Above: The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, by William Holman Hunt
Image in the Public Domain
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 147
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:41-52
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The Reverend George Washington Barrett (d. 1956), a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as well as one of my great-grandfathers, preached in the early years of the twentieth century that Jesus grew up in a Christian home. That analysis would have shocked the author of the Gospel of Matthew, who understood Jesus to have been a thoroughly Jewish figure whose life story echoed the history of Israel. In that Gospel, with its prominent contrast between Heaven and Earth, the young Jesus’s identification of God as his (heavenly) Father while St. Joseph, the man who raised the Messiah, was alive, brought up issues of types of fatherhood.
By faith and grace we are sons of God–members of the divine household. For the purpose of inclusion, a cause near and dear to my generally liberal heart, certain contemporary translations render the Greek word for “sons” as “children.” In so doing they lose the connection between the Son of God (4:4) as well as the “Spirit of his Son” (4:6) and each of us as a son of God by God’s actions (4:7), a case St. Paul the Apostle made in a culture in which only sons inherited. The gendered, seemingly exclusive language is actually inclusive, and the modernized, inclusive, neutered language sacrifices literary and theological subleties. I know a New Testament scholar who favors translating “sons” as “sons and daughters” rather than “children” for modern readers. He concedes that doing so sacrifices some meaning while stating that all modern translations sacrifice some meaning. I favor a translation that sacrifices as little meaning as possible and abhors superficial inclusiveness that makes us feel good and accomplishes little else.
We are, anyway, heirs of God, by faith and grace. We, the “sons of God,” are not exclusively male or Jewish; we come from many categories, but all of us are in God. This is wonderful news! The love of God, although unconditional, imposes the duty of faithful response on its recipients, not all of whom obey.
We can ever repay God, but at least we can be grateful. The metaphor of God as Father is a wonderful one. Yes, maternal images for God exist in the Bible, but the paternal ones are on my mind as I write this post, based partially on texts that use the word “father.” When human fathers disown their children, abuse them, et cetera, the metaphor of God as Father emphasizes the contrast between God and such sub par human fathers. One might think of St. Joseph, certainly a fine father (He did raise Jesus), but even he had human failings. As fine a father (as in the man who raises a child) St. Joseph was, we are supposed to understand, God is better. God is perfect. God adopts us. God cares deeply about us.
Do we care deeply about God?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 17, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND
THE FEAST OF EBENEZER ELLIOTT, “THE CORN LAW RHYMER”
THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND, ANGLICAN HYMN WRITER AND PRIEST
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Adapted from this post:
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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