A SERMON BY
FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE
.FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE
THE FINE ART OF LIVING TOGETHER
Luke 2:41-52
The
number one need of our world today is for people to learn to live
together in harmony. How wonderful it would be if people of all
religions and nationalities lived peacefully. Peace
would prevail everywhere.
Jesus
went with His family to the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. They made the
pilgrimage
in a large company of friends and relatives. When the feast was over,
everyone started
home, except Jesus. He decided to stay behind. Mary and Joseph and
their party had
travelled one full day without Him, assuming that He was somewhere in
the group. Sometime that evening, it became apparent that He was not
with them. His frantic parents
headed back to Jerusalem in search of their Child. It took the better
part of three days for
them to find Him. Can you imagine what they were feeling during that
time?
When they finally found Him, Mary said, "Son, why have You done this to us?" A question
that any mother or father would ask under the same circumstances. Not that He was
deliberately unkind. He felt the call from His Father to stay on in Jerusalem. But we can
ask, "Why didn't He inform His parents? It would have saved them a lot of heartache.
After
this event, we are told that He went home with them and "progressed steadily in wisdom and
age and grace before God and men". He was learning many things, among them the fine art
of living together. What are the basic ingredients of this art? I think the first is commitment. For people to live
together in harmony, they must be committed to one another. A man and a woman stand at
a church altar, and say, "I do". That is their answer to the questions, "Do you take this
woman to be your wife? Do you take this man to be your husband?" They, of course, are
doing more than taking. They
are also giving themselves, each to the other. That is one of
life's deepest commitments. Without it, there can be no marriage.
There can be no home. There can be no successful living together.
Joseph and Mary made that commitment, which
is part of the reason we call them "the Holy Family". The process,
however, does not stop there. A baby comes into the home, and the
parents
enlarge their commitment. It now includes their new born baby.
Whatever it may cost them,
they will see to it that his or her needs are met. They will provide food, clothing, shelter,
discipline and, above all, love. No sacrifice will be too great, if caring for their child requires it of
them. That is what it means to be parents. It is, first and foremost,
a commitment to
their child. In the Bible, especially the New Testament, the family is
the main model for living together. But it neither begins nor ends with
husband, wife, and child. Paul traced it back to God. In his letter
to the Colossians, he wrote, "You are God's chosen
ones." That means God has committed Himself to us. Then, on the basis
of that, Paul
expanded it to include other people. He appealed for "heartfelt mercy,
with kindness,
humility, and patience." "Bear with one another", he said, "Forgive as
the Lord has forgiven you." When we
recognize the commitment that God has made to us, it stands to reason that we would make
the same commitment to others. It would just not make sense for us to exclude anyone.
If
we are to live together in harmony there is another ingredient and that
is compromise. Whether it be in the family, or community, or nation,
or world, living together is a matter of
give and take, which means compromise. The husband, who always has to
be right, will never have a good marriage. He may win the
arguments, but he will lose the trust and respect of his wife. The
people in authority, who
always have to be right, will never have a harmonious city. They may
win the struggles, but
they will lose the spirit of community. The nation that always has to
dominate cannot be
assured of peace. Whenever and wherever people live together, sadly you
will find conflict, but this should not
be so if there is give and take and compromise and love for one another.
Lord
Jesus, living together in harmony is the number one challenge facing
our world today. The three things needed for there to be peace in our
world today are respect for one
another, commitment and compromise.
