Presbyterian Mission Agency changing world Archives

changing world

Minute for Mission Columbia Theological Seminary

Posted October 25th, 2016

My Father’s Affairs In Luke 2:41-52, Joseph and Mary search desperately for their young son Jesus. There is a certain irony here: Jesus’ parents think he is lost, when at a deeper level he has found his calling, which is “to be about his father’s affairs.” In Luke’s Gospel, the “father’s affairs” entail expanding people’s understanding of family and community. It starts in this story itself. Jesus’ parents have a particular understanding of his place in the family, and he challenges that notion by envisioning for himself an identity that reaches beyond his family. Throughout the third Gospel, Jesus subverts the narrow identities attributed to him and claims for himself a more expansive identity.