The Divine Wisdom of the Holy Family

Gospel Reflection for December 29, 2024, the Feast of the Holy Family - Luke 2:41-52

And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch,

And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,

And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not.

And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.

And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.

And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.

And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.

And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?

And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.

And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men. (Luke 2:41-52 DRA)

Since the Old Testament, Psalm and Epistle readings have multiple options for today (how many of you heard the full Colossians reading, including the “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands” passage?), I will focus specifically on the Gospel for this Feast of the Holy Family.

Within the context of the Christmas season, and just before the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on New Year’s Day, is a fitting time for this great feast. The episode recounted in the Gospel today, the only event related in Scripture from Our Lord’s boyhood, highlights what is the central mystery of the Faith and the source of our Christmas joy: the Incarnation of the Son of God as Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. Here, Jesus is revealed to be more than a mere wise teacher or holy man, and even more than the human prophet or Messiah expected by the Jews. Instead, Jesus teaches His adopted father St. Joseph, and even His immaculate Mother Mary (who despite being sinless was not omniscient), that He is God-with-us, Immanuel, whose true Father from all eternity is God the Father within the life of the Trinity. Accordingly, as God, His true home on Earth at this time in salvation history was the Jerusalem Temple. Without this divine identification, it would make no sense to say that God is His Father or the Temple His Father’s house. As St. Ambrose explained, “There are two generations in Christ, one from His Father, the other from His mother; the Father’s more divine, the mother’s that which has come down for our use and advantage.” (Catena Aurea)

But what else can this passage teach us? To answer this question, I would like to relate it to a very similar event which occurs on the opposite end of Christ’s earthly life: His post-Resurrection appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Just as Christ was lost for three days before being rediscovered by His parents, so Christ was in the tomb for three days before rising again and being rediscovered by His disciples. St. Ambrose also recognized this symbolic connection to the Paschal mystery: “After three days He is found in the temple, that it might be for a sign, that after three days of victorious suffering, He who was believed to be dead should rise again, and manifest Himself to our faith, seated in heaven with divine glory.” (Catena Aurea) Likewise, just as Christ revealed Himself in the Scriptures to the teachers in the Temple, so for the disciples journeying to Emmaus He “expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning him.” (Lk 24:27)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus, despite His human youth and voluntary powerlessness, reveals Himself as the incarnate Wisdom of God. He is the end or purpose for which all things exist, the reorientation of Creation to God and away from sin which the liturgy of the Temple (and the Church) work to effect. Through Him, the whole ground of being and the truth of human nature is shown to be love, the pouring-out (kenosis) of oneself for the good of others in self-sacrifice and communion. This Wisdom of God, what the Prologue of St. John calls the Logos, Word or Reason of God, is the perfect self-knowledge of God, which in the Trinity is a divine Person equal in substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost.

Christ thus gives Himself, in His Wisdom, to the Jewish teachers and to His parents. His blessed Mother, as an image of the Church and of the perfect Christian, “kept all these words in her heart” just as she had formerly carried Wisdom in the ark of her womb, offering them to St. Luke, who used her recollections in the writing of his Gospel, and through him to all of us. Similarly, the disciples on the road to Emmaus were given this same Wisdom through Christ opening the Scriptures to them and by receiving Him sacramentally in the Eucharistic breaking of the bread.

In modern times, especially since the Renaissance, wisdom has become increasingly confused with and replaced by knowledge, so that even in the fields of theology and philosophy (whose very name means “the love of wisdom”), wisdom is not the primary goal but simply the accumulation and organization of academic knowledge. On the other hand, many Christians today give little value to or even denigrate wisdom, instead emphasizing “practical” activities like charity work and using false saint quotations, such as “Preach often and when necessary, use words” or “The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself” to justify themselves. But in this event, Christ shows us the ultimate nature and importance of wisdom: to understand the truth of God and thereby to be conformed ever more fully to Him. As “the way, and the truth, and the life”, (Jn 14:6) Christ is thus Wisdom itself, which must be accepted and imitated to be understood. We imitate Him first of all by humility, which He demonstrated by humbling Himself as a mere child, questioning rather than instructing the teachers and obeying His parents:

Now that the Lord came up every year to Jerusalem at the Passover, betokens His humility as a man, for it is man’s duty to meet together to offer sacrifices to God, and conciliate Him with prayers. Accordingly the Lord as man, did among men what God by angels commanded men to do. Hence it is said, According to the custom of the feast day. (Gal. 3:14, Judges 6:20; 13:16.) Let us follow then the journey of His mortal life, if we delight to behold the glory of His divine nature. (St. Bede, Catena Aurea)

In this way, He shows us that, to attain true wisdom, we must be humble and obedient like Him, and precisely by doing so did He reveal His secret divinity. Wisdom, therefore, is shown to be the synthesis of knowledge and action, an understanding which comes from doing and leads cyclically to further insights and deeper holiness. Further, by associating Himself with the Temple, He showed us that it is in and through the Church, the Body of Christ led by the successors of the apostles which He established, that we must receive this wisdom, obeying her doctrines and commands. Yet, He also teaches us that God is first above all, that the Church is legitimate because it is divine, while its human members, even ones as sinless as the Blessed Virgin Mary, can still be held to His higher standard:

He is not found as soon as sought for, for Jesus was not among His kinsfolk and relations, among those who are joined to Him in the flesh, nor in the company of the multitude can He be found. Learn where those who seek Him find Him, not every where, but in the temple. And do thou then seek Jesus in the temple of God. Seek Him in the Church, and seek Him among the masters who are in the temple. For if thou wilt so seek Him, thou shalt find Him. They found Him not among His kinsfolk, for human relations could not comprehend the Son of God; not among His acquaintance, for He passes far beyond all human knowledge and understanding. Where then do they find Him? In the temple! If at any time thou seek the Son of God, seek Him first in the temple, thither go up, and verily shalt thou find Christ, the Word, and the Wisdom, (i. e. the Son of God.) (Origen, Catena Aurea)

In this last reflection of mine for 2024, I would like to thank all of you who have supported Missio Dei and my own work throughout the year. Your dedication and kind words mean more than you know and are a constant encouragement for all of us. I sincerely pray that all of you, including my colleagues at Missio Dei, have a blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and a happy New Year, with abundant blessings from God throughout 2025. God bless!