In 2009 Miley Cyrus recorded a narcissistic diddle, “Fly on the Wall”. She would like us to think that the listening public under eighteen is desperate to know her more intimately. No comment, however, we shall make better use of the expression. Where or when in the Bible would you like to have been “a fly on the wall”? We could observe and listen for the subtlety of scripture. Would you like to have been present when Jesus fed the five thousand or to be in that small, storm tossed boat with Jesus and the disciples on the Sea of Galilee? Would you like to have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus or be among the snarling crowd as he is judged by Pilate, the Roman governor?
Every one of us would like to have been present at these exciting moments of biblical history. What a book that would make! One event in the life of Jesus is most intriguing but easily glossed over as we first look for the action scenes. When Jesus was 12, he was misplaced for three days on a trip to Jerusalem at festival time. Thinking he was with friends and relatives for the trip home, Mary and Joseph walked a full day from the city before they missed him. Upon returning they searched a full day before finding him in the synagogue, the center of worship for the Jewish religion. There in the midst of the worshipers was their son sharing and questioning the priests and teachers about the Jewish spiritual way.
St. Luke shared the buzz in Chapter 2, verse 47, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers”. This twelve year old entering manhood in the Jewish way could more than hold his own in a religious discussion with all the gray haired priests and teachers. If you or I were a fly on the wall of that synagogue, that day, two thousand years ago, what would we have heard? Would we hear a recital of the two thousand year history of Israel? Would we hear a theology to support the many rituals of the faith? How would the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob factor into the daily lives of the people? This scripture is silent about the words of Jesus, we can only guess.
Is a wild guess our only alternative? Might not the rest of scripture beyond the silence of the immediate context give us clues as to the mind and heart of Jesus in the synagogue? In verse 52 St. Luke tells us, “And as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favor with God and the people”. Luke does not tell us that the thinking of Jesus changed, only that it increased from where it was at age twelve. This conclusion may be more than what is warranted by the text but it seems to fit. In the rest of the New Testament, Jesus is the peoples prophet for the religion of Israel had long placed the blessings of God beyond the reach of most of the people.
This exclusivity of the grace of God is what Jesus reacted against at 12, it was the foundation of his ministry and ultimately would bring his death on the cross at the age of 33. This point is not up for debate, no other conclusion can be reached by a sane thinking person. Unless of course, you are a religionist. Every time and age is filled with these folk. Whether it is a religion about something or a religion about nothing, we humans do love and treasure our religions.
The Pharisees said one has to live well enough to deserve the love of God. The Sadducees said that money and social status makes one worthy of the love of God. Almost everyone said that you must be in the line of David, a practicing Jew to be worthy of the love of God. They all were ready to quote scripture to justify their opinions and Jesus was ready to quote scripture right back at them. Every parable that Jesus told was about the open access policy, the open door to God that is and was extended to all the people. The Messiah was not about politics or income redistribution, he was about equal opportunity access to the God of the galaxies. Religion had to stop that message!
One might ask, did Jesus successfully derail the exclusivity of the religionists? No way, they keep reappearing in one form or another through the centuries,just as the Spirit of the risen Jesus is on the earth broadcasting an open invitation to all peoples to immediately experience the love of God. All of humanity should be thankful for this opportunity to experience God on this Thanksgiving day and every day of the year. The scriptures for this day are in Romans and Mathew‘s gospel.
Paul encourages his folk in Rome to accept all, to include Gentile and Jew as brothers in the faith. St. Mathew records the ministry of John the Baptist, who preached the best of the old way but pointed to a coming One who would bring spiritual fire to the earth. The religionists twist the fire reference to mean that a special purification makes one worthy of the love of God. Why can’t we believe the obvious? Fire burns wherever there is fuel and oxygen, fire does not discriminate and that was and is the love of God.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
