Thoughts for the Day

Luke 2:50 Then he went down to Nazareth and was obedient to them [Mary and Joseph]. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

This is the second time that Luke refers to Mary treasuring events in her heart.  Perhaps it points to her being the direct source of much of the material of his first two chapters.  Or perhaps it is simply recognition of what mothers do!  But I’m struck most by this word “obedient”.  It doesn’t seem to be written as a contrast to Jesus’s behaviour in staying behind in the temple (there is actually nothing in the description of the episode to suggest we should consider him to have been disobedient).  Rather it stands as a one word description – and presumably a carefully chosen word – of his relationship with his earthly parents for the next 18 years.  It reminds me of the connection between love and obedience. To love God, neighbour and one another are given to us as commandments to be obeyed rather than some form of emotional aspiration.  God expresses his love for his children by providing for, caring for and protecting them, and we are required to express our love for God our Father through our response of obedience to his commands. As God’s love is echoed in earthly parents’ love for their children, so Jesus’s obedience to his earthly parents is doubtless intended to tell us that he was an exemplary son.  Perhaps it is also intended to prepare us for what is to come, to see him as the exemplary son of his heavenly Father who will be obedient to all his commands, even to death, even death on a cross.