Today’s Gospel is another sort of Epiphany, revealing a profound truth about Jesus. He responds to Mary’s questioning, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” The Lord himself reveals—he is the Divine Son of the heavenly Father, confirming the words of the prophet Isaiah, that Mary would give birth to the one called, “Son of the Most High”.
The twelve-year old Son of the Father has spent three days in the temple, to the astonishment of Mary and Joseph, because his first priority in this life was to do the will of the heavenly Father. He takes on the Messianic mission because he was sent to do so by the Father and was obedient to the Father unto death. The obedient Son came to reverse the disobedience of Adam’s sin. And through the Son’s obedience, we are redeemed and become heirs to the Kingdom of heaven.
And as the Christ, so too the Christian. Obedience to the will of the Father is to mark our lives, even, when it comes at great cost to our egos and social status and so many other dimensions of our lives.
But we willingly surrender to the will of the Father because the Son reveals that life is found in doing the Father’s will.
Conform yourselves not to this age, St. Paul says in our epistle—this age whose errors and depravity are so contrary to the truth and goodness of the Father. There is this pull, this pressure, this temptation to disobey like Adam. It is so much easier simply to conform, to go along with the ways of the world, to swallow the errors unquestioningly. But truth is not determined by a majority vote, as the dear departed Pope Benedict was fond of reiterating.
Rather than conforming to the world, we, like the Son of God, are to conform to the Will of the Father, through the renewal of our minds, as Paul says. In a commentary on this passage from Paul, Pope Benedict writes: “transforming ourselves, letting ourselves be transformed by the Lord into the form of the image of God, transforming ourselves every day anew… this is the true novelty which does not subject us to opinions, to appearances, but to the Grace of God, to his revelation. Let us permit ourselves to be formed, to be molded, so that the image of God really appears in the human being.”
Daily may we seek that renewal of our minds through prayer, study, meditation, contemplation, good works, the restraining of vices and penance for sin, that we may be conformed ever more to the Son, and filled with His life for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
A reading from the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans
Brethren: I urge you therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.
A continuation of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke
When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
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