Sunday, December 27, 2009

Feast of the Holy Family, 2009

LUKE 2:41-52
WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG, I WOULD SOMETIMES ASK MY MOTHER TO TELL ME A STORY ABOUT WHEN JESUS WAS A BOY. AND SHE WOULD. SHE TOLD ME A STORY ABOUT A TIME WHEN JESUS HAD MADE SOME LITTLE CLAY BIRDS AND SOME OF THE LOCAL BIG KIDS CAME AROUND AND STARTED TO THROW STONES AT THEM, SO JESUS WAVED HIS HAND AND THEY ALL FLEW AWAY. THERE WAS ANOTHER ABOUT HOW JOSEPH AND JESUS HAD ASSEMBLED A BED FOR SOMEONE, AND IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT IT WOULD BE TOO SHORT, SO JESUS PULLED ON ONE END OF THE BED AND IT STRETCHED OUT TO JUST THE RIGHT LENGTH. BUT THE THINGS WE THINK WE KNOW ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE HOLY FAMILY ARE ALMOST ENTIRELY LEGEND AND WISHFUL THINKING. JESUS' GRANDPARENTS ON HIS MOTHER'S SIDE WERE JOACHIM AND ANNA, RIGHT? AND THEY BROUGHT MARY TO THE TEMPLE WHEN SHE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD AND LEFT HER TO BE RAISED BY THE TEMPLE AUTHORITIES. AND WHEN SHE AND JOSEPH MARRIED, HE WAS AN OLD MAN, WITH CHILDREN BY A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE. NO EVIDENCE FOR ANY OF THIS.
THE POINT IS, PEOPLE HAVE A NATURAL TENDENCY TO FILL IN THE BLANKS, AND ALL OF THE ABOVE STORIES WERE IN CIRCULATION IN THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURY. MY MOTHER HEARD THEM FROM HER MOTHER, WHO COULD BARELY READ, AND SHE HEARD THEM FROM WHERE? I DON'T KNOW.
THE STORY WE HEAR TODAY IS IN THE SCRIPTURES. AND IF I ASKED MY MOTHER HOW MARY AND JOSEPH TRAVELED A WHOLE DAY BEFORE NOTICING THAT JESUS WAS MISSING, SHE WOULD HAVE ANSWERED, “IN THOSE DAYS THE WOMEN TRAVELED TOGETHER AND SO DID THE MEN, AND JESUS WAS AT JUST THE AGE WHEN MARY MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED HIM TO BE WITH JOSEPH, AND JOSEPH MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED HIM TO BE WITH MARY. THAT'S ANOTHER STORY THAT GOES WAY BACK. BUT IT ISN'T TRUE. MARRIED COUPLES STAYED TOGETHER ON THOSE JOURNEYS. SO I WONDER HOW THE MOST PERFECT MOTHER THAT EVER WALKED THE EARTH, AND POSSIBLY THE MOST PERFECT HUMAN FATHER, DID NOT NOTICE THAT THEIR SON WAS MISSING? WHEN WE TOOK OUR KIDS TO DISNEYWORLD MANY YEARS AGO WE GOT ON THE MONORAIL AND MOMENTS AFTER WE SAT DOWN, WE NOTICED ONE OF THE KIDS WASN'T WITH US, CAUSING PANIC. I JUMPED OFF AT THE NEXT STOP AND RACED BACK AND FINALLY FOUND THE CHILD SURROUNDED BY A CROWD TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY SHE WAS SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE. SHE OF COURSE WENT ON TO BECOME A LAWYER.
I THINK THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN IS THAT WE NO LONGER LIVE IN A COMMUNITY OF TRUST. MODERN PARENTS WANT TO KNOW AS MUCH AS THEY CAN ABOUT WHERE THEIR CHILDREN ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING. WE WORRY WHEN THEY ARE NOT VISIBLE. WE LEAVE THEM ONLY RELUCTANTLY, AND ONLY WITH SOMEONE WE TRUST. IN OUR INSTITUTIONS, THOSE WHO WORK WITH OUR CHILDREN ARE BACKGROUND-CHECKED, OR THEY CAN'T WORK. IF WE LEAVE A CHILD SLEEPING IN A LOCKED VEHICLE WITH THE WINDOW OPEN ON A PLEASANT SPRING DAY TO DROP OFF A LETTER OR RUN IN TO A DRUGSTORE FOR A MINUTE, WE MAY BE LIABLE TO ARREST. WE DON'T TRUST OUR NEIGHBORS, WE DON'T TRUST OTHER PEOPLE.
IT WAS VERY DIFFERENT IN JESUS' TIME. A TWELVE YEAR OLD BOY IN AN INFORMAL GATHERING OF PEOPLE WALKING BACK TO NAZARETH FROM JERUSALEM COULD WANDER OFF WITH HIS FRIENDS, COULD JOIN ANOTHER FAMILY FOR A WHILE, AND MARY AND JOSEPH KNEW THAT THEIR NEIGHBORS WOULD KEEP AN EYE ON JESUS JUST AS THEY WOULD KEEP AN EYE ON THEIR OWN NEIGHBOR'S CHILDREN. IF A CHILD GOT OUT OF LINE, ANY ADULT WOULD BE EXPECTED TO DISCIPLINE THE CHILD; AND IF A CHILD WAS HURT, OR SEEMED LOST, WELL, THE CHILD WAS A MEMBER OF THE VILLAGE, AND THE NEAREST ADULT WOULD STOP TO HELP. AND AMONG THE JEWS, THERE WAS NO FEAR THAT A CHILD WOULD BE ABDUCTED. THIS MIGHT HAPPEN OUT ON THE FRONTIER, OR IN PAGAN COUNTRY, BUT NOT RIGHT IN THE HEART OF JUDAH WHERE EVERYONE WAS A SON OR DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM.
SO TO ME, THAT MAKES THE MOST SENSE. IT EVEN SEEMS LIKELY THAT THE OLD WISE MEN IN THE TEMPLE WERE ENJOYING THE COMPANY OF THIS VERY BRIGHT CHILD, AND EXPECTED THAT SOONER OR LATER, THE PARENTS WOULD RETRACE THEIR STEPS AND FIND HIM. THIS KIND OF ATTITUDE IS STILL VERY PREVALENT IN THE FEW ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN THE NEW YORK CITY AREA, AND IN OTHER PLACES WHERE THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT COMMUNITIES OF JEWISH PEOPLE.
THE HOLY FAMILY WAS PART OF A FAMILY OF FAMILIES, THE VILLAGE OF NAZARETH; AND THAT IN TURN WAS PART OF A LARGER FAMILY, A FAMILY THAT FELT ITSELF CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER IN A WAY THAT WE NO LONGER CAN EVEN IMAGINE, EXCEPT PERHAPS WITHIN OUR OWN EXTENDED FAMILY. AND HOW MUCH WE NEED TO REGAIN THAT ATTITUDE, IF WE ARE TO AVOID THE ONGOING ALIENATION OF OUR SOCIETY, A SOCIETY THAT FEARS THE WORST FROM IT'S MEMBERS, A SOCIETY WHERE PARENTS GUARD THEIR CHILDREN FROM OTHER ADULTS, WHERE ADULTS DON'T TRUST EACH OTHER, AND WHERE THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS ATTITUDE IS SELFISHNESS, FEAR, ISOLATION, AND LONELINESS.
JESUS OFTEN COMPARED THE COMMUNITY THAT GREW UP AROUND HIM DURING HIS YEARS OF MINISTRY AS A FAMILY. HE SAID THAT THOSE WHO DID THE WILL OF THE FATHER WERE HIS MOTHER AND SISTER AND BROTHER AS WELL. BUILDING UP A COMMUNITY OF TRUST IS SOMETHING OUR PARISH AND OUR CHURCH ARE CALLED TO DO. WE CAN'T DO IT AS INDIVIDUALS, IT IS ONLY SOMETHING WE CAN DO COOPERATIVELY. AND AS WE ALL KNOW, THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO DO TO BUILD A COMMUNITY OF TRUST IS TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER, TO FIND WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER, AND TO MAKE PARISH LIFE, NOT JUST CHURCH ATTENDANCE, A VERY HIGH PRIORITY IN OUR LIVES. WE DON'T DO NEARLY AS WELL IN THIS MISSION AS MANY PEOPLE WHO BELONG TO DIFFERENT WORSHIPPING COMMUNITIES. MAYBE ITS' BECAUSE THEY ARE SMALLER, OR MAYBE ITS' BECAUSE THEY BELONG TO A MINORITY, BUT ITS NO EXCUSE.
SO ON THIS FEAST DAY IN WHICH WE CELEBRATE THE HOLY FAMILY, NOT ONLY SHOULD WE LOOK AT HOW ARE OWN FAMILIES ARE HOLY, BUT WE SHOULD LOOK AT HOW WE CAN MAKE OUR PARISH A COMMUNITY WHERE WE TRUST EACH OTHER, WHERE WE KNOW OUR FELLOW COMMUNICANTS WILL BE AS CARING TOWARDS OUR CHILDREN AS WE ARE; WHERE WE CAN HONESTLY SAY, “I TRUST THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE CATHOLIC.”