Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, December 31, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Jesus was just a kid. He was born. He was named and circumcised. Then his parents went home and raised him. He had to get to the point where he slept through the night. He had to learn to feed himself. Had to be potty trained, learn to dress himself, do all the things kids learn to do. He probably played with the neighbor kids, helped out with his younger siblings when they came along, all these normal, mundane things about being a human being few of us remember. The next we hear of him, he’s twelve—not quite the age of bar mitzvah, which would make him a legal adult. His entire childhood his assumed to be simply that: childhood.
How beautiful is that, really, when you think about it? How much of Jesus’ childhood experiences did he bring into his ministry? How and when did his heart become tender and full of compassion for his neighbor? One could argue, “Well, he was God, of course he knew!” But I think it’s more than that. He was fully human. He had parents. Experiences. At some point, something turned his heart from himself—a right and psychologically normal selfishness of young children—to the plight of others in his world and ours
When I reflect on my own childhood, I see all the ways in which the pains of growing up that I experienced made me compassionate toward others. The hurts of unfaithful friends, the trials of being a smart, nerdy kid in a very, very small school—these things helped me see the loneliness and deep desire to connect in other human beings, even and especially adults! Jesus went through it all, and it opened his heart to all those in pain and need. To you and to me.
What formative experiences in my childhood gave me compassion for others?
