the BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
Hsihu Center,Formosa. July 8, 1990.
Do you know why Jesus Christ was so famous? BecauseHe was an enlightened Master! An enlightened master is a greatperson who has wisdom. Jesus was born in heaven, and then helpedpeople when He grew up -- with respect to their souls, not money.Jesus Christ didn't have money, but He had great virtues and wisdom.Therefore, He was loved by many. As He was growing up; His parentsloved Him deeply. He was good at learning anything and was benevolent,so many people loved Him. God also loved Him. He looked very dignifiedand was very clever.
Every year His so-called parents,Joseph and Mary, went to Jerusalem for the Jewish holy festival(Passover). During this festival, they would say prayers of gratitudeto God to thank Hirm for helping the Jews, life after life, sinceancient times; especially for delivering them from slavery inEgypt. Therefore, once a year they would hold a celebration tothank the inner God and the inner Master. They must have had anenlightened master then. Jesus was twelve years old and was morethan happy to accompany His parents. There they would celebratean exciting, delightful and boisterous festive day.
When it was time to go home,His parents, Joseph and Mary, prepared to return. Assuming theirchild was either in front of or behind the group of travellers,they didn't notice that Jesus was not with them. Usually childrenseldom stay close to their parents; they either walk in the frontor behind. In the evening, they discovered that Jesus was missing.They started to search among their friends and others for Jesus,only twelve years old, where could He have gone? Joseph and Marywere so worried that they couldn't sleep the whole night.
Early the next morning, theyreturned to Jerusalem to look for Jesus. After a whole day ofsearching, they finally found Him. Guess where He was found? (A:The temple.) Right! In the temple! They eventually found Him inthe temple, sitting among the spiritual practitioners asking theteachers and priests about spiritual practice, about God's lawand about morality, which were things adults discussed. Everyonethere was so amazed and delighted to see a twelve-year-old childhaving such intense interest in spirituality, so respectful towardGod and with the ability to ask so many intelligent questions.
As you know, if we are notintelligent enough, we may not be able to ask a question evenif we have one. Just like when you are in the school, the teachermay ask you: "Do you understand? Any questions? Then, someask very clever questions, but some ask stupid questions. JesusChrist was not stupid; He asked very clever questions, so everyonewas amazed and delighted.
I Must Be In MyFather's House When His parents found Him,His mother, Mary, asked Him, "Child, why have you done thisto us? Why did you leave without saying a word? We have been soworried that we couldn't sleep. She reproached Him just like yourparents would if you were not behaving well, or when they foundyou after you had been missing. Usually the mother has more tosay. As His mother began to chide Him, Jesus seemed surprisedat what she was saying. He thought His mother shouldn't questionHim like that, so instead of answering her, He asked, "Whydidn't you know that I would be here? You should have known thatI would be in my Father's house! He meant the temple. He was amazedand asked His mother, "Did you not know that I would be inmy Father's house? Mary and Joseph didn't know how to answer Hisquestions. Perhaps they were not as enlightened as Jesus was.
Parents are not necessarilymore clever than their children. Very often this is the case.Some children are geniuses; they are already great when they areonly ten, seven or four years old. They can ask many questionsthat their parents could never answer. At that time, they hadforgotten that Jesus was not an ordinary child and that His fatheris God. God only borrowed their bodies to give birth to Jesus,and to bring Him up for a certain time; they were not really Jesus'true parents. Nevertheless, Jesus went home with them, and wasobedient and nice to them just like He used to be.
Why was Jesus Christ so interestedin the temple and God's teachings? Do you children know the answer?(A: I know.) What do you know? (A: It was because He is the sonof God!) The son of God, right! It was because He is the son ofGod! He had this enlightenment when He was born. He had practicedspirituality for many lifetimes, and He is the son of God.
I would like to ask you anotherquestion. If He is the son of God, then who are you? (A: Humanbeings!) So you are human beings! Who do you think you are? (A:We are spiritual practitioners.) You are spiritual practitioners,at least you are slightly better than him. You are initiated andhe is not. Correct! We are spiritual practitioners, not bad!
Is there anyone who has anydifferent ideas? Who are we? (A: Sons of God!) Sons of God? Whois that? Who dared to say this? Show your face and let me seeyou. So you are the son of God. When did Hes tell you? (A: Weare all God's children. As human beings were created by God, sowe are God's children. That was what Master told us.)
So it was my words. (Masterand everyone laugh.) There is no point in quoting my words. Ithought you realized it yourself. All right, if we are all God'schildren, then why are we different from Jesus Christ? (A: Itwas a different time and we are of a different race.) You aretoo enlightened. Since we are from a different race, should wereincarnate as Jews to become God's children. What do you meanby different races? Didn't you just say that we are all God'schildren? (A: They were from a race different from the Chinese.)
We Are All God'sChildren We are all God's children,sons of God. However, some of us are obedient and some are not.There may be three or four children in a family born of the sameparents, but some are obedient and some are naughty, some areclever and some are not. Some are pretty, but some are ugly. Someare disabled, and some are even mentally retarded. They are bornof the same parents, who did not discriminate when they gave birthto the children. They would not make the decision of wanting onechild to be born wiser than the other. And, when they have anotherbaby, they could not say, "Wow! I dislike this baby evenbefore he is born. I want him to look ugly. "No parents wouldhave such thoughts. Parents give birth to children and love themwholeheartedly. Nonetheless, some children are ugly, some arepretty; some are obedient, some are naughty; some are stupid,some are clever. All the same, we are God's children, not onlyJesus Christ. It was only because He had already recognized HisFather, so He could say with confidence, "I know who my Fatheris."
We are separated from our parents,severed from our Father. So we don't recognize Hirm. The truthis, we are all the same. We have the same status as Jesus Christ,no difference at all. He was very diligent because He deeply missedHis Father -- the real Father, the God in the Heavenly Kingdom-- so He persistently pleaded with God, His real Father, to showHim where Hes is and reveal to Him Their true relationship. However,we don't miss our Father. All the time, we only miss our worldlyfriends and relatives. Since we don't long for our true parents,they cannot force us to think about them, nor could they appearto us. We are too busy to think about them. Why are we so busy?Because we are engaged in worldly matters, fame and wealth, allkinds of things, and in taking care of our so-called friends andrelatives in this world.
In this story, Jesus Christdidn't say: "You are my parents." He really knew thatHe is the son of God, so He told His parents: "How couldyou not know that I would be in my Father's home working for Him?"He had this realization when He was only twelve. He knew who Hewas. He knew the power of the Creator, but He didn't understandthe ephemeral human relations and emotions. He didn't recognizethe ephemeral human feelings. Well! Jesus Christ realized thiswhen He was twelve, and He admitted that His true relationshipis with God. However, He was still filial to His parents and continuedto be an obedient child.
So, our children who pursuespiritual practice should do the same. We know that the worldis ephemeral, and that we are related to our friends and relativesby karma only. We know our true parent is the Creator. However,while in this world, we still have to be obedient and respectthe elderly, our parents and teachers, and love all our friendsand relatives, just like what Jesus Christ did. If Jesus Christrespected His parents, we should do the same, and even more so!He knew that His father is God, the Most High, yet He still fulfilledHis obligations to the world. We should do the same, and evenmore so, since we have yet to attain this realization!
