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The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Luke 2:41-51

41Each year [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, 42and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. 43After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, 47and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

48When 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.” 49And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

HEART: As a biblical image, “heart” (Hebrew leb, Greek kardia) is the seat both of human emotion and of mind and will. When Mary is presented in the gospel as keeping the angel’s message in her heart, it means she is giving to God the totality of her person: mind, will, and heart.
The “immaculate heart” of Mary refers to her whole person and harks back to her “immaculate conception,” that special gift which is the fruit of her election to be the mother of the Son of God. By virtue of grace and by reason of the redemptive merits of her Son, Mary was preserved from the inheritance of original sin. Mary possesses an immaculate heart: the basis for this is the “new name” given her by the angel: “full of grace”—kecharitomene (Lk 1:28).
Luke presents Mary as a woman of faith and obedience. At the annunciation, she answers the angel Gabriel: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), even if she does not fully comprehend what God’s calling entails. Here she does not understand either the mysterious words of her 12-year-old son, why he should cause anxiety to her and Joseph. Neither is Simeon’s prophecy clear to her. But Luke presents her pondering this happening in her heart. Her “obedience of faith” during the whole of her life’s pilgrimage entails knowing and humbly recognizing “how unsearchable are God’s judgments and how inscrutable his ways” (Rom 11:35). Her immaculate heart accepts fully everything that is decreed in the divine plan.

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The Spirit of Truth




John 16:12-15
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 12“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. 13But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. 14He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

Human and Divine Triumvirates:
In the period of the Late Republic, Rome was ruled by the Senate and among the senators were some who were primi inter pares—first among equals. Two magistrates were chosen who were called consuls. Commanding huge armies, they held supreme military powers. At times, another leader was added, and the three men shared the responsibility of command. They were the “triumvirs,” from the Latin tresviri, meaning “three men.”

The triumvirs (Licinius Crassus, Pompeius Magnus, and Julius Caesar in 50 BC; Marcus Antonius, Marcus Octavius, and Marcus Lepidus in 31 BC) fought for supremacy among themselves and this resulted in civil conflicts.

The triumvirate failed as a political power because of the rivalry among the members, their friends and supporters. Foremost in their agenda was not the good of the Republic, but the power over Rome and her territories. Civil wars were fought till only one of the three survived. The triumvirate ended with the Republic turning into an Empire with only one supreme ruler—the Emperor.

On Trinity Sunday, we honor a “triumvirate”: the relationship of three divine persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—in one Godhead. Christianity arose in the matrix of Israel’s strict monotheism: there is only one God who must be loved and worshipped. But Christians understand that when one has encountered God, one can no longer see God in isolation, but as one who acts, as one who seeks out human beings, as one who communicates. God is one but is not solitary. God is Father who created the world, with man and woman as the crown of creation. When humanity falls, the Father sends his Son who becomes incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth. God also sends the Holy Spirit upon Jesus, and in his resurrection from the dead, sends the Spirit, “Lord and Giver of Life,” on the believers.

The divine persons are distinct from one another, but are bound together in love. The Son becomes a human being in loving obedience to the will of the Father who wishes that men and women be saved through him. He does not hold on to his equality with God, but empties himself, coming in human likeness, as we are told in the kenosis hymn (Phil 2:6-7). Upon completion of the Son’s mission on earth, the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the name of the Son. The Spirit will not speak on his own, but will take what is the Son’s and will declare it to the disciples (vv 13-14). In the divine “triumvirate,” each person is attuned to the two others in loving and perfect harmony.

Those close to Jesus witnessed his intimate relationship with God. Jesus addressed God as Abba, as a child his father. This intimacy was used by his detractors against him, accusing him of blasphemy: though a human being, he was declaring himself to be God’s Son, making himself equal to God. Jesus was crucified as a dangerous charlatan leading the people away from the right path. But at his resurrection, his disciples realized that Jesus was not making empty claims. Indeed, he is the Son of God, raised by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And so the Christians would begin to speak of God in relational terms. A clear example is Paul’s prayer of blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13:13). Much later, in Matthew, the “trinitarian formula” for baptism is given with the authority of the risen Christ: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” A person is ushered into the community of believers, the new Israel, not just in the name/power of the God of Israel, but in the name of this God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Jesus and Peter



John 21:15-19
15When [Jesus and the disciples] had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

FEED MY LAMBS: Ancient Near Eastern texts traditionally depict the king as a king-shepherd who provides for the well-being of his subjects. In the Bible, Jeremiah rebukes the kings of Israel for their slackness in office (Jer 2:8; 10:21). The prophet proclaims that Yahweh will give Israel new shepherds who will pasture the people with integrity (Jer 3:15). Ezekiel later also rebukes the kings and other leaders for their neglect of the people (Ez 34:1-10). He proclaims that God will take the people, his flock, out of the charge of their human leaders. God declares himself the shepherd of the people (Ez 34:11-22; Ps 23; Is 40:11). In time, God will give the people a shepherd of his own choice, another David (Ez 34:23-24).

Jesus sees his relationship with the crowd that follow him as that of a shepherd and sheep (Mt 9:36-37). His compassion makes Jesus feed the crowd. Later, Jesus proclaims himself as the “Good Shepherd” who lays down his life for his flock (Jn 10).
Jesus’ words to Peter—“Feed my lambs”—can be taken as the giving of a solemn charge to care for and to rule the community of believers in his name. Jesus, the Chief Shepherd (1 Pt 5:4), enters into a contract with Peter as a delegated caretaker. In accordance with the Semitic form of entering an agreement (Gn 23:3-20), Jesus stresses the terms of the agreement three times.
The apostolic tradition will later pass on this image of the shepherd who is “feeding the flock” as a metaphor for Christian leadership (1 Pt 5:1-4; Acts 20:28-29).

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Treasure in Heaven


Matthew 6:19-23
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. 20But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
22“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; 23but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

TREASURES: The meaning of treasure (Greek thesaurus) is given by Jesus in the Gospel: it is where our “heart” is. A treasure can be any material possession. By extension, it can be a person we love.
People in ancient times invested in garments, grain, animals, gold, and other precious stones. But as the Gospel states, they are all perishable. Moths destroy garments (Is 51:8 ), rats and mice eat grain, rust “eats” by corrosion, and thieves “dig through” the mud wall of Palestinian houses and storerooms and steal what is stored there. People accumulate treasures in their desire for security and to eliminate anxiety. But “treasures on earth” are always unstable, and those who rely on them are pitiable indeed. James’ condemnation of the rich is based on this frivolity: “Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire” (Jas 5:1-3).
Storing up “treasures in heaven” does not mean setting out to make sure of a place in heaven. It means relying on God as the source of our security. It means having a genuine and sincere relation with him who knows us, accepts us, and gives meaning to our lives. It means having God as the singular object of our “heart.” We are totally committed to seeking out his kingdom, confident that he will provide us with what we truly need (Mt 6:33).

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