A professor stood before his philosophy class with some items in front of him.  When the class began, without saying a word, he picked up a very large, empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar as well.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

“Child, why have you treated us like this?” Sound familiar? Think back to your childhood. Do you remember hearing those words or words like them? Did you ever say anything like that to your children?

Mary’s question to Jesus in this week’s Gospel from Luke 2:41-52 is probably not unfamiliar to most of us. We tend to focus on the tension, conflict, and misunderstanding that surrounds the “Child, why have you treated us like this?”

“Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” What’s this about? Luke doesn’t tell us why she went or what she was looking for but maybe we can get a clearer picture of what’s going on if we put this coming Sunday’s gospel from Luke 1:39-25 in a larger context. The angel Gabriel has just told Mary that she has been chosen and favored by God, that God is with her, that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, that she will conceive and give birth to a son, the Son of God, and she will name him Jesus.

That question is at the center of John the Baptist’s call for repentance this Advent Season. It applies in every situation regarding how we live our faith in this world. “What then should we do?” That question is asked of John three times in this week’s Gospel from Luke 3:7-18. The crowds ask it. The tax collectors ask it. The soldiers ask it. It’s a question many of us ask.