The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The Gospel, Luke 2:40 The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 41 Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; 43 and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, 44 but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. 46 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. 48 When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” 49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. 51 And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (NASB)
The Gospel lesson this morning is the only story we have about the life of Jesus after His birth and before He began His public ministry which began with His baptism.
Luther speculated that the only reason there so little about the boy Jesus is because Jesus conducted Himself as an ordinary child who obeyed the Commandments and His parents. As He grew into manhood, Jesus did the ordinary things that a well behaved sons do. He did His chores, listened to His parents, and studied as a student. Though He was God in flesh, Jesus grew, developed, and learned just as any other son born of a woman, only without sin. This obedience to God the Father and His parents was reflected in verse 51 of our text this morning; “And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them.” The Greek word for “subjection” indicates a willing devotion to serve another. Jesus didn’t begrudgingly submit. He willingly and happily submitted.
The trip to Jerusalem is the only story we have from Jesus’s youth. In many ways it was pretty ordinary. It was ordinary in this sense. It doesn’t record a miracle. There is no exercise of divine power. All we are told is that Jesus grew in wisdom and people were amazed at His knowledge and character. “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Jesus was around 12 years old when He went to the Feast of the Passover with His family. They went to the feast in the customary fashion and in compliance with the customs and laws of the day.
Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph spent the “full number of days” at the feast. That means they arrived before the first day and left after the last day of the feast. They spent the required 7 full days in Jerusalem in worship and related activities. When it was time to head home, Mary and Joseph met up with the caravan headed for home. “As they were returning . . . the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.”
Jesus wasn’t to be found. Mary and Joseph thought they had lost Him. They quickly head back to Jerusalem. They look everywhere they can think of. On the third day, they find him in the first place they should have looked– the temple. “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
There are at least three things in this verse that are interesting. Two of them are obvious.
- Jesus is in the temple. Of all the places a boy could go, Jesus goes to the temple and spends three day there engaged in a theological discussion.
- Jesus had an understanding of the Old Testament and its proper interpretation that amazed called and ordained teachers.
The third detailed often gets passed over. We are told that Jesus was sitting among the teachers. Teachers in day and in such formal settings as the temple and synagogue sat. The students stood. But we are told that Jesus was sitting in their midst. That’s how amazed they were at His understanding of the Scripture. Jesus was afforded the respect of an adult who had a significant understanding of God’s Word.
You might be tempted to think that Jesus was good at theology and the Old Testament because He’s the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He’s spoke to Moses and the prophets. He was the One who manifested Himself as the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. He was there in real time and the One who spake through the prophets. “It’s no wonder,” you might think “that Jesus becomes the teacher and they the students.”
That response misses the fact that Jesus, both as a boy and as a man lives His life in this world in a state of humility. That means, during His earthly life Jesus does not call on His divine nature to advantage Himself. He did not draw on His divine knowledge, power, or authority. In every way Jesus conducted Himself and appeared to be a normal infant, toddler, boy, and man. “Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:6-8)
This state of humility included Jesus’s schooling. He learned His Scriptures and His theology the same way every other Jewish boy was bound to learn the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Today, learning the Bible, Christian doctrine, and Christian history is just another subject to be studied with as little devotion and seriousness as possible. The church, the family, and our culture are a mess because we have placed the study of theology and related subjects in a tiny little compartment that has little to no impact on our thinking or our various vocations.
Yet the Word of God (Deuteronomy 6, et al) commands the faithful to make the words of God a way of life. It is to be the center piece of our churches, families, and communal life.
Be He a boy or a man, Jesus took the words of God more seriously than anything else. The words of God became the lense through which Jesus looked at all of life. The Old Testament scrolls were on His heart and in His mind. He was sitting in the House of His Father and “talking of them.” Jesus, even at the young age of 12 is seeking the same thing that King Solomon wanted – wisdom from on high so he could rule in a God-pleasing way and fulfill God’s will toward His people. God granted Solomon his desire and did so in a miraculous way.
Jesus was obtaining the wisdom of God in regard to His earthly ministry, but was obtaining that wisdom by way of ordinary means. He studied the Old Testament scrolls and theology like any other student of the day. He just took the words of God more seriously than all others and developed the deepest knowledge of God’s Word.
“Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.’ And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?’ But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them.”
By Jesus’s own words, His mother and father should have known where He would be found. If they were panicked and worried, it was on account of their lack of understanding. For Jesus the study of theology was the natural outgrowth of His person. Jesus was the One and Only true Protégé of theological study. This didn’t mean that He didn’t have to work at it. He did not learn by osmosis. His insights into the Word of God, human beings, and salvation history was not downloaded into His brain by the Holy Spirit. He engaged in a serious ongoing study that He loved and actually learned and remembered. Oh that I could do that!
The study of God’s Word and the development of a sound and Bible verse based theology is hard for sinners. But as Christians we have been given the mind of Christ. Thus we are deeply conflicted.
St. Paul wrote this conflict in 1 Corinthians 1:14-16, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things . . . we have the mind of Christ.” So much for the misinterpretation and misapplication of the King James translation “judge not for you shall be judged.”
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Thinking theologically is not something we come by naturally. It takes discipline to study, think, and apply the Scriptures to all aspects of human life. That’s what Christian schools, colleges, and seminaries are suppose to be about.
Mary and Joseph should have known where to find Jesus. So it should be with all Christians. He is to be found in the Word and sacrament ministry of the church. That’s where Jesus Himself could be found on the Sabbath and during the feasts.
The adult Jesus taught us that “Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” By the way–the “in my name” part points a church service. “In the king’s name . . ..” “In God’s name. . .” This kind of construct in the ancient world points to something official, something of authority, and a formality. That is why most formal church services begin with the invocation, “In the name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Like Mary and Joseph, Christians tend to look for God in the wrong places. People today look for God in their emotions, in exciting experiences, in their intuition, and in their own flawed thinking.
Here’s the “funny” thing about the Bible in general and Jesus in particular. Jesus makes statements directly to specific people, in a specific circumstances, and at specific times, but those statements not only apply to them in the there and then, they also apply to us in the here and now.
“Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” Anytime you are presented with an opportunity to speak of the Gospel to your neighbor, you need to tell your neighbor where Christ, His words, and His forgiveness are found and from whence they are distributed. Inviting people to church is good, but it is so much better if the person knows why they ought to be in a faithful church. They are to be in church because that’s where the forgiveness of sins earn in the Gospel of Jesus Christ are dispensed.
Throughout His earthly life, Jesus was found in His Father’s house going about His Father’s business. When it was time to be in the temple, either as a infant, or as a 12 year old, or for the annual Passover, or during Holy Week, Jesus was about His Father’s business.
When the hour had come, Jesus was forced out of His Father’s house. He was arrested, hung on the cross, and in that moment when He cried out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? . . My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” He was excommunicated from His Father’s house. Having died on the cross, His body was wrapped in linen and He was laid in a tomb. Our God is the God of the living, not of the dead. The tomb is not our Father’s house. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and returned to His Father’s house.
Jesus was never lost. Mary and Joseph were the ones who had lost sight of the Christ Child. We often find ourselves lost. Always remember, it is God who finds us. It is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that comes to us in this house, His house. Here in this place is about remitting your sins.
AMEN.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.