Sermon for 1st Christmas
The In-between Jesus
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Do you remember being twelve years old? Maybe that was a long time ago or maybe just a couple of years. If you cannot remember exactly, think about somebody you know who is twelve: sixth grade or maybe seventh, the end of elementary school in some places or the beginning of middle school in others. Twelve is an in-between time, not yet fully grown but no longer a little kid.
Twelve is an in-between time.
When Jesus was twelve, he and his parents went to Jerusalem as they did every year for the festival of Passover.
Now twelve is one of those special Bible numbers. Twelve sons of Jacob, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve disciples, twelve baskets of bread and fish left over on the hillside. So, maybe that is why Luke wanted to include this story.
But I think that twelve was simply Jesus' age. He was twelve, an in-between time. Luke places the story there in between the dedication of the infant Jesus in the temple and Jesus' baptism as an adult in the River Jordan.
Luke is the only one who tells this story. He is the only gospel writer who includes anything at all about Jesus' childhood. Don't you wish we had more stories? Some Bible films have imagined things, picturing Jesus working in the carpenter shop with Joseph or sitting on Mary's lap listening to stories. Some of the writings that did not make it into the Bible tell stories of amazing events from Jesus' boyhood, bringing a dead bird back to life or punishing bad neighbors with miraculous feats. But Luke does not try to overwhelm us with magic or miracles. His story is far more ordinary, and he seems to know something about growing up.
Like lines on the door frame marking a child's growth, Luke marks Jesus' life by scenes in the temple. Earlier in this chapter Jesus was dedicated in the temple. It was then that aged Simeon held Jesus in his arms and said, "Lord, now let your servant go in peace…for my own eyes have seen your salvation." Between that day and age twelve we know nothing except this: Jesus lived with his parents and their lives were marked by the rhythms and rituals of Jewish life, so it was natural-even ordinary-that the next scene brings us again to the temple. In the rhythm of Jewish life, age twelve would be about the time of the rite of bar mitzvah, meaning "son of the law." No longer would others speak for Jesus - neither angels nor Simeon - now Jesus would speak for himself. And so he did. There in the temple Jesus listened and he asked questions. Jesus spoke and gave answers that amazed his teachers.
And it was only natural - even ordinary - that his parents would wonder where in the world he was after a day's travel.
Remember, Jesus is twelve. If you know anybody who is twelve, you will not be surprised that Jesus did not spend every minute with his parents. Nor is it hard to imagine that Mary and Joseph assumed that Jesus was with friends or relatives. They had often traveled with others from Nazareth to Jerusalem, and Jesus surely must have known many of those in the group. He was probably with his friends, they thought. He was not a toddler after all. So, it was not odd for Mary and Joseph to assume that Jesus was with people they knew. But when they had not seen him after a day's travel and nobody knew where he was, they did what was only natural. They returned to Jerusalem.
Who knows why it took them three days to find him. You would think their first stop would have been the temple. Luke gives no explanation why it took so long. And his parents were beginning to panic. It is easy for us to say why they should have gone to the temple first. Don't they know who Jesus is? We hear this story with faith in our heads, but Luke says that Jesus is a boy of twelve; and he is not yet known as "very God of very God," only as the son of his parents without any mention of the virgin birth. So, the temple was not the first place Mary and Joseph thought of.
And when they found him, Jesus was hardly the picture of someone who honored his father and mother. "Why were you searching for me?" If you are a parent, you have heard something like that. "Why were you worried? I knew where I was." Well, you might argue that was not exactly what Jesus said. His words were stronger and stranger than that: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" This was all before Jesus heard the voice from heaven, the voice that said, "You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased." But even if Jesus had not heard those words, his parents should have known who he was and where he would be. Mary heard Elizabeth greet her as "the mother of my Lord." The shepherds who came to see the baby in Bethlehem shared everything the angels had revealed to them-including news that this child was the Savior, Christ the Lord. Had Mary forgotten all of this after pondering these words in her heart?
Or, were they only thinking that Jesus was twelve, thankful to see him again, no matter what he said to them - even if they did not fully understand? Maybe Jesus himself did not fully understand.
Jesus is just growing into being who God sent him to be. Steeped in Torah, Jesus is drawn to his Father's house in a way he may not yet fully understand. Even after hearing God's words from heaven, Jesus had to live into what it meant to be God's Son. Indeed, that was how the devil tried to get to him in the wilderness. "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread…If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple…."
But Jesus, thoroughly Jewish, circumcised on the eighth day, dedicated in the temple, taught by his faithful parents, shaped by the rite of Passover, Jesus did not depend on some super human willpower. He depended on the sustaining power and presence of God and God's Word. Like our Jewish neighbors who touch the tiny metal case on the doorframe of their homes, Jesus reached up to touch an invisible mezuzah in the wilderness. There Jesus found strength to counteract the devil's definition of who he should be: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. You shall worship the Lord your God and God alone shall you serve."
That same word directed Jesus at every step, from the day Jesus was twelve to the day Jesus died. That same word and that abiding trust sustained Jesus against every temptation to let someone other than God define him.
Even on the cross, Jesus heard again the tempter's words now thrown at him by the crowd. "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, God's chosen one!" Though his hands were nailed down, Jesus reached up and touched words that he had probably learned as a child. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." It was not so different from what he had said years before, "Do you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
Now he was. Now he is. Forever.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. Barbara Lundblad and Day1)
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, December 30, 2018
