Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

Jesus gives this answer (“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”) as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. This is because to be in the Father’s house, is the desire of every soul in the world, whether we know it or not. The innocence of this question is beautiful though. It is the response of a child, but He is also God. I love this because it clearly shows the dual nature of the incarnate Jesus, better than anything else. Jesus was 100% God, and 100% man, I know that the math does not add up, but it is the simplest way, I have found, to understand this mystery.

Many books have been written trying to explain this mystery of the incarnate God, and what He did and did not know. God the father is infinite, His will encompasses everything and everyone in the universe. He holds all of creation in existence in His mind, He is in fact, existence itself. Mankind is much much smaller. We are finite, we are weak, and we are fallen, but we are made in gods image. And it is this fact alone, that gives us the most insight into the essence of the incarnation. Human beings are infinitely weaker and less powerful than God, but were made for communion with Him. Think of that, God creator of the universe made us to be in relationship with Him. To be made in His image is to be capable of that relationship, and to be in relationship with God is to be eternally wedded to Him forever. Nothing else in the universe has that ability, not even the angels.

This relationship though, requires that we reach our full potential as Humans, and that full potential is to be espoused to Him, fully and completely. But to achieve that kind of connection and relationship requires that we strive for perfection. To do good and resist evil, and to trust completely in God’s love and providence. As humans, we have the potential to aspire to this perfection, and many saints have shown us that it is possible. But while many of us will never even get close, Jesus did it perfectly.

The incarnate God Jesus Christ, was able to achieve this perfection, perfectly, at every stage of His life. I like to think of it this way. When Jesus was in infant, He was the most perfect infant that ever lived. When He was a toddler, He was the most perfect toddler that ever was. And so on, for every stage of His life. As an infant, the human body and mind are simply not capable of deep complex thought, but they are able to love, and to receive love, almost perfectly. And so we understand that this is the point of the incarnation, it was to show us how we are to live with each other, and how we are to commune with God, at every stage of our lives.

In today’s reading we have a young Jesus. He knows that He needs to be with His Father, and He knows that the temple is where He can be closest to Him, and so that is why He stayed behind with the rabbis. A child’s mind is not fully developed, it cannot process the complex ideas of His divinity inside this little developing human body. But the child Jesus understood His mission, He understood who God was, and He knew where He needed to be. But He did not yet understand that family relationships would be harmed by Him not being with them, and He had to learn that as a Human we have obligations to each other as well. This is the mind of a child, processing His place in the world, but He is also God, and processing what He has been called to do. It is so beautiful, and it shows us His two natures better than anything else.

God somehow figured out a way to shoehorn His infinite omnipotent being into a human form, and the result is a child that knows that He must be with God, but has not yet learned the idiosyncrasies of human relationship yet. Thank you for this vision into your incarnation, and how you were truly a man, and while at the same time still truly God.

Oh lord, help me to achieve sanctity in my life, so that I can more perfectly commune with you, both here and someday in heaven.