Dylan's lectionary blog

Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C

Luke 2:41 - 52 - link to NRSV text

There's a lot of evidence that the author of the Gospel According to Luke modeled the gospel after Greco-Roman biographies of philosophers that were popular at the time. Folks in the first century Mediterranean world looked for different things in biographies than people in my culture do. In my culture, we love biographies (and urban legends) with surprising twists: the future physics genius who flunked math all the way through school, the party boy who suddenly discovers a sense of purpose and becomes U.S. president, the art-school dropout who becomes the renowned master, the ugly duckling who becomes a supermodel. First-century biographies weren't like that; they generally showed how the subject was born under a configuration of stars that determined s/he was going to be a certain way, and then that s/he was that way ever since birth.

So here, in Luke's gospel, we have an early indication of Jesus' character. And according to the values of Jesus' culture, Jesus is big trouble from the first time we see him able to form a sentence. Jesus is no poster child for what is popularly called "family values" here, any more than he is through the rest of the gospel. In Jesus' culture, sons were expected to stay with their parents, to care for them until they died, and then to make sure they had a proper and honorable burial. The ties between blood kin were of paramount importance, and Romans and Jews alike took a son's responsibility to his parents with utmost seriousness.

But here, Jesus acts as if Mary and Joseph weren't his parents at all, and he's not showing any more respect for Mary here than he is toward Joseph. Jesus takes off without so much as a word to do what he thinks is important, and when his exasperated parents finally find him, he doesn't apologize. He makes clear where he thinks his allegiance lies -- not toward his blood family, but toward God. His leaving his family at age twelve foreshadows how he will leave his family to proclaim the urgent Good News he has to share after his baptism.

As the story continues, Jesus will have some harsh things to say about family ties. In Luke 8:19-21, Jesus says that his mother and brothers are not those related to him by blood, but are "those who hear the word of God and do it." In Luke 12:49-53, Jesus says that he came to divide father from son and mother from daughter. In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus criticizes those who would take care of their parents until they died, or even those who would say goodbye to their families before leaving to travel with Jesus, as unfit for the Kingdom of God. In Luke 14:26, Jesus says that "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, that person cannot be my disciple." The list could go on ... it's not the stuff of Mother's Day sermons.

Where's the good news in that? It isn't that there's some strange definition of Greek words in which "hate" really means "to love less than," or "you're not my mother" becomes an expression of deep respect. In Jesus' teaching, blood ties don't get much respect. But one way to put the Good News is that "water is thicker than blood." Our ties to one another in our shared Baptism are deeper and stronger than ties of shared genes or shared addresses. The hard news is that following Jesus may well call us to behave in ways that don't gel well with our cultural values, any more than following Jesus went well with cultural values in the first-century Mediterranean world. It's gonna cost. But the Good News is that as Jesus' followers, we have not only God our Father (and, to use Julian of Norwich's wonderful image, Christ our Mother) in heaven to whom we can turn, but we are a part of a vast family of sisters and brothers on earth, people who are under the same holy obligation we are to nurture and support and challenge one another to grow. We have a friend in Jesus, and a tribe in our fellow-seekers. And even we seekers who are related to one another by blood have the opportunity and the freedom to relate to one another in new ways.

We may even find, as the teachers of the Law in those Temple courts found in today's gospel, that our children have something to teach us. Sometimes, it takes the kind of dislocation Jesus prescribes from old ways of relating to one another to open our ears and our hearts to receive what others have to teach us, to receive the blessings and the deep joy that comes with following Jesus.

Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C

Luke 2:41 - 52 - link to NRSV text

There's a lot of evidence that the author of the Gospel According to Luke modeled the gospel after Greco-Roman biographies of philosophers that were popular at the time. Folks in the first century Mediterranean world looked for different things in biographies than people in my culture do. In my culture, we love biographies (and urban legends) with surprising twists: the future physics genius who flunked math all the way through school, the party boy who suddenly discovers a sense of purpose and becomes U.S. president, the art-school dropout who becomes the renowned master, the ugly duckling who becomes a supermodel. First-century biographies weren't like that; they generally showed how the subject was born under a configuration of stars that determined s/he was going to be a certain way, and then that s/he was that way ever since birth.

So here, in Luke's gospel, we have an early indication of Jesus' character. And according to the values of Jesus' culture, Jesus is big trouble from the first time we see him able to form a sentence. Jesus is no poster child for what is popularly called "family values" here, any more than he is through the rest of the gospel. In Jesus' culture, sons were expected to stay with their parents, to care for them until they died, and then to make sure they had a proper and honorable burial. The ties between blood kin were of paramount importance, and Romans and Jews alike took a son's responsibility to his parents with utmost seriousness.

But here, Jesus acts as if Mary and Joseph weren't his parents at all, and he's not showing any more respect for Mary here than he is toward Joseph. Jesus takes off without so much as a word to do what he thinks is important, and when his exasperated parents finally find him, he doesn't apologize. He makes clear where he thinks his allegiance lies -- not toward his blood family, but toward God. His leaving his family at age twelve foreshadows how he will leave his family to proclaim the urgent Good News he has to share after his baptism.

As the story continues, Jesus will have some harsh things to say about family ties. In Luke 8:19-21, Jesus says that his mother and brothers are not those related to him by blood, but are "those who hear the word of God and do it." In Luke 12:49-53, Jesus says that he came to divide father from son and mother from daughter. In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus criticizes those who would take care of their parents until they died, or even those who would say goodbye to their families before leaving to travel with Jesus, as unfit for the Kingdom of God. In Luke 14:26, Jesus says that "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, that person cannot be my disciple." The list could go on ... it's not the stuff of Mother's Day sermons.

Where's the good news in that? It isn't that there's some strange definition of Greek words in which "hate" really means "to love less than," or "you're not my mother" becomes an expression of deep respect. In Jesus' teaching, blood ties don't get much respect. But one way to put the Good News is that "water is thicker than blood." Our ties to one another in our shared Baptism are deeper and stronger than ties of shared genes or shared addresses. The hard news is that following Jesus may well call us to behave in ways that don't gel well with our cultural values, any more than following Jesus went well with cultural values in the first-century Mediterranean world. It's gonna cost. But the Good News is that as Jesus' followers, we have not only God our Father (and, to use Julian of Norwich's wonderful image, Christ our Mother) in heaven to whom we can turn, but we are a part of a vast family of sisters and brothers on earth, people who are under the same holy obligation we are to nurture and support and challenge one another to grow. We have a friend in Jesus, and a tribe in our fellow-seekers. And even we seekers who are related to one another by blood have the opportunity and the freedom to relate to one another in new ways.

We may even find, as the teachers of the Law in those Temple courts found in today's gospel, that our children have something to teach us. Sometimes, it takes the kind of dislocation Jesus prescribes from old ways of relating to one another to open our ears and our hearts to receive what others have to teach us, to receive the blessings and the deep joy that comes with following Jesus.

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Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C

Luke 2:41 - 52 - link to NRSV text

There's a lot of evidence that the author of the Gospel According to Luke modeled the gospel after Greco-Roman biographies of philosophers that were popular at the time. Folks in the first century Mediterranean world looked for different things in biographies than people in my culture do. In my culture, we love biographies (and urban legends) with surprising twists: the future physics genius who flunked math all the way through school, the party boy who suddenly discovers a sense of purpose and becomes U.S. president, the art-school dropout who becomes the renowned master, the ugly duckling who becomes a supermodel. First-century biographies weren't like that; they generally showed how the subject was born under a configuration of stars that determined s/he was going to be a certain way, and then that s/he was that way ever since birth.

So here, in Luke's gospel, we have an early indication of Jesus' character. And according to the values of Jesus' culture, Jesus is big trouble from the first time we see him able to form a sentence. Jesus is no poster child for what is popularly called "family values" here, any more than he is through the rest of the gospel. In Jesus' culture, sons were expected to stay with their parents, to care for them until they died, and then to make sure they had a proper and honorable burial. The ties between blood kin were of paramount importance, and Romans and Jews alike took a son's responsibility to his parents with utmost seriousness.

But here, Jesus acts as if Mary and Joseph weren't his parents at all, and he's not showing any more respect for Mary here than he is toward Joseph. Jesus takes off without so much as a word to do what he thinks is important, and when his exasperated parents finally find him, he doesn't apologize. He makes clear where he thinks his allegiance lies -- not toward his blood family, but toward God. His leaving his family at age twelve foreshadows how he will leave his family to proclaim the urgent Good News he has to share after his baptism.

As the story continues, Jesus will have some harsh things to say about family ties. In Luke 8:19-21, Jesus says that his mother and brothers are not those related to him by blood, but are "those who hear the word of God and do it." In Luke 12:49-53, Jesus says that he came to divide father from son and mother from daughter. In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus criticizes those who would take care of their parents until they died, or even those who would say goodbye to their families before leaving to travel with Jesus, as unfit for the Kingdom of God. In Luke 14:26, Jesus says that "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, that person cannot be my disciple." The list could go on ... it's not the stuff of Mother's Day sermons.

Where's the good news in that? It isn't that there's some strange definition of Greek words in which "hate" really means "to love less than," or "you're not my mother" becomes an expression of deep respect. In Jesus' teaching, blood ties don't get much respect. But one way to put the Good News is that "water is thicker than blood." Our ties to one another in our shared Baptism are deeper and stronger than ties of shared genes or shared addresses. The hard news is that following Jesus may well call us to behave in ways that don't gel well with our cultural values, any more than following Jesus went well with cultural values in the first-century Mediterranean world. It's gonna cost. But the Good News is that as Jesus' followers, we have not only God our Father (and, to use Julian of Norwich's wonderful image, Christ our Mother) in heaven to whom we can turn, but we are a part of a vast family of sisters and brothers on earth, people who are under the same holy obligation we are to nurture and support and challenge one another to grow. We have a friend in Jesus, and a tribe in our fellow-seekers. And even we seekers who are related to one another by blood have the opportunity and the freedom to relate to one another in new ways.

We may even find, as the teachers of the Law in those Temple courts found in today's gospel, that our children have something to teach us. Sometimes, it takes the kind of dislocation Jesus prescribes from old ways of relating to one another to open our ears and our hearts to receive what others have to teach us, to receive the blessings and the deep joy that comes with following Jesus.