first-century judaism. it was the religious center of judaism, the place where god s presence was understood to reside on earth. it was also the political center of judaism. it was also one of the major commercial and economic centers of judaism. around the vicinity of the temple, there would be people coming in on special trips. there would ve been priestly authorities. it would have been filled with animals that had been brought there for passover sacrifices. at some point, mary and joseph lose sight of jesus. it s not difficult to imagine such a thing happening. it s very crowded during the passover in jerusalem. in the temple in particular, there would have been a bustling crowd, so it s very easy to imagine that jesus would get separated from his parents in that kind of scene and become lost. jesus!
jewish temple, and he does succeed in making it into one of the most beautiful buildings in the ancient world. today, herod s temple is gone, but part of the colossal platform on which it once stood remains. the western wall is still one of the holiest sites in judaism. one cannot overestimate the importance of the temple in 1st-century judaism. it was the religious center of judaism, the place where god s presence was understood to reside on earth. despite herod s achievements and rome s support, early in his reign, herod s crown is not secure. one of the big problems that herod has got is that he wants to call himself the king of the jews, but he himself is not jewish by blood. herod has got to solve this problem. he solves this problem by, kind of brilliantly, by marrying into the most famous jewish family of
crowding there. the experience of being in jerusalem for a 12-year-old child like jesus would have been overwhelming. the sights, the sounds, the smells, but most of all the sheer number of people. during passover, jerusalem s population would have ballooned from 40,000 to around half a million people. we know that there were thousands of pilgrims in jerusalem at this time, and it would have been absolutely thrilling to a young jew like jesus. just imagine what it was like for a 12-year-old boy to be coming from the provinces, from the countries, from the boondocks, to arrive in the big city at a time like this. one cannot overestimate the importance of the temple in first-century judaism. it was the religious center of judaism, the place where god s presence was understood to reside on earth. it was also the political center of judaism. it was also one of the major commercial and economic centers of judaism.
darkness in the world. there s a lot of suffering in the world. and he names a lot of those places and he talks particularly about refugees and migrants and interestingly for christians this is a feast about a refugee family, i mean, the holy family fled israel into egypt because they were goings to be killed. that child was going to be killed. it was oppression. so we have a feast highlighting a refugee family of light coming into the darkness. meaning god s presence, and the pope is saying, so even if you are suffering and in despair and spoke very movingly about migrants and refugees in the speech in particular, he said you re not alone. there s light coming into the darkness and it s here. god isn t so far. god is close. that s what i heard as the primary message today. you mentioned the darkness. something he mentioned multiple times i was struck by. darkness in our hearts in our relationships, in the world.