A Poem a Sunday

Christmas I C

December 27, 2015

St. Luke 2:41-52

Commentary:  The Sunday after Christmas is usually a low Sunday.  Attendance is down and preachers and worship leaders often craft a Service of Carols with no formal sermon.  In that context I invite you to share the appointed Gospel and ‘A Poem a Sunday.’  Blessings to you as you worship with your faith community no matter how large or small.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents^[a] saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” ⁴⁹ He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^{[b] 50} But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,^[c] and in divine and human favor.

Footnotes:

1. Luke 2:48 Gk they
2. Luke 2:49 Or be about my Father’s interests?
3. Luke 2:52 Or in stature

A Poem a Sunday

The Spell

Do you believe in magic,

in mysteries begun,

hope found in the wisdom

of Mary’s newborn son?

Temple teachers tarry,

testing the young child

until his distraught parents

enter frantic, wild.

Imagine their hearts throbbing,

their scared parental gaze.

While he simply answers:

“I’ve been here for three days

doing my Father’s business;

you dare not be distraught

for in the nearing future

you will face a deeper loss.”

Crossing the Temple tiles

they both stood there amazed,

What had happened to their child

now wise and unafraid?

Had he had a vision

star struck and so alone?

Was he the new Moses

descending from God’s throne?

Jerusalem in childhood’s end

began a new journey,

back from birth at Bethlehem,

back to Galilee.

Nazareth will nurture

a young heart to rebel.

He will be the new Prophet

and with justice cast a spell.

@Copyright:  A Poem a Sunday – December 22, 2015 – Kenn Storck