EXPOSITION
Young people are confronted with diverse needs, one of them being emotional needs. Young people battle in time searching for personal identity. We often ask these crucial questions: “Who am I?” “Where am I going?” “Why am I here?”. We use emotions to express our frustrations, fear, intimidation, joy, satisfaction, etc. These emotions include pride, shame, love, hate, discouragement, fear, anger, joy, bitterness, etc. In fact, we could be happy at one time, and the next moment we may be upset and quarrelling.
In today’s reading we observe that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men. This means that Jesus went through all the emotional challenges we now have, however, he grew in wisdom, and that included the mature ability to handle those emotional challenges. Jesus also grew in stature, that is physical development, and also had the favour of God and men. If Jesus could manage the mood swings, the search for identity, questions that plied on His mind as a young person, and had favor with God and men, so can we if we will rely on the help of the Holy Spirit. As God grants us the needed grace, we will find our daily strength in the Holy Spirit to manage our emotions. Surely, we can have favor in the sight of God and men if we learn to submit our emotions to the control of the Holy Spirit.