Homily on the 32nd Sunday after Pentecost being the circumcision of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Luke 2:20-21, 40-52.
In today’s Gospel we have the account of the finding of our Lord and Saviour in the Temple. What is striking about this account is that in it we have our Lord and Saviour starting to show the first signs of his preaching ministry. This is especially clear when one reads that:
“Now it was after three days they found Him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers”.
What is evident is that St Joseph and the All Holy Theotokos were rather relieved when they found Him and clearly as parents they were not impressed (remember this is an age before the rise of the mobile phone!). However, it is clear from our Lord’s answer that he knew what he was called to accomplish as he answers his parent’s anxious questions with:
“Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”.
Now this is not the answer of a rebellious preteen but rather it is Christ making it clear to all that he has come to tend to His Fathers business. Meaning that as the second person of the All Holy Trinity he came to make that which the Father commands so on Earth!
In many ways today’s Gospel reading is a mini Theophany revealing the wisdom of Christ and it makes clear to us the faithful that God’s wisdom is beyond any human wisdom. St Paul is very clear that we as Christians are not to be mislead by any earthly philosophy as he states in the Epistle (Colossians 2:8-12):
“beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…”
Therefore, the Church in her wisdom has purposely chosen today’s Gospel as it is a precursor to the great feast of the Theophany of our Lord and Saviour – the revelation of Christ’s divinity at his baptism. Moreover, in today’s Gospel Christ is being revealed as having a wisdom that is growing throughout his childhood and adolescence but it is also a wisdom that is beyond any ordinary human understanding. Furthermore, Christ is showing us that he is the Word made flesh as stated in John chapter 1:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Thus, it is evident that in today’s Gospel Christ is starting to manifest to all the wisdom that is above all worldly wisdom!
What does this mean for us? Well as Christians sometimes we can be lead astray by people who like to sound intelligent by using big words and whose message sounds good! We are called as Christians to always be critical of what people are saying. Remember at the time of the writing of today’s Epistle philosophy and eloquence were admired meaning that there was a huge amount of time and effort dedicated to the study of philosophy, public speaking and the classical Greco-Roman writers. In those days if one could string together an argument that not only was convincing (regardless of whether it was true or not) but also eloquent one could win the admiration of many - indeed, St Paul was educated in this Greco-Roman philosophy. This is not to say that studying philosophy is bad in itself but rather as Christians we are called to look up to Christ and to test any message delivered to us to see if it accords with Christ’s message delivered in the Gospels! If we are unsure we are then called to pray to the All Holy Spirt for guidance to help us ascertain if a message is compatible with Christ’s teaching. Finally, if one is still unsure it is always good to seek the guidance of a priest or deacon.
Let our prayer this week be that we will always keep our focus on Christ (the Word made flesh) so that we may always be able to ascertain if messages accord with Christ’s Gospel.
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