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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  Jesus has a family tree, and we are the branches!

First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28 (or Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14)

The birth of Samuel to his mother, Hannah, a barren woman, began a new era for Israel. He was the last of the Judges, the charismatic leaders of the tribes of Israel. He would anoint the first two kings of the nation, Saul and David. She prayed for a child. God granted her request. She offered him to the priest of the local shrine, Eli. The verses immediately following this passage, a prayer of praise by Hannah, strongly resembles the Magnificat by Mary. Some scholars have suggested that the name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Anne, which comes from the apocryphal Gospel/Protoevangelium of James, is inspired by the name of this woman of the Old Testament.

There is a repeated wordplay on "ask/request" throughout this story. It is resolved by a similar sounding word, "dedicated," at the end of this passage. The author shows that the story leads to this point. The child belongs to God and will play an important part in His plan of salvation for Israel. The name of Saul, the first king to be anointed by Samuel, is also related to this same root word, thus foreshadowing a future event in the life of this future first great prophet and last judge of Israel. There are many similarities with another judge of Israel, who was a nazirite/consecrated in Judges 13:5, Samson.

A nazirite was to refrain from drinking wine or having his hair cut. This is explained in the Book of Numbers 6:2-8. The root of the Hebrew word means "consecrated." Some interpreters point out that long hair indicated a man's strength.

Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24 (or Colossians 3:12-21, short form: Colossians 3:12-17)

The word "bestowed/gave" has a special nuance in the Johannine writings to refer to heavenly gifts being passed along to another. "To be called" has the same meaning as "to be" children of God.

Another Johannine theme is brought up by assuring the people that they will "receive from Him whatever we ask." The theme of asking and receiving appears several times in the Last Supper discourse in the Gospel of John: John 14:14-16; 15:7,16; 16:23-26.

"Believing in the Name" and "love one another" are put in parallel sequence, thus indicating their dependence of one upon the other. They are connected by their reference to Jesus Christ. They represent the very essence of Christian life.

The Spirit is God's special gift, bestowed upon the believer at baptism. The verses that follow this passage will warn the believer to "test" the spirit, to be sure that it is the one bestowed by God. In Hebrew, the word "spirit" is related to the breath of God, which gives life.

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

The passage begins by demonstrating the Temple piety of the Holy Family. They observed the rule of the pilgrimage feast to go to Jerusalem "each year." There were three pilgrimage feasts: Passover, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and Tabernacles, according to Exodus 23:14-17, 34:22-23, and Deuteronomy 16:16. The family "went up" to Jersualem, "according to festival custom. At the end of the story, Jesus "went down" to Nazareth. This concludes and ties off the story about the identity of Jesus. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, the evangelist uses the verb, "go up," to refer to the journey toward Jerusalem. The only exception is the ascent to the Mount of Transfiguration.

The report that Jesus was "12 years old" may reflect an allusion to the traditional belief that Samuel was 12 when He was called by God, while "sleeping in the temple of the Lord (at Shiloh)" (1 Samuel 3:3), according to Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian. There are several connections between the Samuel story and the infancy story of Jesus.

The losing and finding of Jesus in the Temple concludes the Infancy Narrative in the Gospel of Luke. The evangelist does not tell us whether Jesus stayed behind as an accident or on purpose. That was not important in the plan of the Gospel. The location anticipates and is reflected in the conclusion of the Gospel. The disciples "were continually in the Temple praising God" after the ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:53.

The "three days" does not appear to be symbolic of the time before the resurrection at the end of the Gospel. Different language is used. It shows the intensity of the search by the parents of Jesus. Mary speaks to Jesus, after they find Him. It follows from the prominent role, which Mary has been given in the Gospel over that of Joseph. Mary is the only figure, along with Jesus, that appears in the infancy narrative, the adult ministry of Jesus (including the Passion) and in the early beginning of the Church in the Acts of the Apostles 1:14. Luke records that Jesus refers to God as "my Father," as also in Luke 10:22, 22:29, 24:49.

Mary and Joseph "did not understand" the meaning of His response to them. This is in contrast to Jesus and "his understanding," which caused people to be "astounded." Understanding referred to insight, not just knowledge about things.

He is called "son" by Mary, but He refers to the Temple as "my Father's house." It prepares for the next appearance of Jesus in His adult life, when the voice from heaven will call Him "my beloved Son" (Luke 3:33). The revelation of His divine sonship is reasserted in this transitional story from His infancy to His adult ministry. Jesus "was obedient to them." This would be a dominant feature of His whole ministry. He was obedient to the will of His Father in heaven, just as "Jesus' parents" demonstrated their piety by going to the Temple for the feast.

I have rarely had to experience being somewhere that I didn't sense that "I belonged." From my family at home to my school community to my parish "family," I have almost always had a sense of belonging somewhere. I never had to think of being without them. But then, when I was sent away for studies overseas, after 14 years as a parish priest, I experienced that remote separation from everything and everyone that was familiar for an extended time. It became especially poignant when I celebrated my birthday without anyone around knowing (or caring!) about it. I never realized how important that sense of "belonging" and the imminent presence of those who care about us; I still recall that first return "home" after that experience – being embraced warmly by those who missed me. That was more important than anything else, and it was a lesson that I never forgot!

God reminds us that we belong … to Him! In every time and place, despite physical separation and estrangement, we still belong! The celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, the physical presence of the Son of God, our brother and savior, reminds us of the bonds of family and the best gift, which we could receive … our faith!

Fr. Richard C. Macey is pastor of Our Lady of the Woods Parish, Woodhaven.