of Jerusalem.  He called together all the chief priests and scribes of the people and he asked them where the Messiah was to be born.  They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search for the child; and when you have found him, come and tell me so I can go honor him too. When they had heard the king, the wisemen went in the direction of the star until it stopped over the place where the baby Jesus lay. The wisemen were joyful to arrive at their destination. They enter the house and they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and honored him.  Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod so they left for their own country without telling Herod where the Christ child could be found. 

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory: Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Song: We Three Kings (Blue Hymnal # 128, vss.3-4)

3-Frankincense to offer have I: incense owns a Deity nigh; prayer and praising gladly raising, worship him, God most hight. O, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!

4-Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom; sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb. O, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we can know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as this food and drink that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments) 

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Away in a Manger

1-Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.  The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay, the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

2-The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.  I love thee, Lord Jesus!  Look down from the sky, and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

3-Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay close by me for ever and love me I pray.  Bless all the dear children in thy tender care, and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: We Three Kings (Blue Hymnal # 128, verse 5)

5-Glorious now behold him arise, King and God and sacrifice; heaven sings alleluia: alleluia the earth replies. O, star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright; westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light!

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.  

People: Thanks be to God!  

Jesus, on the Eve of Bar Mitzvah?

2 Christmas  B January 4, 2014 
Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 84 or 84:1-8
Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a  Luke 2:41-52
 
Lectionary Link

    As parents, when our children are born we imagine having the problems which Mary and Joseph had with their young son Jesus.  We can imagine that our children are prodigies until we settle for what children are in the proverbial "Lake Wobegon" where all the children are above average.

  What does a parent do with a genius child?  Can you imagine the adults in the life of Wolfgang Mozart?  He was composing as a child without struggle and it all seemed to come so easy.  What about when children are better in some skills than adults?  How do parents live with this situation?

  Today's Gospel lesson about the 12 year old boy Jesus is something like the story of a prodigy and the concept of the  movie  "Home Alone."  This was a long time before there was a Jerusalem Child Protective Services.  When Mary and Joseph were traveling in a caravan of people, they relied upon their prodigy son to meet up with the caravan and they assumed their village would help raise their son but about a day's trip from Jerusalem, Jesus could not be found in the caravan.  Mary and Joseph then had to make a day’s trip back to Jerusalem and then take three more days to finally find their son Jesus in the temple participating in the a typical question and answer session with the resident teachers of the Torah.

  Jesus was 12 when this took place.  The typical age for the bar mitzvah is thirteen.  The coming age rite was better defined in Talmudic times of the 3rd to 6th century but the Talmud was a time when the Oral Tradition of the Torah was finally written down.  So we have traditions which derive from the great rabbis of the time of Jesus, the schools of Hillel and Shammai.  Jesus in the temple was probably in the middle of a discussion between the various schools of rabbinical thought.  One of the discussion had to do with who should be taught the Torah.  One school thought that everyone should be taught the Torah whereas others thought that it was for those with a more special calling.  One could in an anachronistic sense call this unique story about the young Jesus when he was on  the eve of his bar mitzvah.  In a typical bar mitzvah the father of the boy makes a prayer of thanksgiving for being relieved of responsibility for the conduct of the boy because the boy has now been given responsibility for his own actions.  In the Gospel story it seems as though Jesus is willing to take that responsibility before his father and mother want him to.

  In the exchange of Jesus with his anxious and upset parent, his sayings are quite puzzling and if Jesus was perfect, I guess we would want to say he was also perfectly, adolescent in his aspirations to be older than others were going to allow him to be.  In his response he is really pushing the limits on the fifth commandment about honoring one's father and mother.

  "Mom and Dad, you are upset about me not returning to your home.  I am home right here in the Temple.  This is my Father's house and I must be about my Father 's business."

  Wow!  Poor Joseph just wanted Jesus to get back to the carpenter shop and work on mitering with his saw cuts.  And here Jesus wants to be an academic.  He wants to hang out with the teachers of the Torah.  And the amazing thing about Jesus is that he clearly has the aptitude for it even at the age of 12.

  What are we to make of this lone Gospel story about Jesus as a child?  What are we to make of the seeming separation of himself from his earthly parents and their home in Nazareth?

  This story functions within a constellation of puzzling "family value" statements attributed to Jesus during his ministry.  “If you don't leave family and home and follow me, you can't be my disciples.  Who is my mother, brother or sister?  The one who does the Father's will.  If you don't hate your family you can't be my disciple.”

  One of reason we are such Trinitarians as Christians is because of the sayings of Jesus.  With Jesus we arrive at the Fatherization of God.  I think that the rather enigmatic and shocking family value statements of Jesus represent the conditions of the formative eras of the Christian faith.  To be truthful, the Gospels represent sayings which pertain to the controversies within Judaism which led to the separation of Christianity from Judaism.  The Gospel represents time when families and communities were divided by their religious loyalties and commitment.  The disagreement led to open division between families and communities.  So the strong bonds of the natural family which would give advocacy to each family member within society had to give way to a spiritual family whereby a person gave up one's natural family for one's spiritual family.  And in this new family, one recognized God as one's Father and primary parent.

  This is hard for us to understand since we understand religion and faith to be something which is taught and shared in one's own family.  We understand like the Jews of old, the deep ethnic bonds of religious faith.

  But this is not the formative experience of the Gospel era and so we have their quite shocking family value statements which begin even when Jesus was a young boy.

  So how do you I and process this message today?  We survey it and ask ourselves how it applies to us and our modern life experience?

  Each of us like Jesus need to know that God is our heavenly parent and that we dwell in this world as God's house.  Adult and mature spirituality happens when we are not dependent or over determined by our parents views but when we have learn to transact with God as the one who becomes the one who "determines" our life.  This is a liberating experience of Christian adulthood; no longer either blaming our parents for our problems or simply parroting their faith views; but rather truly coming to know that God is the determining one in our lives.

  The other thing for us to learn from the ironic family value tradition of the Gospel is this: sometimes we have to part company with people close to us in order to obey God and make a creative advance in our lives of faith.  It is wonderful if our parents and friends do not assert themselves as competitors to our obedience to God but this is not always the case.

  So this story about Jesus as a child prodigy exists and functions within this ironic family value tradition of Gospel communities which were being formed within the crucible of division from Judaism.  We have to be honest about this to be honest to the Gospels, but we also have to be honest to come to know our identity as sons and daughters of God in the events of our own personal spiritual breakthroughs  And this is the greatest things which our brother Jesus taught us, even when he was but a child of twelve.  Amen.