I heard a very beautiful thing about Jesus yesterday on Midday Connection, in Anita Lustrea's interview with author Ed McGlasson, and discussion of his book, The Difference A Father Makes
My transcription begins about 19 minutes into the broadcast:
...this blessing of father to son, father to daughter; bar mitzvah to the boy at thirteen, and bat mitzvah to the daughter, this kind of rite of passage right in that adolescent time when those questions come up, the Lord put in the tradition and even in this story of Jesus this moment to where you don't have to wonder from this day forward or ever work for my love again. "You are my beloved son."...When Jesus came...he came to bring the same Father that he had. He came to bring a Father for those who didn't have a dad in their life. As a matter of fact, when I finished my manuscript, a Rabbi that I gave to read this, I said, "Now, tell me if this lines up with Jewish history, and Rabbitical teaching." He cried and he looked at me and he said, he said, "You know this totally makes sense, why Jesus was in the Temple when he was 12 years old ...Jesus was there, and actually lost his mom and dad for three days. And when they found him the mom, Mary, said, "Why did you do this to us?" And Jesus' response was, "Didn't you know I had to be about my Father's business?"
And this Rabbi looks at me, Stephen Berkowitz, from Seattle, he says, "When a little Jewish boy has no earthly father, he has to go to the Temple a year before he's ready to be bar mitzvahed, at twelve, so he can be bar mitzvahed by the men in the synagogue. ...He said, "In that moment Jesus became an orphan for every single guy who never had a dad."
You know Jesus had no earthly father. ...Jesus came to bring you the dad that you always wanted. See, it's part of you receiving his love for you...connect to the love of the Father for you...it's about you connecting personally to Jesus in a way so that you catch the smile that's over Jesus' life over your life - the smile of the Father.
...It's the model of the Father's Voice blessing the Son...that model, where we find in Scripture Jesus was called out publicly, it's not there by chance. And let me tell ya, that last line in bar mitzvah - this is what a Rabbi told me - is a father grabbing his son or daughter and drawing, and carrying them into manhood or womanhood, and blessing them, and it's:
"This is my beloved son...whom I love."