With Christmas on a Saturday this year, we skipped our regular Saturday evening service at St. Peter. We did have a small Sunday morning service on the day after Christmas, for which I wrote this message about the story of Jesus in the temple as a boy. No video or audio recording this week.
I found helpful O. Wesley Allen, Jr.’s commentary at Working Preacher, as well as this sermon from Scott Spencer. Today’s Scripture readings are Luke 2:41-52 and Colossians 3:12-17.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Let me start by saying thank you to all of you who came to worship this morning. I had no idea how many people would be here today, partially because I’m not usually here for this Sunday after Christmas! Usually, Christin and I leave to see family right after Christmas worship. But with Christmas falling on Saturday, we decided to stick around for worship today, although since we’re leaving for Wisconsin right after this service, my job is to keep this sermon brief!
Each year on this first Sunday after Christmas, the readings are stories from Jesus’ childhood, which makes sense, right? We celebrate Jesus being born, then we ought to hear about him growing up. The problem, of course, is that we have very little to go on for Jesus’ childhood.
So, one year we get Jesus and his family fleeing to Egypt, running away from King Herod, another year we get Jesus being dedicated at the temple and Simeon and Anna greeting him, and this year, we get this story of Jesus in the temple at age 12.
And that’s about all we hear about the child Jesus — the next thing we know, he’s an adult being baptized by his cousin John the baptist and starting his public ministry. We’ll hear that story in two weeks.
So we don’t know much – but don’t you wish we knew what Jesus was like growing up? The whole point of the Christmas story is God coming and living with us as a person, Jesus as human and divine, 100% God and simultaneously 100% man. Don’t you wonder what that looked like, especially as a kid?
There are a bunch of legends—sort of Biblical fanfiction—about Jesus growing up where Jesus does random little miracles, like making a clay bird come to life, or miraculously striking blind some grumbling neighbors, healing his brother James from a poisonous snakebite, that sort of thing. My favorite is a story about one time his dad Joseph the carpenter accidentally cuts a piece of wood too short, so Jesus miraculously stretches it out so it will fit. (More about the non-canonical Infancy Gospel of Thomas and these stories here.)
But none of that’s in the Bible, which is actually kind of notable. Wouldn’t you think Jesus would have had an extraordinary childhood? But this one story we do get is actually kind of ordinary. It definitely has hints of Jesus’ true identity, but compared to what people have made up, it’s kind of mundane.
Jesus and his family go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. They’re good faithful Jewish people, so there’s nothing strange here. It’s a good journey, but not really exceptional – Luke tells us they go every year.
Somehow, Jesus gets left behind, and no one notices. It’s basically the scene from Home Alone, where suddenly everyone realizes Kevin is not in the back seat like everyone assumed. When they can’t find him with their family and friends, Mary and Joseph turn around and head back to Jerusalem to look for him. The city is still crowded with people celebrating the festival, and it takes them three days to find him.
Imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph, looking for Jesus. There’d be all the concern that any parent would have over a missing child, but I suspect there’s even a little extra for them, because they know they’ve been trusted with raising God’s own Son. It’s hard to imagine being in Mary’s shoes and being asked to be the mother of God’s Son, but can you imagine losing God’s Son?!
But I’m pretty sure Luke doesn’t include this story to comment about Mary and Joseph’s parenting skills; it’s about who Jesus is. It’s about Jesus claiming his identity. When they eventually find Jesus, he’s in the temple.
Obviously, this child is well spoken and smart, wise in his understanding, able to hold his own with the religious teachers, but he’s not being Superman. He’s not levitating the altar, or doing impossible feats of strength. He’s studying God’s word. He’s still completely human.
And when, quite understandably, Mary and Joseph start to reprimand him, Jesus says (and these are Jesus’ first words in Luke’s Gospel), “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know I would be in my Father’s house?”
And perhaps the message for us in this fun little story is that when we are looking for Jesus, we know where to find him: In his Father’s house. Actually, and this is kind of fun, that Greek phrase, “In my Father’s house” can be translated several different ways. Other translations say, “Didn’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?” Or, “Concerning myself with my Father’s affairs?” Or, “Where my Father’s work is.”
That’s still true for us today, right? Where do we find Jesus? Where his Father’s work is being done. We encounter Jesus in worship, in Holy Communion giving himself for us, but we also encounter Jesus where God’s things are being done.
A few chapters later, in his first sermon, Jesus will say “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor … Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Where good news of God’s love is being proclaimed, we find Jesus. Where God’s kingdom is being enacted, where people are being liberated, we find Jesus. The Holy Spirit is at work, drawing us to Jesus, connecting us to our savior, inspiring us to join in God’s mission. When we as the body of Christ join together and do God’s work, Jesus is present to be found.
We also have a reading today from Colossians, and isn’t this an interesting day to hear Paul tell us as Christians to “bear with one another” and forgive, and clothe yourselves in love?
I think there’s something here about what it means to be the Body of Christ, to be with God’s people in community, to assemble as the Body of Christ representing Jesus to each other and to the world. This isn’t something we can do on our own. We need each other, and we need the Holy Spirit’s help, because really, it’s Jesus who finds us, the Holy Spirit who reveals Jesus to us, who gives us faith, opening our eyes to find Jesus in our neighbors, in everyone who bears God’s image, which of course is everyone we meet.
And it’s still Christmas, so we’re also reminded that Jesus shows up in strange places, humble places, like back room stables rather than palaces, among poor peasant folk rather than the wealthy and upper-class. In occupied nations and among migrants.
So where do you find Jesus? About his father’s business. In the temple, and among neighbors. In a manger, and on a cross, revealing how far God wil go to find you. Amen