Sermon for December 26

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate through these twelve days.
Wow! It was just last Friday evening that we celebrated the birth of Jesus. Now, two days later, I know some people have already taken down at least some of their Christmas decorations, sitting back, feet up, glad that it’s all over. It seems the people way back when who conjured up the readings for each Sunday was in the same mode. Today we leap forward twelve years to get to the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus going to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

Nothing is known about Jesus’ childhood except for this story found only in Luke’s gospel. There are legends and other writings, but nothing dependable that can be backed up from other sources. So many times, this story is overlooked as just a delightful story about Jesus’ childhood. But let’s take a few minutes to look at it.

Jesus was brought up in Nazareth. If you walked it in those days, it was about 75 miles, or 4-5 days time-wise, depending on if it were a family trip. So we’re still in the second chapter of Luke and all of a sudden Jesus is twelve years old. For males, the age of twelve was important. It was a year of preparation for boys to enter the religious community that happened at thirteen. At that time they could join in the Sabbath worship.

They were going for the Feast of Passover, one of three feasts commanded by the Law. The other two were the Feasts of Pentecost and Tabernacles. Sometimes distance prevented people from going to all three, but most Jews tried to be at Passover in Jerusalem.
In this story, Mary and Joseph and the rest of the family were headed back to Nazareth, or so they thought. They were without Jesus. It was a day’s travel before they realized Jesus was not with them. So, they turned around and began looking for him in Jerusalem, no small town. They final found him in the temple courts listening to and asking questions of the teachers there. This was the usual way of learning in those days.

Even though we are told that those who were with him were amazed at his answers, his mama was not so amazed. “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” And his answer: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

At the age of twelve, Jesus was figuring himself out. Who he was; what was his mission in life; what had God planned for him? Now we look at Jesus’ response and the key word in it. Jesus’ response was must—I must be in my Father’s house. Luke uses that word in this sense at least four more times in his gospel. It was always “he must do whatever.”

Mary had come to her son with some sharpness in her voice: “Your father and I…” But Jesus insisted that he had to be in his Father’s house. He shows here his identity as the Son of God and that he would be guided by his relationship with the Father. This is the point of the story—he would be guided by his relationship with the Father…

But maybe those old geezers who put together the readings way back when knew what they were doing. The first Sunday of Christmas is always the last Sunday of the calendar year. This is the time of year we make New Year resolutions. We resolve we’re going to lose weight, exercise more, read the Bible straight through, quit all those bad habits, and add new good ones.

Jesus had a special relationship with his Father. And when we consider that we, you and I are God’s children also, then we realize God has a purpose for our lives. It’s not just fate. And then we need to answer those questions about our faith. Is our faith in God a incidental matter, or does it affect our lives in some profound way? What role does God play in our lives? Is religion a matter of just appealing to a divine being for help in times of need or trouble, finding forgiveness, or fulfilling religious obligations? Before we make any resolutions, we should reflect on the significance of God’s claim on our lives—to get a sense of God’s purpose for our lives. Now is the time to resolve to live as God has called us—as he has commanded us.

We are called and Jesus commands that we should look out for our neighbor. We should be an example; we should “find” our neighbor and bring him to this place. There are many who are lost and wanting to be found. But perhaps they don’t realize it. They are searching for something spiritual; something that they can hold on to as they navigate through life. They get into Zen, Yoga, even running, walking, bicycling, exercise. These are all good things, but they’re only a substitute for real spiritual satisfaction and growth. Our resolution, then, individually and as a congregation is to find these people and show them what they’re missing—what they are really looking for.

It can be found here, this place where we worship, the place where the Sacraments are administered and where the good news is preached. It is here that God’s love is found because he came down to us and he loves us and we share it. We cannot lose that foundation of our faith. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. The light has come into the world so that no one has to live in darkness, but may come to the joy of God’s company.

Amen and amen.