Already rebellious: Particular Vocation
(Lk 2:41-51)
The family is the nucleus of society and the privileged place of educational risk, not the only one.
It is a precious stage of growth, but it must not hinder the blossoming into the universal dimension.
The movement of Salvation familiarises everyone with the dynamics of being lost [from narrowness] and found [of a Presence within narrowness] in order not to narrow horizons.
The complacent retreat into the world of kinship affections and interests reduces the dimension of vital frontiers, making personal and household life narrow; cultural, social and spiritual.
The home hearth must integrate them into the community, and introduce young people to the knowledge of the innate character of their vocation, so that as they grow up they become available and mature in an ever wider reality.
The family that becomes a trampoline preludes detachment, which in its cut will be painful for all - but it will become a taking flight from the protected nest that enslaves; a leap towards the freedom of full life.
The Gospel passage is disconcerting because it seems to portray a distracted family and an already grumpy and rebellious Jesus.
Lk writes more than half a century after the Lord's death and resurrection.
The tragic story of the Master is understood and internalised in a way that perhaps Joseph and Mary could not yet have guessed in their adolescence.
Recognising Jesus as the Son of God from the age of twelve meant in the literature of the time "covering" his whole life [cf. Lk 24].
It seems that the holy family went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover (v.41).
Before they became adults in Israel and required to observe the Torah (13 years old), our teenager already shows signs of a special vocation.
The tone of the narration reveals a Jesus eager to drink in and immerse himself in the as yet unexpressed Mystery of the Father.
Dreaming of discovering his Will, he stays in the holy city to deeply understand the Word of God - without being satisfied with impersonal, abbreviated catechisms.
The first expressions of Jesus in the third Gospel mark the character of his whole life. He decisively distances himself from the religiosity of his fathers (v.49).
He begins to distance himself from the ideas common even to his family of origin: he does not belong to a defined clan.
His will be a divine proposal on behalf of all the women and men of the world.
In this sense, Jesus even more honoured his parents' faithfulness to God (vv.51-52) by accepting the entire spirit of their teachings, and digging deeper - intuiting their ultimate meaning.
As if to say: in Him, the sacred Scriptures become accessible, with the key to understanding His whole story and Person.
Life for us (even before Baptism and the public affair).
Lk writes to encourage believers who did not yet understand everything about the new Rabbi.
Like Joseph and Mary, they had to realise that it is not easy to understand the Son of God and accept his uniqueness of character, even to the point of earthly defeat.
In the figure of the holy family, we too are invited to "return to Jerusalem" (v.45).
Here, by observing the autonomy of Christ, we will gradually be able to open ourselves to the unprecedented vocation that we carry within - because we have been "reborn" in Him.
And in the face of bewildering events, we learn to cherish the personal calling - like Mary.
For she too did not find it easy to enter his Passover: the "passage" from the religion of traditions and expectations to Faith in the Son.
But they "kept through" the Word and events (v.51b), without stopping in the middle.
The reflective aspect of the House of Nazareth
The house of Nazareth is the school where one is initiated to understand the life of Jesus, that is, the school of the Gospel. Here we learn to observe, to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the meaning so profound and so mysterious of this manifestation of the Son of God so simple, so humble and so beautiful. Perhaps we also learn, almost without realising it, to imitate.Here we learn the method that will enable us to know who Christ is. Here we discover the need to observe the framework of his sojourn among us: that is, the places, the times, the customs, the language, the sacred rites, in short, everything that Jesus used to manifest himself to the world.Here everything has a voice, everything has meaning. Here, at this school, we certainly understand why we must keep a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the doctrine of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ. Oh! how willingly we would like to become children again and put ourselves to this humble and sublime school of Nazareth! How ardently we long to begin again, close to Mary, to learn the true science of life and the superior wisdom of divine truths! But we are but passing through, and it is necessary for us to lay aside the desire to continue to know, in this house, the unfinished formation to the intelligence of the Gospel. However, we will not leave this place without picking up, almost furtively, some brief admonitions from the house of Nazareth.Firstly, it teaches us silence. Oh! would that the appreciation of silence, the admirable and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit, could be reborn in us: while we are stunned by so many noises, rumblings and clamorous voices in the exaggerated and tumultuous life of our time. O Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be firm in good thoughts, intent on the inner life, ready to hear God's secret inspirations and the exhortations of the true teachers. Teach us how important and necessary are the work of preparation, study, meditation, the interiority of life, prayer, which God alone sees in secret.Here we understand the way of life as a family. Nazareth reminds us what the family is, what the communion of love is, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; it shows us how sweet and irreplaceable education in the family is, it teaches us its natural function in the social order. Finally, let us learn the lesson of work. Oh! dwelling place of Nazareth, home of the carpenter's Son! Here above all we wish to understand and celebrate the law, severe of course but redeeming of human toil; here we wish to ennoble the dignity of work so that it is felt by all; to remind us under this roof that work cannot be an end in itself, but that it receives its freedom and excellence, not only from what is called economic value, but also from what turns it to its noble end; Here, finally, we wish to greet the workers of the whole world and show them the great model, their divine brother, the prophet of all the just causes that concern them, that is Christ our Lord.
[Pope Paul VI, Church of the Annunciation Nazareth 5 January 1964]
