"And the Story Continues..."

My sermon from Sunday, Dec. 27!

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52:

41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

“They grow up so fast, don’t they?” Who here has not heard this or felt this, or asked this very question about their children or someone else’s child. One moment he or she is a baby wrapped in blankets, completely dependent upon the parents, and the next, they are going to the prom, graduating from high school, college, what have you…and the journey we call life goes on. I’ll never forget the day my dad took me to see the movie, Father of the Bride when I was little. Steve Martin has this great quote at the beginning of the movie when he is talking about his little girl growing up and getting married: “You fathers will understand. You have a little girl. An adorable little girl who looks up to you and adores you in a way you could never have imagined. I remember how her little hand used to fit inside mine. Then comes the day when she wants to get her ears pierced, and wants you to drop her off a block before the movie theater. From that moment on you're in a constant state of panic.” At that point, my dad looked over at me with a worried look on his face, knowing that these days were quickly approaching. So it’s no wonder that our text today gives us a picture of a panicked mother Mary searching for the boy Jesus, no longer that infant in the manger, no longer that baby in the swaddling clothes lying in his mother’s arms, but a boy who is growing up filled with wisdom and in the favor of God.

For many people around our country and our world, the excitement of Christmas seems to be over- the gifts have been opened, the tree and decorations put away, special holiday traditions now memories to be revisited next year. Luckily for us, as followers of Christ, the excitement is definitely not over, because our scripture provides us with the ongoing story of Jesus as we begin a new year of learning about the mysterious and amazing ways of our God. As I looked at today’s lesson about the twelve year old Jesus wowing the teachers in the temple, I couldn’t help but be in awe of his frail humanness, but his divine wisdom and power as well. What a fascinating portrayal of Jesus Luke gives us in this story. It’s a story about coming of age, Jesus beginning to sense his identity as the Son of God, and about Jesus’ call on his life.

This story is only found in Luke’s gospel- no where else in our biblical accounts do we find any reference to Jesus as a boy except for some mysterious texts that did not make it into our bible as we know it. However, we are thankful that Luke’s gospel does give us something to go on. Jesus is born, Jesus is presented at the temple and his parents are told that he will do wonderful things, and then we are told that he grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. But where did all the time go? Just a few days ago we celebrated the infant Jesus wrapped in his mother’s arms, we sang songs of his birth, and we sent card after card depicting the nativity scene, and now we stand in awe of the child Jesus coming of age.

Let’s look at a few of details of this story:
Jesus and his family are in Jerusalem for the Passover. First of all, Jerusalem plays a key role in Jesus’ ministry and throughout his life- he was circumcised and presented in the temple at Jerusalem, we can infer that he went there each year for the Jewish festivals to worship and sacrifice with his family, and finally, Jerusalem is where his life will end. Secondly, we are told that he was there for the Passover, one of the three important Jewish festivals and the celebration of the Israelites freedom from slavery in Egypt. Since Jesus and his family were law abiding Jews, it is no surprise that they made the ritual trip to the temple for the Passover.

Thirdly, Luke gives us Jesus’ age of 12 years old, which tells us a lot about where Jesus may have been in his childhood to adulthood journey. Twelve to thirteen years old is when Jesus would have his bar mitzvah (which means son of the covenant), a traditional ceremony in which he would no longer be considered a boy or a child, but a young man. This story is his coming of age story. From now on he is to be regarded as a young man, taking his responsible role in society, letting his voice be heard and respected, and growing in wisdom of God and of the world as he knows it. This also tells us that Jesus is really to be seen as a teenage boy, the humanness of it all, but marked with God’s favor and wisdom possibly beyond his years. And finally, what we are all wondering, how did Jesus, the son of God, this holy boy, get lost? Well, chances are, Mary and Joseph would have been traveling with a group of friends, relatives, or neighbors all the way to Jerusalem and back, so they probably assumed that Jesus was somewhere in the group of travelers, and then after a time had passed, they realized that he was not among them on the trip home, and had to turn around and find him. Luke tells us that the entire time they spent searching was three days, and this number is significant- from the beginning of his story, Luke is reminding us that Jesus’ miraculous birth and childhood is constantly guiding us toward the cross, toward the resurrection- another 3 day period that would change the world. So 3 days pass, and Mary finds Jesus in the temple sitting among the teachers of the law, sitting among them and asking questions, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

We are not surprised by this, are we? But we can certainly understand Mary’s panic and fear when she asks him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety”- anyone who has lost a child or even a pet knows the feeling of simultaneous relief and frustration that comes with finally finding the lost person or thing, but the thing that really gets me is when Jesus, in typical teenage fashion says his first words of Luke’s gospel, “Mooom, geez, where else would I be? You knew that I would be here in my Father God’s house…duh!” as he rolls his eyes (that’s Jill’s translation). All teenage quirks aside, here we get a picture of the boy Jesus- not yet a man, but a boy who is starting to piece together who he is and what the call on his life is- as a child of God, as a young man with wisdom beyond his years, as a student, as a seeker, and eventually as a young man who will grow to recognize the very presence of God within himself, all leading to the cross, and finally, to the empty tomb. So this story isn’t simply a story about Mary seeking her lost child- it is the beginning of Jesus being able to claim his own identity, not as just simply a lost young boy who happened to stumble into the temple, but a young man who is affirming his relationship to God as his Father. But the story doesn’t stop there- we are told that Jesus goes back to Nazareth and in Jewish law fashion, is obedient to Mary and Joseph as his earthly parents throughout his young life- and before the beginning of his earthly ministry, the last thing Luke tells us is that Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. In the birth narratives, we are told that Jesus grows in divine favor, but now, Luke emphasizes divine and human favor, telling us that Jesus was favored by God and humanity, perhaps a reflection of the divine and human qualities within Jesus himself.

It’s amazing that we get a rather clear picture of Jesus here as human, but with the beginning glimpses of the divine- discovering who he is, stepping out as a young man, asking questions, and affirming his commitment to God. So this causes me to pause and think about how we know and discover our own identities- do we know ourselves from our histories, our experiences, our families, our faith? All of the above? Do we need to identify ourselves more based on our faith in a God who created and loves us? Jesus is quick to point out that he must be in his Father God’s house- this is where he belongs, where he should spend his growing years, where he should seek and learn about God and what call has been placed on his life. The word “call” can be scary for some people- but it’s really quite simple when you put it in these terms: call is that feeling deep within you that you identify most with- call is your very being that identifies what God wants you to do with your life and who God wants you to be. Your call is an ongoing journey of discovering God, your faith, and who you are at your very core- your inner being. I believe this is what Jesus is discovering here, and what he wants from his followers even now. To wander, to question, to constantly seek, and to take time to sit and listen, to learn something about the Almighty.

And what of his mother Mary, who in her courage and obedience bore Jesus to us, and is seeking her precious treasure that she has lost? We are told from the very beginning that Mary ponders all that has happened in her heart, and here we see that she treasured all of these things in her heart. What does this mean exactly? Was she overwhelmed? Taking each day at a time? Was she wondering what it all meant? Or was she treasuring Jesus himself, as a gift that she has the privilege of enjoying every day, maybe knowing what the end will be. The point is that while Jesus is seeking who he is and discovering his identity, Mary is seeking him as her lost treasure and her gift from God. So we too are to seek Jesus as our treasure, as our gift. Christmas day has come and gone- the cards have been sent, the decorations will be taken down, and the gifts have been opened…but the story of Jesus Christ continues…the gift of Jesus Christ is one that is meant to be opened again and again in our everyday lives- in our prayers, our thoughts, our actions, the way we love and serve others, and the way in which we seek God and our very selves.

And the story continues…the story of Jesus, the story of our lives, the story of our faith in God and as followers of Jesus Christ. Where are you on the journey? What are you seeking? What call has God placed on your life? As we get ready to begin a new year on the journey, I invite you to continue to seek Jesus as a treasure and a gift, to discover more about your identity- who you are at your very core, and how God fits into it all. During our hymn of reflection today, I invite any one of you to come forward and kneel at the altar railing in prayer- if you are seeking, if you are wondering where God is calling you on your journey, if you are wanting to understand more deeply who Jesus Christ is and what he is doing in your life. All of us are seeking something. So I invite you now during this song, to come forward if you feel led, and to open your hearts to what God is doing in your life. And the story continues…what will yours look like? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

In the Prayz service, this was the song after the sermon ("Refine Me" by Jennifer Knapp). It ended up being a very powerful moment where people knelt in prayer. If only every Sunday would be like that!