Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, January 5, 2025
by Vicar Wing Yin Li, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Like Mary, we can learn to hold in our hearts what we cannot fully understand in life with the hope that one day we can get a glimpse of the mystery of God.
A twelve-year-old missing for three days? That’s a nightmare that every family dreads having. And knowing that this child is the Messiah, whom you are given the responsibility to take care of for the sake of the salvation of your people/humanity? This is more nerve-wracking than one could imagine, especially for people coming from a collective culture where the community’s welfare is placed before personal interest. When Mary and Joseph are frantically looking for Jesus in the crowd, hoping that they did not lose their precious son who is also the promised Messiah, what they did not expect was to find him in the temple, engaging in profound discussions with the teachers of the law. This scene is like the moment in a movie when the characters suddenly get a glimpse of something that will later unlock the mystery surrounding everything. Jesus missing for three days, and then announcing his identity as the Son of God…Ring a bell?
But back at that time, it was just a glimpse. Mary and Joseph didn’t fully understand what Jesus meant when he said he must be at his Father’s house. They were confused, as they likely had never entertained the possibility that the Messiah was not only a human prophet but also the actual Son of God. Yet, while they did not fully understand the meaning of the event, Mary “treasured all these things in her heart.” (v.51) This act of continuously keeping in her heart what she had experienced but had not fully understood ultimately braced her to face the unimaginable pain of losing her son on the cross. No, it would not have made sense of the suffering or prevented her from feeling the pain, but it braced her spirit to hold such pain while she witnessed the mystery of God.
Suffering is real, and although it is an experience that is never absent from human existence, it remains something we cannot fully understand or make sense of. Sometimes, suffering can be so huge that it even prompts us to doubt the meaning of life and the goodness of God. While there is no final answer to the question of suffering, like Mary, we may learn to hold in our hearts what we have experienced but have not fully understood. We do not need to cast out all our doubt or confusion to have faith in God, but we can give space for our faith to be placed side by side with the mystery of suffering. And perhaps, it is within such space that we may get a glimpse of the mystery of God.
