O Jesus, where art thou?

Jesus has gone missing -- where is he?

That's the story line in today's Gospel (or at least one of the two options for today, the FEAST DAY OF ST. JOSEPH!).  On the way home from a festive visit to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph somehow lose track of their only son.  I imagine a mother and father with broken hearts, asking everyone they know and don't know to help them look for Jesus.  God kinda dropped him on their lap, so they don't want to lose him for good.

Their vocation to parenthood in question (how can you lose a child for three days?) and in tears, they finally head back to the temple only after three days and find Jesus.  Seeing Jesus, they run to him and embrace.  Questions come and confessions too: "Jesus, you've caused us great anxiety."  But Jesus says "Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?"  Mary and Joseph don't understand.  And the fifth mystery of the joyful mysteries of the rosary is born.

What are we to take from this happening?  That Joseph and Mary were poor parents?  No, I don't think that's it.  That Jesus is a Jewish ninja, able to slip away from a caravan of friends and family?  Probably not.  Jesus' response is telling.  "Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?"

Where do we look for fulfillment?  As Christians, we believe that our ultimate fulfillment can only be found in God, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Looking elsewhere will do us no good, we will only be let down.  Even the most beautiful of situations and circumstances here on earth will set us up for a let down.  There could be world peace, no violence, and a no poverty and we would still not find what we're looking for.  The anxiety of the heart would still pull on us.  We are a people in constant need of a Savior; a people journeying in the wilderness, waiting for the Promised Land.


We look for fulfillment and satisfaction where there is none.  1 John 2:15-16 gives three categories where we seek fulfillment: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  Or, more easily understood, physical pleasure (sexual, gastronomical, through drugs or alcohol), inordinate desire for material goods ("retail therapy", hoarding, intense attachment to X,Y,Z), and the desire for power or social standing.

After we spend our three days, three weeks, three months, three years, or thirty years searching with great anxiety for our chief fulfillment, we can still enter into the temple and find the life of Christ waiting for us in a way we don't understand.  No, for now we can just rejoicing in the presence of God.  We'll grow in understanding, and in love, but also in union with Christ.  And that's what it's all about.
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Reflection Questions:
Have I lost Jesus?
Where am I looking for fulfillment?
Which of the threefold desires from 1 John 2:15-16 do I struggle with?
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Danielle Rose - The Finding
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Blessings,
Isaac