Thought for Today
Genesis 49:33 When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
2 Chronicles 7:1 When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Luke 2:43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.
Acts 21:5 When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed
Endings and beginnings, like the chicken and the egg, which comes first? Is tomorrow the end of 2024 or the day before the beginning of 2025? While we are pondering that, do we want to start a pool, let people pick numbers guessing how many times I, or you, will forget to write the proper year on a document or check?
Sunday, we looked at the passage from Luke chapter 2 addressing Jesus’ trip to Jerusalem when he was 12. Some scholars point to that passage in Luke as the point at which Jesus began to fully understand his special relationship with God, his messiahship. In a sense, that could be understood at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Yet, one of the pivotal points in the narrative is that verse above, “When the festival was ended . . .”
Some speculate that this pericope is included in Luke’s gospel because it occurred when Jesus was 12. The assumption would be that Jesus accompanied Joseph and Mary in order for Jesus to have his Bar Mitzvah ceremony in Jerusalem rather than in the synagogue in Nazareth. That ceremony is the right-of-passage for a Jewish male to become an adult. The words ‘bar mitzvah’ means ‘son of the law’ in Hebrew. For Jesus, that would mark the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood.
How often does life, anyone’s life, come with clearly delineated endings and beginnings? Certainly birth and death are clear delineations. But, for the other transitions in our lives, particularly in our western societies, the delineations are much less distinct. Earlier societies did have specific rights-of-passage. In many societies organized around hunting, a young male would go on a solitary hunting journey to slay a wild animal, a lion, deer or buffalo. I have read articles suggesting that in my own generation, a young male’s obtaining an unrestricted driver’s license functioned as a right-of-passage. When I got my license, was that the end of childhood, or the beginning of my being an adult?
That particular pericope in Luke 2:41-52, focusing on something like Jesus’ transition from childhood to adulthood (full messianic identity?) misses out on one of the more important lessons in the passage. For Jesus, and for all of God’s children, much is to be learned from “2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”
We talked about that during worship yesterday. The author of today’s devotional in These Days, wrote about this, “A big part of growing is learning, listening, and asking questions, and so, too, it is with spiritual growth . . . If we want to increase in wisdom and favor, and not just in years, dialogue, listening, and asking questions with others will help us grow.” I could not agree more. I said something similar yesterday, “As Christians, it’s not enough to merely increase in years. We need to accompany our years with increased wisdom. Wisdom is more than merely increased knowledge,”
Are there clear markers? Can we note specific rights-of-passage, delineators to mark the beginnings and endings of the phases of our lives, of the progression from childhood to adulthood? Can we note other, equally specific rights-of-passage in our spiritual lives? Is baptism a clear indicator that we fully understand what it means to call oneself a Christian?
I believe the marking of the rights-of-passage in my own life, the transitions from childhood to youth to adult are less single events than gradual transitions. My growth in wisdom does parallel my growth in years; but, regrettably (?) not on a one-for-one basis. Can I mark the end of one phase and the beginning of another? Only in retrospect; and, even then not with any specificity.
Tomorrow and Wednesday mark the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. Clear, specific delineations from one year to the next. What marks your endings and beginnings in your life? Birthdays? Increased wisdom and favor?
Stay safe, grow in wisdom and in years, trust God,
Pastor Ray