The holy family as a defined group, not just Jesus, Mary or Joseph considered alone, is worthy of our reflection. Jesus was indebted to them. Even his lineage, his belonging to the line of the King David, came through his father. Thanks to Joseph, Jesus is a king. Jesus’s parents would have embraced the family ethics taught by the famous Jerusalem sage, Ben Sira whose book is excerpted in the first reading. Though we are accustomed to think of Jesus as a teacher, in his youth Jesus was the object of teaching; he was taught not only by his parents but also by his family, his “kin,” a web of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jesus was raised in a small village in accord with the adage, “It takes a village.” Parents could trust others in the village with their children. In the Gospel of Luke Jesus’s parents journeyed home from Jerusalem for three whole days trusting that their twelve-year-old son was safe traveling with another family. Perhaps that trust in others was the reason why Jesus could entrust himself to the Twelve apostles and his other disciples! At any rate, Jesus learned that trust and affection are at the heart of any movement including his own.
The second reading, from St. Paul’s Letter of the Colossians, mentions something else that Jesus would have learned growing up, learning to dress himself for the day ahead rather than like an infant depending on his parents to dress him. Ancient literature is full of description of people dressing themselves in garments appropriate to the important task they are to perform. Warriors carefully don armor before going out to battle. Old Testament ordination ceremonies describe the ordination rite as clothing the priest with priestly garments. In the Catholic ritual for ordaining deacons and priests the priest is clothed with priestly vestments and entrusted with a copy of the gospels and rituals. It should not come as a surprise that St. Paul’s letter imagines the follower of Christ dressing for the day ahead, putting on kindness and humility, and, in a final gesture, putting on love.
The Gospel tells us much about Jesus and his mission even though he is a baby with little capacity to do things for himself. At his presentation to the Lord, two elderly Jews, Simeon and Anna express Jewish hopes for the future. Simeon is looking for the “consolation of Israel” (Luke 2:25), that is, the fulfillment of God’s promises, and Anna speaks about the “redemption of Jerusalem” (cf. Luke 1:68; 24:21). The the response of Simeon and Anna to Jesus along with the three other hymns in Luke 1-2 – Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-56), Zecharliah’s Benedictus, and the shepherds’ Gloria – are recited every day in the Lectionary of the Hours, the constant prayer of the church. What happened in the temple that day echoes daily in the church throughout the world. Even in infancy, Messiah Jesus causes praise to rise to the Father!