Episode 620 The Boy Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)

This week we’re reading Luke 2:41-52, the story of twelve-year-old Jesus left behind in the temple as his parents return home from the Passover celebration. We talk about the ways repeated rituals like that ancient Passover pilgrimage can open up space for new and profound encounters with God, opportunities to integrate one’s own life into the story of the Torah and into the light of God’s revelation. We also ponder the tension in this text between Jesus’s earthly family and his heavenly Father. While it seems at first as though Jesus’ relationship with God necessarily takes precedence, we find that ultimately Jesus goes home to live obediently with his earthly family. We think about the tensions in our own lives between God’s calling and the calling to be with our own families, and what it means to discern our own priorities in any given moment.