The First Sunday of Christmas Year C

The First Sunday of Christmas

Luke 2.41-52

Gaze on the chaos of a pilgrimage – the coaches lined up one by one in the car park, people trying to remember which their coach was, and do they recognize the driver? Imagine Mary and Joseph, missing Jesus, but confident he’s with another member of the extended family, perhaps with his cousins or uncles. They know he’s a sensible boy, and quite grown up now, so no need to worry, just yet.

Gaze on the other young twelve-year-olds from Nazareth, who had gone reluctantly to Jerusalem. They are apprehensive, for soon they will be expected to participate as an adult in the religious community. They are anxious that it means they must soon calm down, leave their games behind and begin to grow up...