‘… And the child grew and became strong;
he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.’ (Luke 2:40)
Luke 2:22-40 (Year B:
Holy Family/1st Sunday Christmas)
That God – in Jesus –
had to be ‘filled with wisdom’ and ‘grow’ and ‘become strong’ may just seem a
little like borderline heresy to the theologically exacting. It will not do to
divide Jesus into two ‘natures’ as a way of avoiding the all too obvious truth
that being fully God does not compromise being fully human in Jesus. Jesus was
born into a natural human family at a given moment in history. Family life in particular historical contexts
is often held up as an ideal. Yet most family life (all?) is untidy, contested,
unique, evolving, growing, decaying, weak, strong, indifferent, engaged …
The
point of Jesus living in a family is not to set some unrealistic template for
21st century people but, rather, stop us from becoming detached from
concrete, present-day human realities. Family is where much learning, growing
and caring is located not just in the early years of life but throughout all of
life.
#tothesources
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