Matins Devotion: January 4, 2023

Luke 2:41-52

Throughout Christ’s youth, Mary received a number of reminders that her Son didn’t really belong to her. He was her child, her first born baby boy. But He wasn’t born to be her precious one. He was born to the Savior of the world, which meant that she couldn’t keep him the way mothers always want to keep their sons.

Shepherds don’t normally gather around a child whose birth has been announced by an angel and all the company of heaven. Wise men don’t go on long journeys after seeing a star in the sky announcing the birth of your son. Normal mothers don’t have to flee to neighboring countries in the middle of the night to escape the wrath of kings who want to murder your son. All of these things were a reminder to Mary, “Jesus doesn’t really belong to you. He belongs to the world He came to save.”

But perhaps the greatest reminder of this took place in our reading for today, when Mary essentially experiences a dry of the crucifixion and resurrection. She loses her son and for three days is thrown into a frantic panic, surely assuming Him to be dead, only to find Him in the place she should have looked all along–in the house of His Father. 

Mary’s Son was not born to stay by her side forever. He was born to be in His Father’s house, to be about His Father’s business, to fulfill His Father’s will, to be the true and greater temple, to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Mary’s Son was not born to be her little boy. He was born to be your Brother, born to be your Savior and hers.