A MESSAGE FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
(a link to a worship service including this message on the YouTube channel is found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Dw464vnH8)
Prayer of the Day:
Shine into our hearts the light of your wisdom, O God, and open our minds to the knowledge of your word, that in all things we may think and act according to your good will and may live continually in the light of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Luke 2:41-52
41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
I have been saying that Advent Time is an odd thing in that it goes in reverse. Advent begins with Jesus at the end of this earthly life and concludes with the very pregnant Mar visiting the even more pregnant Elizabeth. Christmas Time is even stranger. Jesus was just born and now he is 12 and in the Temple. Next week we hear of the pre-existent Word in John 1 and then it is Epiphany, and the Magi are in town.
Our passage this morning presents a couple of a very relatable situations. It also presents us with a glimpse into the life of the Holy family and into Jesus’ self awareness. It is the first time we hear Jesus speak in Luke’s Gospel. The next time we hear him speak will be when he speaks at his hometown synagogue in Luke 4. That went so well that the crowd sought to take his life.
Any parent or caregiver can appreciate the anxiety of losing the one for whom they are responsible. There is that moment of disbelief followed by wave after wave of panic. There are the moments of frantic searching. And, when the lost is found, there is that odd mix of anger and relief and possibly a hint of hysteria.
There is, of course, the other side of the coin. There is a different kind of anxiety that comes from being the one who is lost. Scanning a crowd for a familiar face. Looking for someone who could be trusted to help. And, when the familiar face is found, there is a different mix of relief, possible some anger, and certainly a measure of hysteria.
Our passage begins with a hint as to the kind of parents Mary and Joseph were and the kind of household in which Jesus was raised. Mary and Joseph are presented as observant Jews. We may have been able to assume that from the fact that God chose them to be Jesus’ parents. But here we are told:
“Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.”
There were three pilgrimage festivals for the Jews and any person of faith who was within striking distance of Jerusalem was expected to go. Did everyone who was able go every year? Possibly not. But Mary and Joseph went for Passover every year. They were observant Jews, and they are presented as observant Jewish parents. Jesus was raised with regular visits to Jerusalem for the festival.
This particular visit was an important one. Jesus was 12 years old on this visit. For a Jewish young man, this was the cusp of adulthood. The festival observances would have went on for about a week and then it would have been time to return to Nazareth. Now, Luke presents us with a situation that may strike at our modern notions of parenthood. Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus had attached himself to some of his relatives or friends of the family and they set out for home. This was likely what happened on the earlier trips.
The group from Nazareth, all these relatives and friends of Mary and Joseph, went a day’s journey and it came time to make camp for the night. Now was the time for Jesus to find Mary and Joseph and the family would settle in for the night. But no Jesus. They looked for Jesus but could not find him. He was not with the relatives or the friends. He was nowhere to be found.
It seems that they returned to Jerusalem immediately. They arrived at Jerusalem and searched for Jesus. Each moment must have been more frantic than the moment before. They searched for three days. Three days!
Then they found Jesus. There he was, in the Temple, sitting among the teachers. He was listening to them and asking them questions. In any other circumstances, this would have been a proud moment for Mary and Joseph. Those gathered were amazed at Jesus’ understanding and his answers. Their son was sitting in the Temple, capably engaging the teachers in matters of faith. We are not given any sign that this was anything but a positive situation. And a situation that likely had been going on for three days.
Then there was that first moment when the lost one was found and Mary expressed that first stage of anger, or at least annoyance.
48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”
Their astonishment gave way to Mary’s very reasonable question: “Why have you treated us like this?” It was a fair question. And it gives us another glimpse into Jesus’ growing sense of being fully human and fully divine. We are not let into how Jesus’ self awareness grew. We are not let into the thinking of Mary’s and Joseph’s parenting style when it came to raising the Messiah. What was it like to be the parents of God?
Mary’s question here was a very human, very relatable one. And the simple answer was that Jesus had not given them a second thought this whole time. His parents had been frantic for days and he was spending his days with the teachers in the Temple. His reaction was one of sincere surprise. It was actually a kind of understandably adolescent moment.
49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
In his growing self awareness, at the age of 12, the Temple had become his Father’s house, a place he needed to be, where he must be.
And his parents were confused. Perhaps, in hindsight, it made sense that he would be where he was, doing what he was doing. But in the very parental moment, Mary and Joseph only knew that he was missing, and they had to find him.
And, from this moment, there was a shift in the family:
51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
They returned home and we are told that Jesus was obedient to them. Son was obedient to mother and father. He would remain home for another 21 years. He was 33 when he began his earthly ministry. This was pretty old in Jesus’ day. Traditions say that he waited so long to make sure everything at home was prepared for his departure. The act of a considerate son.
I would like to close with these words from Craig Satterlee:
The good news for us in this week after Christmas is that, like Mary and Joseph, our search has ended. Jesus shows us the way to God. The scary part, perhaps, is that our search doesn’t end where we expect. Mary and Joseph searched three days for Jesus, and on the third day found him alive and well. But they didn’t find him in the expected places — the safe confines of his extended family or the familiar company of the pilgrims’ caravan. After three days, Mary and Joseph found Jesus alive and well in the Temple at Jerusalem among the teachers of the law, the very company where it all will all end as Jesus is tried, convicted, and handed over to be killed.
Mary and Joseph find Jesus alive and well after three days in a place they didn’t expect. This sounds like Easter. Yes, Luke’s hint here is of resurrection. Jesus, dead and buried, is raised on the third day, and there is a new temple, Christ’s resurrected body. Our searching will come to an end in new life, meaningful life, the life God intends, but not the life we expect.
But that’s Easter. For now Jesus returns to Nazareth. He disappears back into the fabric of his hometown. For perhaps two more decades Jesus is in an out-of-the way place, far removed from the centers of religion and politics, in the company of ordinary people, just like us. Here Jesus continues to grow “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” The good news is that this description of Jesus is the description of every child of God, no matter what our age. We all will grow as we respond to God’s love. In Christ we can expect nothing else. *
Be safe. Be well. God bless you all.
Pastor Greg
