Jesus as a Son - Lenten blog post #2

   His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son!” his mother said to him. “Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

   “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you realize that I would be here at the Temple, in my Father’s House?” But they didn’t understand what he meant. (Luke 2:48-50, Living Bible)

 The scene above takes place when Jesus is twelve years old. He had visited the temple with his parents, but He had remained behind when they left. They didn’t know what had happened to Him. (If I was Mary, I’d be thinking, “oh, no! I lost the Son of God.”)

 Jesus’s response to His mother seems disrespectful and harsh. As is His answer to Mary’s plea for help below.

    On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”  

   Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

   His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:1-5, New King James Version)

For the six Sundays until Easter, I’m writing about the different roles Jesus played. Not only was He the Son of God and our Savior, but He was a brother, a friend, a teacher, and as shown here, a son to earthly parents.

I always wonder about these verses. I think something is lost in translation, or we read a certain connotation into Jesus’s words. No Jewish child of that time would ever be disrespectful or less than 100% obedient to their parents. And of all children, Jesus would never break the fourth commandment (honor your mother and father).

If there is ever any doubt about what kind of a son Jesus was, picture the scene below. He is hanging on the cross, only minutes from dying, when He looks down and sees Mary grieving there. He knows He could leap from the cross and end her suffering, along with His own, but that wasn’t His heavenly Father’s plan. Instead, Jesus does the next best thing, He makes sure His mother will be taken care of.

   Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27, New Living Translation)

I kind of think that Jesus is saying that not only would His mother be taken into someone’s home, but we’ll be taken into a home too. Which, of course, is our eternal home, heaven. 

This year’s theme for pictures is churches I’ve seen in my travels around the country. Today’s is the church at Central, Michigan, an abandoned mining town in the Upper Peninsula.