Luke 2:22-40
February 2, 2014
A scholar was conducting a study of
an Amish village. The Amish are a branch of the Mennonite church who
live in traditional rural villages far from industrialization and
technology: no computers, televisions, refrigerators and telephones. In his
study of the Amish village school, the researcher noticed that Amish children
never screamed or yelled. That surprised him. So he decided to check it out
with the schoolteacher. He told the teacher that he had not once heard an Amish
child yell, and asked him why that was so. The teacher replied, “Well, have you
ever heard an Amish parent yell?” The inference is clear: Like the parents, so
the children!
We are all familiar with Mother’s
Day and Father’s Day which we celebrate every year. Why is there not a Parents’
Day where we celebrate father and mother together as a couple? Today should be
a good day to focus on both parents together, as we see both parents of Jesus,
Joseph and Mary, together make the long journey to Jerusalem to present their
firstborn child in the Temple as the law of God required. In the image of
Joseph and Mary presenting Jesus in the Temple, we have a wonderful model of
husband and wife united in practicing the faith and in raising their child in
the faith.
We read that “When the time came
for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to
Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (2:22) There is a confusion of detail
here because, according to Jewish law, purification was for the mother alone
while presentation was for the child. The story appears to be speaking of the
two ceremonies as if they were one. Luke stresses the fact that they are doing
it “as it is written in the law of the Lord” (verse 23). Joseph and Mary
are presented as people who keep God’s laws. Moreover, they are presented as
doing it together. It is easier to walk in the ways of God when husband and
wife walk it together and encourage each other along the way. The author of
Ecclesiastes had something like this in mind when he wrote: “Two are better
than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down,
his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help
him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Husband and wife are companions in the
journey of life, especially in the journey to our ultimate destination. We see
this as we contemplate Joseph and Mary together in the Temple in obedience to
God’s law.
If parents are supposed to provide
their children with the basic necessities of life, what is more basic than
one’s faith in God. No parents would think of allowing their children to decide
whether they want to go to school or not, whether they want to learn the common
language or not, whether they want to be a citizen of their country or not. We
make these decisions for them, knowing fully well that when they grow up, they
may decide to continue with what we gave them or abandon it. But only a foolish
parent would refuse to send a child to school or teach a child their language
and tradition in the name of respecting the child’s freedom to choose.
Similarly parents have a responsibility to initiate their children into their
faith traditions. This is what we see today in the feast of presentation as
Joseph and Mary present Baby Jesus in the Jewish Temple.
As
parents, we have the duty and privilege of raising our children in such a way
that they grow up to become good and responsible citizens as well as committed
children of God. The example of Joseph and Mary, and the example of the Amish
community, show us that the best way to achieve this is not just by talking and
shouting at them but by leading the way and showing them by the example of our
own lives.
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