Epiphany
1 – January 12th and 13th, 2019 – Luke
2:41-52
In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
This
weekend we get a Stained Glass Window lesson. We do – our Gospel
lesson is one of the windows we have, right over there. Boy Jesus in
the temple. Oh this was one of my favorite lessons as a kid. But
here's the thing – this is a rich and deep lesson, and we don't
quite get the fullness of it because we aren't first century Jewish
folks. So listen in for a wonderful and profound story that reveals,
even in His youth, who Jesus is.
“Now
His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the
Passover. And when He was 12 years old, they went up according to
custom.”
So, what's set up? It's spring time and Jesus' family has made the
trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover – something they do
routinely. And remember something about Passover – it culminates
with the sacrifice of the lamb, and then the whole lamb is to be
eaten with no leftovers – and if your household wasn't big enough
to polish off a lamb in one sitting, you got together with a
neighboring house. Celebrating the Passover was communal, normally
it would be an extended family celebration. And Joseph and Mary's
custom was to head on down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover
with a lamb not just slaughtered at home, but in the temple – and
you'd find a place to hold the meal with your family. Jerusalem had
plenty of places for this – years later the disciples rent out the
upper room. So it's not just a church service, but it's also sort of
like a bunch of overlapping family reunions too, or maybe heading up
to a lake house in the summer where everyone descends upon it and
suddenly this empty place gets really crowded and fun.
“And
when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus
stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but
supposing Him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then
they began to search for Him among their relatives and acquaintances,
and when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching
for Him.” Now,
do not be critical of Joseph and Mary here in this slightest. Think
of a big family reunion – my dad's family would have one (and still
does) in Ohio at my cousin Larry's farm – and my grandma and her 5
siblings would be their, and their kids, and their grandkids –
often over 100 people. My parents didn't know where I was most of
the time – I was somewhere on the farm with the rest of the kids.
That's the same assumption here – Jesus is surely off with His
cousins who are all running around and talking and laughing as we
make our way back home. It's only at bed time, when it's time to
camp, that they see that Jesus isn't there. And that's when they
hightail it back to Jerusalem.
“After
three days they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions.” Now,
this is one where our window gets it wrong, but gets it right. If
you look at our window, Jesus isn't sitting – He's standing up,
finger in the air, making a point. Well, technically, Jesus would
have been sitting, but we miss the point when we hear that. In
Jewish culture, you sat to preach or to teach. I'm preaching, but
I'm not sitting, I'm standing up here making points. And that phrase
“listening and asking them questions” is the description of how a
rabbi taught. The closest I get to that today are the times in
confirmation class where I'll ask the kids a question, and when they
answer I say, “hmmm, well, in that case what about this?” So
understand what Luke is describing. Joseph and Mary, after days of
frantic searching, finally see Jesus in the temple, and he's there
rabbi-ing the rabbis.
And
of course, this catches the parents off guard - “And
His mother said to Him, 'Son, why have you treated us so? Behold
your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.'”
And
exasperated mom comes in. We hear this as though it's very formal
talk – it isn't. If your mom ever talked at you with her teeth
shut and her eyes bulging – that's what Mary's doing right now.
That “behold” is probably closer to a “look here, boy” in
modern parlance. Mary is both ticked and relieved, and all that well
of emotions from the last three days is coming out. However – and
this is funny – she comes upon Jesus when He's been in Rabbi mode
for a few days, and so He answers her like a Rabbi would – “Why
were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My
Father's house?”
This isn't a kid giving his mom sass – this is precisely how a
Rabbi would teach a student. And it goes over Mary and Joseph's head
(they're not students; no epiphany light bulb for them yet), but
after that Jesus leaves, heads home – He “came
to Nazareth and was submissive to them.” He
went along like a good little boy – even though He had been showing
to all the teachers that He was in fact the Teacher of Israel, even
though He had made a fantastic claim – that He must be in His
Father's House.
So
then, what is the point for us in this lesson? While there are many
things that we can draw from it, I think what should be deemed most
important are the first recorded words we have from Jesus – the
first red letter words, as it were. “Why were
you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father's
house?”
So much is said today about people “searching” for God,
looking for Him. Our culture today likes to treat religion and faith
and “spirituality” as though it's a personal quest – whether
it's finding God, or finding yourself – since “yourself” tends
to be the most popular god in this country anymore. But Jesus cuts
that off. There is no searching to be had. It is no mystery where
Jesus is present – He must be in His Father's House. Jesus is
present in His Church – and you're not going to really find Jesus
apart from the Church. If you want Jesus to be present for you –
to teach you and forgive you and redeem you, He's going to be in the
Church. And for the times when you can't get to Church, or need
Church other than on the weekend – like before a surgery or
something – you give the Church a call, and I'll bring Jesus and
Church to you. And if you are struggling and wondering about
something, a question, a burden – let me know and I will give you
Jesus. That's my job. Life and faith doesn't need to be some
laborious, dramatic struggle on your part. All that angst is just
folly that our culture has heaped on – it's basically watered down
indulgences and relics that we recycled and internalized – Luther
in the monastery beat himself with whips, we get tempted to think
that we have to beat ourselves up inside. That's not what Jesus
teaches, nor is it what He wants. No – He is in His Father's house
– and that's where He always is. That is where we are to seek the
Lord while He may – may – be found. That “may” is a word of
permission – Jesus allows Himself and makes Himself to be found for
you and for your forgiveness in His Church.
And
what sort of Jesus must be in His Church? Well, to be certain, a
teaching Jesus. A Jesus who opens up the Scriptures. His teaching
is not just lecturing or moral finger wagging – it might behoove us
here to think about the last conversation of Jesus' that Luke records
for us in chapter 24. Jesus tells the disciples just before He
ascends: “'These are My words that I spoke to
you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in
the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.'
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to
them, 'Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the
third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of
sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from
Jerusalem.'”
This is the teaching of Christ – that He is the one who fulfills
the Law and Prophets and Psalms, and that because He has done all
this, because He has died and risen, repentance and forgiveness in
His name is to be proclaimed – law and gospel. When Jesus teaches
us with His Word, we see our sins and we see our Savior.
But
it gets deeper than this – and this is fun. Note – Jesus says
that everything in the Scriptures is about Him and fulfilled by Him,
and that He must be in His Father's house. What kind of Jesus do we
have? Well, let's think about today's lesson – Jesus is there at
the temple for the Passover, and then Joseph and Mary find Him again
on the third day. That's the Jesus that they find in the temple –
a Jesus who is submissive to His parents will. Now, consider a
Passover a few decades down the road, where Jesus goes to Jerusalem,
where He tells His Father in the garden not My will but Thine be done
– and then the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is
slaughtered at Sundown upon the Cross, yet on the Third Day, there He
is, risen from the dead and proclaiming Peace. There He is, teaching
the disciples on the road to Emmaus and to be found in the breaking
of bread. There He is among the disciples who had locked themselves
in the upper room, preaching His resurrection and peace in the midst
of their fear. Of
course He is - Did you not know that I must be in
My Father's house?
And even today – His Word of forgiveness and mercy is proclaimed
here – even today He is known among us and comes to us in the
breaking of bread in His Supper. Even today He comes to us, and the
Peace of the LORD be with you always. Of course He does -
Did you not know that I must be in My Father's house?
My dear friends in Christ – the boy Jesus in the temple is not just a cute story (although it is cute, I will grant that). Indeed, it is Christ Jesus openly preaching and teaching, pointing forward to what He as the Messiah would do, and teaching and reminding us not only of what He does for us as our LORD, but reminding us that He is always present for us in His Church, for He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, so that we too may dwell in His House both now and eternally. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
No comments:
Post a Comment