Fathers and Sons

The lessons appointed for the Sunday after Christmas could seem to some a trifle strange.  While we are still savouring the plum pudding, and anticipating further helpings of turkey disguised as curry or risotto as those interminable stocks of sprouts and other vegetables are slowly eaten away, the church liturgy has moved on apace, and last Sunday’s lesson told us about Jesus as a teenager.  The inspiration for this article came from my experience at the early service.

The final verses of St Luke chapter 2 tell of annual pilgrimage made by Joseph and Mary to the temple in Jerusalem.  I can’t say why, but the first two words of that passage, “Every year ...” (v.41) took my mind back at least thirty years, to my father’s description of one of his own early memories.  At the age of three, his family moved from the village where he was born but, in his seventies, he was still able to describe a trip to the chapel anniversary in a larger village some three or four miles away.  Clearly to all involved this was an important annual event.

Later in the reading we heard Luke’s narrative of Jesus staying behind in the temple when his parents left for home.  After realising that he wasn’t with the party and then eventually finding him, Mary protested about his absence from them (v.49) ... possibly a reaction to the anxiety of the search.  It was time for yours truly to have another reminiscence.

When my son was about seven, he came with me on an outing to the seaside.  While I was chatting with my friends, Mike went exploring.  Long before I was aware that he was no longer with us, he was out of sight.  Once we realised he was missing, a general search was organised to find him and it was probably only minutes before one of my friends walked up with the lad hand-in-hand.  It was long enough for me to imagine all sorts of tragedy, however; not least how I might explain to his mother why I’d come home without him!

There is just that one glimpse in the Gospels’ otherwise complete silence about the period between the manger in Bethlehem to Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, (Matt. 3:13; Mark 1:9).  We can imagine, though, that it was from Joseph, His earthly ‘father’, that he learned the skills that made him ‘wholly man’.  Meanwhile, as Luke explained in these verses (Luke 2:49) He was in His Father’s house, learning the spiritual truths that made Him so strong in His later life as He confronted the misguided ways of the world.

I’m sure each of us, as we reflect upon our own lives, can think of a key individual - whether male or female; perhaps more than one person - from whom we learned the key elements of the beliefs we now hold ... or indeed share with others.  Maybe, as we pass this significant moment of starting a new year, it’s a good time to give thanks for those who have been ‘spiritual fathers’ to us.