This is a clip from the episode, God Goes Big
Description and Transcript
Do we see the extraordinary in the familiar? We often overlook the magnitude of events that we deem trivial, or ordinary. But these moments might actually be momentous, if you’re paying attention to them.
Reflecting on the Gospel narrative of Joseph and Mary finding Jesus in the Temple, we see that he Holy Family shows us that family is something more than we appreciate. And the experience of growing in knowledge and the interplay between knowledge and understanding suggests there is a jewel to be found in the human experience learning and discovery. Listen to the audio for more. Transcript is below
Transcript
We have a limited amount of data in terms of Jesus’ early life, so it’s hard to say if God went big for the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. But some things that we do know about Jesus’ early life may actually be very big, things that we just think are trivial because to us they are common. Maybe the Holy Family is an example of God going big, because maybe the Family is an example of God going big, but because to us it is common, we don’t see it as something big, but maybe it really is. If the Family is the domestic church and a reflection of the Holy Trinity itself, maybe that’s a much bigger deal than we give credit for. What else do we know from Jesus’ life?
Let’s take the finding in the temple, the finding of the temple. Jesus is building questions and he’s asking questions of the elders. So we have the establishment and growth and expression of knowledge. And then, when Mary and Joseph find him, we also have almost a void of knowledge because they’re confused by what Jesus says to them. So we have the expression of knowledge, the building and growth of knowledge, and then we have a void of knowledge, the absence of a knowledge or of an understanding, knowing and understanding.
Maybe these are big deals that God built into the human experience that we just take for granted. Because they’re common, because to grow in knowledge and understanding is an interaction with truth itself. It’s not just an interaction with true things, it’s an interaction with truth itself, inherent in the created order. Maybe that’s an example of God going big. You know, the angels don’t have the ability to learn. We do. Maybe that’s a bigger deal than we give credit for. Okay, that’s another one. I can talk for hours about that one, but we have to move on. Then in Jesus’ life, we see him now get this one, because this is really amazing.
