Christmas 1
– 27 December 2015 – Year C
Grace to you
and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for
this meditation is written in the 2nd Chapter of the Gospel
according to St Luke: Verses 41 - 52
Every year his parents
went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve
years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast
was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in
Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they
traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives
and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look
for him. After three days they
found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them
and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his
understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were
astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?
Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you
searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s
house?” But they did not
understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to
Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these
things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with
God and men.
It’s
interesting that the most important person in history has such a meagre
biography. He walked the earth for thirty-three years. Four books
record those events. Of the 89 chapters of those books, only four devote
themselves to the first 12 years of Jesus life. Now, to be fair, the most
important part of Jesus’ life were those years of His public ministry,
suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; but, still we it
would be interesting to know more about Jesus’ early years. I guess it’s
because of our interest in Jesus’ teens that all kinds of books and shows, some
more fictional than others, have been published to try to fill in the
gaps. Those gaps, however, won’t be filled in until we see Jesus with our
own eyes in heaven. Until then, we must satisfy ourselves with what the Holy
Spirit provides in His inspired account as written in the Biblical text.
Today,
we have before us, everything we know about Jesus teenage years; but what
we have is incredible. In these verses Jesus reminds us who He is.
He reminds us that He is – already at age 12, and since the moment of His
conception – the perfect God-Man. He reminds us that He is the perfect
God-Man because He is our perfect substitute.
Most of
us are reasonably familiar with this account. Jesus’ parents, Joseph and
Mary, take Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is a significant trip that
Luke writes about. At this time Jesus was not yet experienced His bar
mitzvah, (the Jewish equivalent
of Christian confirmation), he was in the final legs of his ‘catechetical’ instruction. He
would have been going to Saturday School for some time now, learning the
Scriptures, getting ready for His Bar Mitzvah.
At the
end of the festival, Mary and Joseph head back to Nazareth with the caravan of
travellers who had come for the festival. During these journeys through
the desert animals and people all walked together; the women usually in groups
chatting as did the men; the young people all gathered together and talked and
played together. Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with the other boys and they
didn’t worry about Him until nightfall. When they could not find him they
panicked, they looked everywhere, finally after three days of frantic searching
they found him back at the Temple, sitting at the feet of the Rabbis,
listening, asking questions, and replying.
As all
Mums would know, Mary is angered and confused by His behaviour; she demands,
“How could you do this to us son!?!?!?” Jesus He replied, “Mum, didn’t
you know that this is what I’d be doing, what I have to do; going about my
Father’s business?” Jesus He went home with them, the perfect little boy,
for the next eighteen years.
Friends
this is spectacular story of enlightening truths. We see the boy who
is God. This is not a boy “learning to be God” or “discovering
that He’s something special” or wondering “Why do I know these things?”
Teenager Jesus knows who He is and here reminds us why Christmas – Word and
flesh becoming one – is such a big deal.
Jesus
shows us His eagerness to be as one with His Father’s Word. Jesus stayed
behind, not to hang out with friends, not to wander the streets of Jerusalem,
not to see that event or sight Mom and Dad said there wasn’t time to see.
He stayed behind to get into the Word. He stayed behind to sit at the
feet of Rabbis and teachers. If your son or daughter went missing, how
many of you would assume that they were with Christian minister talking theology?
How many confirmed teens are even eager to be in church much longer than they
have to be? Willing and eager to be in the Word, about His Father’s
things, Jesus is the perfect graduate who was at the same time is the very God
who understood it perfectly. He mystified the crowds with the insight His
questions displayed and the knowledge His answers imparted. Jesus didn’t
take over the class, but He was a participant extraordinaire. The
Scriptures He was taught were the Scriptures that He, through the Holy Spirit,
inspired the prophets to write. Jesus makes use of His divine nature on
this occasion, perhaps to lead these Rabbis to a deeper understanding of the
Scriptures and to help them focus their eyes rightly on Him as the Christ.
Whilst
Jesus understood the Fifth Commandment, His earthly time on earth had its
priority in the First Commandment and doing His Father’s will for all peoples.
He was the perfect child. When Mary and Joseph find Him, He doesn’t make
a scene. He doesn’t roll His eyes at Mum and Dad. He doesn’t mock
them sarcastically. Yet, He does rebuke them for forgetfulness – after
all, angels told them that He was the Son of God, the Saviour of the
world. For this child, they’d gone into exile in Egypt. Had their
memories faded? Were they taking His divine nature for granted?
Were they so used to His obeying the Fourth Commandment that they forgot about
His divine mission having priority? Jesus reminds them, “This is what I
have to do first; this is why I took on flesh.”
And
yet, when His parents came. He went home obediently. God in the
flesh joyfully went home to Nazareth. He obeyed them in everything.
He isn’t suddenly the boss. What a radical reversal of our usual
response? We look forward to those moments when we can rub failure into
the faces of our superiors – whether it’s Mums or Dads, pastors or teachers, or
bosses. Rather than quietly put ourselves under their leadership, our
sinful nature desires to remind them of their failings whenever we can. Jesus
demonstrates that this is not the way for God in the flesh and in so doing
reminds us that it is not the way for us either.
Friends
in Christ, this is much more than just a good Biblical story. Through his text
today St Luke is reminding us today that Jesus is the perfect God-Man. We
must remember that even at this time, this perfect teen was aware of His fate,
to be the perfect substitute to die on a cross for our sins. The story
beginning at Christmas – the being born, the growing up, the gaining of wisdom,
the obedience to all the commandments – was for our sake; for our eternal forgiveness
and salvation.
This
child / man Jesus demonstrated that He is a member of our family, sharing our
humanity. He subjected Himself to all these things for one purpose, to bring
all people salvation, to destroy the power of devil, to free us from the slavery
of our sins and our fear of death. He subjected Himself to these things
so that at the cross He could be the perfect and faithful High Priest we
needed, offering the sacrifice of Himself as atonement for our sins. This
teenage boy in our text became all these things, and His sacrifice paid the
price. It did the job. It redeemed us. It ended the power of
the devil. It ended the hold that death has over us. Because Jesus
did what He had to do. He is perfectly God and perfectly man in one
Person. That is what makes the Christmas season so special and joyful for
all humankind. How blessed we are! Amen
The love and peace and grace of our great Triune God
that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen
