David Schaap
I thought differently about this passage after I became a parent. There’s nothing like the fear not knowing where your child has gone (and then you find them hiding in a clothes rack, oblivious to your emotions). Jesus’ parents didn’t know where to find him, and spent three days looking in Jerusalem for their son, so can only imagine their terror. It’s the first we’ve heard of Jesus in the Gospels since his birth, and he’s in the temple learning and asking questions, and shows the beginning of his ministry asking the questions that challenge us and teachings that show us the way, the truth, and the life.
Do we know where to find Jesus? Is it through theological minutiae, judging others’ lives, hiding behind memes and bumper stickers and feeling superior to others? It’s too easy for me to lapse into that behavior, yet it obscures the light of Christ we celebrate at the Great Vigil of Easter. Are we looking in the right places? God is here among us and we need to help that light of Christ be seen, not obscured by our lives and actions. We see through a glass darkly, and yet that light can shine through all of us.
David Schaap is the organist and choirmaster at Trinity Cathedral.
