Mastership Studies

“and that gives me comfort”

I’d like to tell this story with a modern perspective focusing more on the blessing and challenges of parents parents raising a special child.

I grew up going to Sunday school and mostly the focus of the story was on young Jesus amazed and held class with all the wise men (Rabbi’s and doctor’s) who were attending the Temple in Jerusalem for worship. It in some regards was considered to be one of Jesus’s first miracles that proved his divine nature. For years I thought that was the complete moral of this story, but then I became a parent and grandparent of special needs (ADHD/Autistic/Asbergers) children that changed my entire perspective on this story.

First a side note: I was raised Christian and even though I have studied many religious beliefs and read the Talmud, the Koran, Bhagavad gita, Tibetian book of the dead. Emerald tablets of Thoth, Urantia book, The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus, the book of Jasher, Autobiography of a Yogi and many more. I have studied at various degrees the teachings of Bahia Faith, Wicca (pantheism) and its ties to most mythology, Shamanism and Huna, Yogic studies, Dianetics, Santeria and Bugaria, The Golden Dawn, Rosicrucian, Transcendental Meditation, EST, Silva Mind Control all as my journey as a seeker. So I have no desire to convert any one to Christianity or any belief system. I’m merely here to give insight on a fascinating New Testament story.

Jesus was very independent like any pre-teen and the annual 70 mile trek from Nazareth to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem was a welcome adventure from being an apprentice and working carpentry like his Step-father Joseph. In fact his parents let him go off with other family members and friends as the numbers of the party grew as they got close to there destination.

When the passover feast was finished and it was time to leave Jerusalem, Jesus’s parents didn’t give it a second thought because they trusted Jesus would know that he should have to make the journey back home(first mistake!). It’s kind of going to Disneyland with a large family, the younger kids want kind of ride and the older kids want another experience. So Mom and Dad split up with Mom herding the small kiddos and Dad tries his best to keep up with the older ones. Its a free for all but you decide to meet up in front of Cinderella’s Castle at 1 pm for lunch. Sound familiar? We’ve all had a similar vacation story, Now relate that story too Two Thousand years ago and you’ll see how a family vacation to Wally’s World fits the scenario because people are still people and family dynamics haven’t changed tht much.

So one day into their 70 mile trek when it’s time for Jesus to check in at Cinderella’s castle, Jesus is a no show! After checking with the entire group of family and friends, no one has any reports of seeing Jesus with the group. Now in todays world after 24 hours you could file a missing person’s report with the police, but in those days the police were the freaking Romans and would be the last place that any respecting Jew would turn to for help. So they, Joseph and Mary, decide to head back to Jerusalem at a very quickened pace I’m sure.

Once the get back to Jerusalem they check with relatives who have no word of any Jesus sightings. So the search intensives and they check every McDonalds, Pizza place (unleaven bread for pizza crust?), every Video game store, the shopping mall and the food courts (Jesus has to eat somewhere right?), they even check some of the seeder places suspecting a mugged body of Jesus might be found in some dark alley, They looked High and Low for three days with no luck.

So now they are at their wits end and filling with fear and worry. Only when they get at that level of desperation do they turn to prayer and decide to go to the Temple to pray for Jesus safe return. And what do they find there? Jesus hold court with the local scholars. In Mary’s relief she rushes to her son and says, doing a perfect Jewish Mother guilt trip, “Son, how could you treat us like this? Don’t you know how much you worried us?”

I’m glad Joseph wasn’t there to hear Jesus’s reply to his Mom or Joseph might have given a back handed slap with those rough carpenters hands to Jesus smart mouthed cheek! Jesus said to his Mom, “hey chill out, Mom. Didn’t you know I would be doing my real Father’s business? Sheesh!”.

Now my point is that Angel’s announcing Mary’s pregnancy, visits from Wise men guided by a comet, even fleeing for your life into Egypt wasn’t enough to convince Joseph and Mary what a special soul they were raising. So Jesus had chores, he had his studies but until that moment at age 12 when she noticed how the elders were being schooled by such a young boy with enormous potential. Even in Luke it says that Mary was impressed that day and thought about it for many years to come. It says that Jesus was obediant to his parents after that and didn’t give them another heart attack moment, at least one that was recorded anywhere, except that last one with the nails and the cross.

As a parent we all have the highest hopes and aspirations for our children and the deepest fears for their safe keeping. Jesus hadn’t shown that aptitude for greatness until he was twelve, Mozart was writing symphonies and Operas at six. But Jesus was getting splinters making dinette sets with his Dad and being a loving son earning the trust to be independent with his Mother, so that he could be treated like an ordinary boy.

If they had known the destiny of what Jesus would become they would have treated him differently and instead of someone who could preach to the masses and have so many eye witness accounts record his words and works that remain with us two thousand years later. Remember, Jesus did not write any of his words himself, only they eyewitness accounts.

I’ve used some humor and satire in this article not to be disrespectful but an attempt to make this story more relatable to our own experinces.