The Missing Years of Jesus

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday. Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen Luke and Ann Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your daily Life. Today is January 12, 2025, the Feast of the baptism of the Lord. Karen and Ann explore how Jesus grew into his fully human and fully divine identity and how he came to understand God's call for his life. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Welcome back to Faith Break. I'm Karen Luke. [00:00:41] Speaker C: I'm Ann Gallagher. [00:00:42] Speaker B: And we are sharing our God moments in everyday life and trying to find them. Yep, we are moms. We are ministers in the church. [00:00:52] Speaker C: We are co workers and friends. [00:00:54] Speaker B: And friends and wives. And add that all to the list. [00:00:57] Speaker C: All the hats. [00:00:58] Speaker B: It's crazy, but this weekend is. The scripture passages are about the baptism. [00:01:04] Speaker C: Of the Lord, the feast of the baptism of the Lord. You're allowed to take your Christmas tree down now if you haven't already. [00:01:09] Speaker B: It's officially end of Christmas. [00:01:12] Speaker C: I love this feast day. [00:01:15] Speaker B: Tell me more. [00:01:18] Speaker C: Well, it's just. So we have all these stories of Jesus's like, birth and like, yeah, soon after in, like, Matthew and in Luke, but we don't. There's this, like, big stretch of time, like decades of time between the infancy narratives and when Jesus started his public ministry. So because the baptism of Lord is sort of Jesus's entrance into public life, I like to take this chance to, like, think back and imagine, like, where the heck was Jesus? What was going on all those years that we don't have any scripture stories about? So. So that's what we're gonna explore today. [00:01:57] Speaker B: So we know that we have the infancy narrative that he was born, obviously, and then we don't hear much until after King Herod was dead. And then they got to go back. But then the next time we hear about Jesus was when he was 12 in the temple. [00:02:17] Speaker C: Right. So we're gonna do some imaginative reflection on what Jesus might have been like as a child, as a teenager, and as a young adult. This is right here. Right. But first I gotta find out what your God moment was. This show. [00:02:31] Speaker B: I forgot about God moments. [00:02:32] Speaker C: No worries. [00:02:33] Speaker B: So my God moment is we were at a family gathering and my aunt brought an old school game of Old Maid. [00:02:44] Speaker C: Oh, nice. [00:02:45] Speaker B: And now my family, like, when was. [00:02:47] Speaker C: The last time I played Old Maid for anybody? Right? [00:02:49] Speaker B: But like, my kids and Jer and I, we play a lot of games, but they're like the board games and like, other card games. This is. I didn't realize it. My kids had never played Old Maid. [00:02:59] Speaker C: Cause they're so far beyond that. They're so sophisticated in their game taste, probably, right? Sure. [00:03:04] Speaker B: But this was my God moment. It was my two aunts and myself and my daughter. [00:03:11] Speaker C: Aw. [00:03:11] Speaker B: And we were playing at the table and it was hysterical because I stupidly thought that Molly Maid was the old maid. So every time I got the Molly Maid card. Now are you familiar with Old Maid? [00:03:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I haven't played that in. [00:03:29] Speaker B: So like it's a matching game, right? [00:03:31] Speaker C: Like Go fish. Right? [00:03:32] Speaker B: It's like Go fish, but you pick out of other people's hands instead of asking them. And so there's like Teacher Tom and Scuba Sam. It's like all these professions with the name of the person that matches their profession. So here I thought I was getting the old maid. [00:03:50] Speaker C: You had the young maid. [00:03:52] Speaker B: Then I got really confused because then there was two because I follow. I was like, okay, so my aunt just took the maid for me. But then I noticed that I got one from Emma. So I was like, how is there two old maids? And I was confusing myself. So then Emma ended up getting the Molly Maid and put him down. I was like, so is that the game? And my aunts were hysterically laughing at me. They're like, you of all people should know how to play this game. Because that was what we used to play when I was little at my grandparents house. [00:04:24] Speaker C: Was it the same deck or was it like a new version of the deck? [00:04:27] Speaker B: So I asked my aunt because it was like old school looking cards. She says she got them from Kmart. [00:04:38] Speaker C: Yay. So it was like Kmart hasn't existed in a while here. Old school from the Kmart. [00:04:45] Speaker B: So that was my God moment. It was just like fun being a kid again with my kid. [00:04:50] Speaker C: Isn't there something about the multiple generations having like three generations in any conversation? Like that is always really. [00:04:57] Speaker B: It was really fun. And then watching like, so my two aunts are sisters, so watching them get mad at each other about things was like hysterical because they're in their like 50s and 60s and they're like tit for tatting. Right? So yeah, that was my God moment, is just being present with. With my fam. How about you? [00:05:16] Speaker C: So I was still. Because we're at the beginning of the new year still kind of in January here, and we're thinking about Jesus as a young adult. So I got thinking back towards my own young adult years and some things. So this is kind of sort of a God moment, like in reflection, in retrospect, because I have a group of girlfriends from college that I still see. We get together for Labor Day weekend every year. We've done it for 25 years. We have a group chat that is, like, super active and a lifeline where we're just, like, talking about things. And it was one of my blessings of 2024 that my former roommate, Meg came for the eclipse way back in April. But she brought her. She has three kids under the age of 10, and she brought all three of her kids, and they stayed with us. And she. We just had a great time. And, like, she wanted to know all about our house and all about, like, our neighborhood and all about the. Like, she wanted tours of both churches, and she brought her kids to mass, and we just had this whole, like. Just, like, the amount of love in that group and in that friendship and how she was thrilled to share in my life here, even though we live states apart, like, it was such a blessing. And so I think, you know, when we're thinking about, like, Jesus at these years of his, we don't have. What we know because of our own experience and especially because of people who work with young people, is that he had formative relationships in those years. Right. And I just love imagining and praying about, like, what were. Who were the people who made him, who he turned out to be. [00:07:01] Speaker B: Right. [00:07:02] Speaker C: Because, you know, like, all those friendships you have when you're a teenager and a young adult and all the mentors you have and the people you learn from, like, it just. It. It makes us who we are. And I just. We know that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, but we know there were humans who influenced him and relationships that did. And I don't know, I just like thinking about those stories, so that's great. Here we go today. [00:07:28] Speaker B: I love that. [00:07:29] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm grateful for the people who have been influential in my life. And let's think about how Jesus got where he was, because what a journey he must have had. [00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I wish there was more. I don't know. Okay, here. Here's a question. Is it more fun to imagine what his years were like or to have been, do you think, or actually know it through Scripture? Yeah, I think it's kind of more. [00:07:59] Speaker C: Fun to not know. [00:08:01] Speaker B: To not know. [00:08:01] Speaker C: To be able to think about it. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Because depending on where we are in our lives might change. [00:08:07] Speaker C: Sure. [00:08:07] Speaker B: You know, where we think, what he would have done. But going back to the temple when he was 12, like, yes, I. [00:08:17] Speaker C: Let's just do an overview. I'm gonna do an overview of, like, what scripture does tell us. [00:08:23] Speaker B: Okay. [00:08:23] Speaker C: And then we'll Go into, like, what we imagine. [00:08:25] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Cause you're. You're so amazing. [00:08:29] Speaker C: The Gospel of Mark just starts with Jesus's baptism. [00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:32] Speaker C: So he's an adult starting his ministry when Mark starts. So we're not really going to talk about Mark. We're not really going to talk about John because it's its own thing. So for today's purposes, we're going to talk about Matthew and Luke primarily. So in Matthew, we have the story of Jesus's birth, we have the visit from the wise men, and then we have the flight to Egypt. Okay. So after Jesus was born, King Herod felt threatened. And, you know, there's another king, but he kind of overreacted and he massacred all the baby boys. All right, this is like. This is not funny, Karen. But so the holy family, Joseph got warned in a dream, and they go to Egypt. And then Joseph eventually has another dream telling them, like, Herod had died. It's safe and you can come back. Okay. So the bottom line is that in the Gospel of Matthew, what we know of Jesus's childhood is that he was a political refugee. And I looked this up yesterday, and did you know that Egypt is 1200 miles from Jerusalem? [00:09:42] Speaker B: No. [00:09:43] Speaker C: 1200 miles. Can you imagine making. That's like, across the freaking country from here. It would take us. Just imagine going 1200 miles in an airplane with a baby. [00:09:55] Speaker B: Geographically, where would that be from? [00:09:59] Speaker C: It's like, halfway across the country. Right. Like, I don't. It's like, a lot. So I'm saying it's a lot longer. It's a really long way. They had to travel. And. [00:10:07] Speaker B: And they're traveling by, who knows, a donkey, probably. [00:10:10] Speaker C: Camel. [00:10:10] Speaker B: Camel. [00:10:11] Speaker C: I don't know how they were traveling, but it was a long trip. It had to have been dangerous. And they think, like, there's. They're not certain how long they were in Egypt, but they think it was at least three or four years. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Probably took possibilities. [00:10:26] Speaker C: Right. So we have, like, all of Jesus's preschool years and possibly, you know, most of his young childhood was spent away from home. And we don't know if there were, like, other relatives there or who else was what Joseph was doing. We know he was a carpenter, so maybe, you know, he had a trade there. [00:10:46] Speaker B: He was on the older end. We know. [00:10:49] Speaker C: Well, we think so because we don't hear from Joseph again after that. So we would assume that because we have stories of Mary from when Jesus was an adult, but we don't have stories of Jesus that maybe he would have passed away. So that's what we know from the Gospel of Matthew. We have this story of going to Egypt and coming back and then nothing again until the baptism. And in Luke, we have the Christmas story and we have the shepherds and the angels and he's presented in the temple. And then we do get one bonus story of Jesus as a 12 year old. [00:11:22] Speaker B: I love that story. [00:11:23] Speaker C: Yes. It's the favorite story of youth ministers everywhere. And it is when Jesus is 12 and every year they, the Jewish families go to Jerusalem for the Passover, for the, you know, to worship together. And Jesus gets lost and stays. Well, he knows where he is. [00:11:44] Speaker B: He doesn't get lost, he stays. [00:11:45] Speaker C: He doesn't tell his parents where he is though. And they travel for days back home before realizing that he's missing and having. And then they travel all the way back to Jerusalem and they find him in the temple talking to the priests, to the rabbis. Right. [00:12:01] Speaker B: And the best line of that, go, okay. The best line is like, Mary is like, what were you doing? He's like, why would you have not known? I was at my father's house, like, duh. He's just like so nonchalant about it. [00:12:15] Speaker C: Right. So it's interesting because at that time, I mean, you know, 12 year olds, right. [00:12:20] Speaker B: I'm living right now. [00:12:21] Speaker C: Me too. They're right. Well, my kids are slightly older, but they're right in that middle between like childhood and like adulthood. They're like pushing the limits, right? So for a 12 year old boy at that, like, he's, you know, he's not quite young enough to still be with like the moms and the kids, but not quite old enough to be with the men. And they would travel in like a caravan with multiple families. So they would be like, the men would travel together and the women and the children would travel together. So it's under. It's not like a bad parenting thing. Like how they didn't notice, like it was reasonable that Mary and Joseph could have thought Jesus was with the other parent. Right, okay, but just like, I can't read that passage without hearing the snark. [00:13:05] Speaker B: Yes. Oh my gosh. [00:13:07] Speaker C: And maybe it didn't come out that way when Jesus said it. [00:13:11] Speaker B: I don't know. I think it kind of. I think it kind of did. Yeah, because like, but that's the other thing is like, we know that he knew, you know, when he started his ministry when he was like 30. So he must like, he had to have known at 12 or before. So like, what else was he doing during that time? So like he, for me, I'm kind of reading it as like Mary told him who he was and when that came out he's like, well, why wouldn't you think I was here? Like, this is what I was born for. [00:13:49] Speaker C: It raises all these other questions, right? Cause you're like, what did they tell him growing up? About what happened at his birth? Yeah, about what God promised to Mary. [00:14:02] Speaker B: If the angels came to Mary and Joseph, maybe they came to Jesus. [00:14:07] Speaker C: So. And you know, because he's fully human and fully divine, we're never going to know the answer to this. But we humans have to grow into our self, knowledge of who we are and where God's calling us. But he was also divine. So maybe he had that. But maybe it was both. Right? It probably was both that he knew some things or knew somehow and still had to grow into it. So I mean, it's hard for me to imagine as a parent being like to a little two year old. Well, now you're the son of God, so you have to behave this way. Right. Like that doesn't feel right. But they must have prepared him somehow. [00:14:46] Speaker B: Right. But I don't, I don't get the impression from the stories that we hear of Mary and we have to remember he was, they were close in eight. I mean that sounds gross, but like she was only 15, right. So by the time he was 12, she was in her middle 20s, 30s, maybe 30s, maybe. Yeah, you know, so like I totally forgot where I was going with this. [00:15:11] Speaker C: I think it's just like, how do you raise the. [00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:13] Speaker C: Son of God as a child? [00:15:15] Speaker B: And yeah, she was probably questioning a lot of stuff too and not totally understanding what was going on. [00:15:27] Speaker C: And that 12 year old age is like, I mean parents, you know, it's like so fraught and we, you know, the challenge becomes, we know our teens are tweens. Teens are going to like, they're going to take a step away and they're going to take a step back and they're going to take two steps away and they're going to take a step back and like, and you can see Jesus in this passage, like beginning to risk and beginning to let go of the parents who had taken care of him and beginning to test the waters and to see because he wasn't heading to a safe place if he, you know, I mean, I think he must have, even at that young age had an idea that if he followed God's call to the end that it was going to be difficult, it was going to be challenging, it was Going to be outside everybody's comfort zone. And, yeah, so we see this adolescent Jesus just kind of starting to test the boundaries a little bit here, just like every teen does. But for him, the stakes were so much higher, what he had to navigate. [00:16:37] Speaker B: So I had a little bit of. I had a little bit of a moment like this. Can I throw in the story really fast? [00:16:41] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:16:42] Speaker B: Okay. So we were at the mall. We took two separate cars, and we're leaving the mall. And my daughter was like, I want to drive with you. And my son says, I want to drive with Dad. I was like, okay. So I get. You know, we get in the car, we drive home. And I stayed in the car for a second before I actually got out, and so did Jeremy. So when I got out, my son was not in the car. [00:17:09] Speaker C: Oh, geez. [00:17:10] Speaker B: And I panicked for. I'm like, you did bring Connor home, right? Like. And Jerry's like, what do you mean? I thought you had him. I was like, what? And he was just messing with me. Connor had already gone in the house. But I was like, so, like, that moment of panic. I could totally relate. [00:17:25] Speaker C: Yes. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Too. But it was just. I mean, what are you gonna do? But going back to Mary, like, from what we hear from her, I kind of get the impression that she was like, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. Like, she. I mean, she said yes to God. [00:17:46] Speaker C: Her trust was so complete. [00:17:47] Speaker B: Her trust was so complete that I don't. I don't get the impression that she was like, you have to act this way or this way. I think she. [00:17:58] Speaker C: But I think she panicked when she lost. [00:18:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. I think she. [00:18:02] Speaker C: Because how could you not? [00:18:03] Speaker B: Absolutely. But, like, I think she kind of just was giving him. The way that I see it, it's like, giving him the childhood that she got right. Until it was his time to do what he needed to do. [00:18:19] Speaker C: So you ever have those moments when you look at your children when. Sometimes when they're really young, and you just kind of get a glimpse of who they're gonna be like, when they're older? I don't know. I feel like I've had a couple moments as a mom when I've, like, thought about that. Like, I remember my oldest, when he was in preschool, there was a little kid who cried every day when his mom left. And Liam would just go sit with him, and he wouldn't, like, say anything. Like, he was only like, three or four, right. But he would just go sit with a kid who was crying for his mom. And I'm like, oh, that's his superpower. I hope he doesn't, like, lose that. And then, of course, there's all the teenage stuff that happens, but I know that's still in there, you know? And, like, with Bridget, like, she just had such a strong will about her, even from a. Like, I just have this image of her. We were going to. Fridays are my day off. So we always used to have, like, Liam and Mommy Day or Bridget and Mommy Day on Fridays and Bridget and Mommy Day, and we were going to go to the Strong Museum, and she had ideas about her wardrobe and what she was going to wear. And she's at the top of the stairs and she's holding, like, everything she owns. And she start, like. But she was, like, just determined that she was gonna put these clothes on and she was gonna. I don't know. And then she fell down the stairs and broke her wrist. But that moment of her, like, just the will, I'm like, oh, that's gonna serve her well when she's older. And I just. I think about the Holy Family, and I'm like, there must have been those flashes when Jesus was small, when his parents looked at him and were like, yeah, God's giving you the gifts you're gonna need to be who you have to be. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:07] Speaker C: Right? And so the question as parents is always like, well, how do we nurture those things without hovering? Hovering. Sending our kids to lifetime of therapy, like, all that. All that jazz? So I don't know. [00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But then we don't have anything from 12 until 30, so. [00:20:29] Speaker C: So maybe he was grounded. Maybe he was grounded. [00:20:31] Speaker B: He was grounded for that long. [00:20:32] Speaker C: He ran away and he was grounded till I was 30. No. [00:20:36] Speaker B: Well, when he came, like, when he started his ministry, everyone was like, isn't that the carpenter's son? [00:20:43] Speaker C: So we know he must have had a trade. [00:20:44] Speaker B: He must have. And usually in that time, whatever trade your father was was kind of what you did. So he must have been in carpentry or of something. And it was a small area, so I'm sure he knew everybody. Right. [00:21:01] Speaker C: Lived in a small town. [00:21:02] Speaker B: Right. And we obviously know he didn't perform or do anything crazy because his first miracle. [00:21:11] Speaker C: Right. He wasn't, like, performing lots of miracles in his hometown growing up. [00:21:15] Speaker B: Like, I heard some conspiracy theories. [00:21:17] Speaker C: Oh, boy, are we going down this rabbit hole? [00:21:20] Speaker B: Well, when I was, like, searching, like, I was doing research for this, and I was like, where is Jesus? You know? And they're like, oh, he was in this far off land, learning from these shamas you know, like, these mystic. [00:21:31] Speaker C: There's all those, like, all these theories that he. Do Some people think he went. [00:21:35] Speaker B: The what? [00:21:36] Speaker C: The Essenes? Is that a group? They thought he went. [00:21:38] Speaker B: I don't remember hearing that, but it was like, I never. This is the first time that I had ever heard that was like, just the other day. [00:21:46] Speaker C: So you got to take what you feed on the interwebs with a grain of salt. [00:21:49] Speaker B: I heard that. [00:21:50] Speaker C: But we do know that he would have. Like, he would have had a job for sure. He would have had friends in his town and. [00:22:00] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna bring this back up. If you haven't watched in the Chosen. [00:22:03] Speaker C: I know. [00:22:04] Speaker B: Watch it because one of the scenes. Well. [00:22:07] Speaker C: Oh, no. Okay. [00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah, but one of the scenes. Well, actually all the scenes when he's with the apostles. So Jeremy came down to watch with me one time, and he's like, wow, this is really cool. He's so personable. Like, he's funny. And I was like, well, you know. Yes. It's a story. We don't really know if, like, that's what he was. But I've always considered Jesus as, like, my friend, my buddy. So when I was watching those episodes when he's, like, laughing with them and teasing them and, like, swimming and stuff like that, I was like, dude, I totally would want it. That would be, like. That would be the friend group that I would want. So, like, he must. He obviously had. Can't really say obviously, because I don't know, but, like, this charisma or something about him. [00:22:57] Speaker C: Well, he would have been a good friend, right? [00:22:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:59] Speaker C: He would have been a good son. He would have been a good. [00:23:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:03] Speaker C: Neighbor. Right. But one of the things I was wondering is, like, is there one of the moments we have as adults is, like, when our parents. When we move from our parents taking care of us to more like, taking care of our parents as they age. And I wonder what that was like for Jesus, because since we don't have any Joseph stories after the very beginning, like, when. When did that shift happen? Like, he must have moved at a. Especially given the culture of the time, to being his mother's caretaker at some point, even if she wasn't physically in need, just like, financially and socially, she would have needed to rely on him. And so that raises the stakes for him personally, too, when he goes off like, he probably left a good business to go and be an itinerant teacher and spread the good news. And Diana Cross. And then also, what did that mean for Mary? Right. [00:24:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Because she wouldn't have been able to. To do that. [00:24:08] Speaker C: That's why he has that scene from the cross with John. [00:24:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:12] Speaker C: You know, I give you your son and your mother. [00:24:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:15] Speaker C: Because he was worried about how she would be taken care of when he was gone. You know, I mean, he was a human person with human responsibilities and relationships too. [00:24:26] Speaker B: That's what's like, so mind boggling about Jesus is we tend to forget. Like, I think I've said this before, but he wasn't 50% human, 50% divine. [00:24:38] Speaker C: 100, 100, 100, 100. [00:24:40] Speaker B: And like, he was able to have these relationships as the human that he was. And he wept for us and he celebrated with us and he knew what he needed to do. And he even, like, for a second in Gethsemane wanted to get out of it. [00:25:01] Speaker C: Right. [00:25:02] Speaker B: He's like, but I can't. [00:25:03] Speaker C: Right. Yeah. [00:25:04] Speaker B: If it's possible, all this turmoil and like, frustration and having that close. I feel like him and Mary had a very close relationship, you know, and like, just knowing what was gonna happen even when he started his ministry, because a lot of in scripture we hear, it's not my time, it's not the time, it's not the time. So he knew when that time was, but no one else did. Right. [00:25:36] Speaker C: That was something I was thinking about too, because so we're doing the feast of his baptism this week. But what happened right before his baptism is that he spent 40 days in the desert. And so one of the things I wonder is, like, what sent him to the desert? Like, was it just the fulfillment of when his prayer and his life told him it was the right time? Or, like, was there some kind of inciting incident that like, pushed him to do that? I mean, there's no way of knowing, but. Right, because think about, that was like a moment where he spent a significant time away. Like, and there's no, like, you know, rest stops in the desert and like food and water. Do you know what I mean? Like, he was in the desert. He wasn't at like a fancy retreat house somewhere. He was in the desert. And then he made this like giant life change. He didn't go back. He never went back to his old life after that. And so I. One of the questions I have, and I have no answers for it is, what sent Jesus into the desert? Huh. [00:26:49] Speaker B: I never thought about it like that. [00:26:52] Speaker C: We're not gonna know. [00:26:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's one thing about, like, if you read scriptures, like a book, you're just gonna read it and be like, okay, that's the next chapter. [00:27:02] Speaker C: Right. [00:27:02] Speaker B: You know, when we read scripture, it's really good to either imagine yourself in it or ask those questions, like, what's. What's being left out with the four gospels, you have the Synoptic gospels. So, like, you. There's. There's. I took a whole class in Naz. Like, you look at each passage side by side, and who left what out and why. [00:27:27] Speaker C: So interesting. [00:27:28] Speaker B: And each writer wrote to a different group of people, and you get, like, these little bits and pieces and stuff. But, like, what was. Yeah. What was missing? Why, What. What was it? Or was it not even significant that they didn't feel like they needed to put it in there? [00:27:47] Speaker C: I know. [00:27:48] Speaker B: It's just. [00:27:49] Speaker C: There's so many. It's just. It's so fun to imagine Jesus as being, like, a real person. [00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:54] Speaker C: I gave a reflection on this gospel on this feast day many, many years ago, and I got good feedback. But one person was really mad at me because I. As part of my question, I asked the question. I was like, well, did all the girls have crushes on you? And, like, did you ever fall in love? Or do you ever have your heart broken and stuff? Because it would have been expected for him to have been married long ago. [00:28:17] Speaker B: Sure. [00:28:17] Speaker C: Right. [00:28:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And the culture. [00:28:20] Speaker C: And he wasn't. And so what was that about? And she was like, well, Jesus always knew where he was going, and he would never have done that. And I was like, I don't think we know what Jesus would never have done. And I just don't think we know. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah. That would be like assuming that every priest never had a girlfriend in middle school or high school. [00:28:39] Speaker C: Right. And some of them have stories. And I've heard some of the stories. [00:28:46] Speaker B: I don't know if I want to hear those. [00:28:47] Speaker C: No. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. But can we get into the baptism? [00:28:54] Speaker C: Let's do it. [00:28:55] Speaker B: Okay. Because I. I love. I love John. [00:29:01] Speaker C: Oh, I know. [00:29:02] Speaker B: I love John. Like, I love him because he was so crazy, quirky. And I fell in love with him even more watching the chosen. [00:29:10] Speaker C: Oh, he paved the way. Right. [00:29:11] Speaker B: He was. [00:29:11] Speaker C: He was that fearless. [00:29:14] Speaker B: What he needed to do, and he did not back down. Profit and the love that he had for Jesus, you know, and when he even said he's like, I would just be happy dusting off his shoes. [00:29:29] Speaker C: Right. [00:29:30] Speaker B: And when Jesus asked him to baptize him, he's like, no, no, no, no, no. You are to baptize me. And that exchange of, like, cousins, it. [00:29:41] Speaker C: Changes everything when you see it not just as a coming of Age story for Jesus, but as a family story between the two of them. [00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And they were just like this moment of, like, Jesus was giving John that moment that John deserved for everything that he did. [00:30:02] Speaker C: And maybe Jesus wanted his blessing on where he was going, you know, because John probably more than anybody, except for maybe Mary, would have understood what it meant for Jesus to take those first steps. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I never thought about it like that. That's true. And they were around the same age. But John's ministry started earlier, right before. Before Jesus's. [00:30:29] Speaker C: But, yeah, it's a whole other question we haven't even talked about, like, John's missing years. How did he become the crazy person he became? [00:30:37] Speaker B: Eating locusts. [00:30:38] Speaker C: Eating locusts. Wearing the hair and all that. And, I mean, that's another great thing to think about. How did he get to where he was? Because he was kind of, in a lot of ways, even more like, anti establishment than Jesus was. They were a bunch of troublemakers, weren't they? [00:31:00] Speaker B: Well, they were, yeah. Yeah. And you know what's interesting is, like, they had. They were. They were political. They pushed the boundaries of the norm. [00:31:14] Speaker C: Right. [00:31:17] Speaker B: They did it with love and compassion and an understanding that what they were doing was bigger than them. [00:31:30] Speaker C: Right. [00:31:31] Speaker B: It wasn't the fame that they were gonna get. [00:31:36] Speaker C: No. And so even though these years are missing for us, we can. We can trust that in those years when they were both John and Jesus were with their parents who raised them in faith and their communities, that they received the graces that they would need to walk the path that God laid in front of them. And both of them surrendered all kinds of other dreams to do that. Right? [00:32:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:10] Speaker C: For stability or family or cultural dreams. Yeah. Right. [00:32:15] Speaker B: It would have been the norm of what they were supposed to do. [00:32:19] Speaker C: Right. [00:32:20] Speaker B: But who's to say that that was even their original dream anyway? [00:32:26] Speaker C: I know. [00:32:27] Speaker B: Like, I don't know who would marry John and live in the desert and eat locusts. [00:32:34] Speaker C: Not me. You might. [00:32:36] Speaker B: I don't live in the desert. I don't know about. [00:32:38] Speaker C: He might have been a camper. [00:32:40] Speaker B: I don't know about eating the locust, but. But living in the desert, I probably could do that. [00:32:49] Speaker C: You know, that's interesting because I. You know, like, would Jesus have been happy living the life of a carpenter in Nazareth forever? Right. He was called to more. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but, like, he was called to more. So there must have been, like, a restlessness inside, even going back to when he was 12 and stayed in the temple. Right. Like, that Compelled him into God's dream. Maybe it doesn't come from a sense of peace all the time. Maybe it comes from a sense of dissatisfaction or unease that you think he. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Ever got to the point that he's like, I just want to get this over with. I know I'm going to die. So let's just. [00:33:30] Speaker C: I don't know, I don't know. It's interesting. [00:33:35] Speaker B: I would not want to know my. [00:33:37] Speaker C: Hour, the time or the time or. [00:33:39] Speaker B: The place because then I would always be like checking my back and doing all that stuff or just never leaving the house knowing that. That was like a heavy, you know. [00:33:55] Speaker C: I had a friend a year, two years, almost two years ago, she had a. She died of a brain tumor. And it was really sad. But like once she had her diagnosis, she lived her whole life as though, like, like every day was full. And I wonder like she, like in how she died. She showed us all how to live. And I wonder if with Jesus knowing he wasn't, you know, that he was going to be called to the cross, if that. Because you read like all of scripture and it just seems like he just went all in. Like he was healing people, he was forming these relationships with the disciples and you know, he made every minute count and he knew when to take time away and that, that wasn't wasted time, it was all part of it. I don't know, it's just, it's crazy to think about. But yeah, all the graces that he stored up in those missing years were what sustained him through, through his life and his death and his resurrection. So you got anything else for today? [00:35:11] Speaker B: Well, not only did he, yeah, he took the time to pray and to be with God. So in the chaos of everything too that we are living in and the chaos of life or jobs and family and the sandwich generation, we've talked about taking care of parents and kids, taking that time for you and trusting that. [00:35:42] Speaker C: God has given us the graces we need to carry us through the road that he puts in front of us. [00:35:48] Speaker B: And it goes back to our words, promise and hope, our words of the year. [00:35:53] Speaker C: Yes. [00:35:58] Speaker B: Okay. [00:35:59] Speaker C: I think that's all I got for this one. [00:36:01] Speaker B: Yeah, Let us know what your thoughts. [00:36:04] Speaker C: I would love to hear our parishioner's thoughts on this. [00:36:07] Speaker B: I wouldn't too. [00:36:08] Speaker C: Or just anyone who's listening or watching. [00:36:11] Speaker B: What you thought Jesus was doing. Right. [00:36:13] Speaker C: Because listen, this is not. Obviously we don't have scripture passages for this. So this is just us prayerfully reflecting. [00:36:20] Speaker B: And knowing 12 year old boys. I'm sure he got into a lot. [00:36:23] Speaker C: Of trouble, but what do you imagine that Jesus was like as a child or as a teen or as a young adult? [00:36:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So pop it in an email or. [00:36:32] Speaker C: Put it in the comments. [00:36:33] Speaker B: Put it in the comments. Let us know at church. Love to hear your thoughts. So thank you, everybody. [00:36:39] Speaker C: Have a great week. [00:36:39] Speaker B: Bye bye. [00:36:41] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a Faith Break with us today. Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher are lay ministers with the parishes of St. Catherine of Siena in Menden, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration in Pittsford, New York. More about our parishes, including weekly live streamed Sunday Mass, can be found at stcath.org or transfiguration pittsford.org Engineering Today is by Jeff Beckett. Join us for new episodes of Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music app.