"From the Pulpit" - reflections on the weekly texts, from Pastor Greg at Living Lord Lutheran Church, Vero Beach, FL
Now every year [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
Luke 2:41-52
"My, How Quickly They Grow Up!"
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. And Happy New Year, dear church.
Parents, grands, greats...how many times have you said that as you watched your kids grow and begin to separate themselves from your parental guidance/control, etc. It seems like yesterday when they were just toddlers, right?
It seems like no sooner have we celebrated our Lord's birth, than he's already off and away, separating himself at the age of about 12, as the family travels to Jerusalem for the Passover. You can relate, no doubt. We don't know much from any of the four gospels about jesus' youth - actually Luke says more about it than any other gospel account (remember, an "orderly account" as he calls it.) And you can especially relate to him being gone for three days (can you think of any other time in Jesus' life where he was "gone" three days? [Hint: his burial] Mary's reaction upon seeing Jesus again was, as to be expected, a combination of joy and frustration - joy, at finding him, but also frustration and more at Jesus' having put them through such anxiety.
I'm particularly drawn to Jesus' response to his mom as to why he left them. He says, "that I would have to be involved with my father's work." First of all, which father might he be talking about? How would Joseph (the father) feel about Jesus' comment? And then, what would be his "father's work"? I think one of the things I get out of this story is that on some level at least, for those then and now who may have or have had some idea of Jesus, they may find he's more elusive than they might have imagined. Elusive in the sense that maybe Jesus perhaps is up ahead, or laying back, waiting for us to search and find him. I think of both Matthew's and Luke's gospels where Jesus says to the crowds, "ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock, and the door will opened for you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened for you." Maybe it's as simple as that. I'm not sure.
But Jesus is clearly breaking away, beginning to do the work of the Father in heaven, in this story. There is certainly precedent here, in our first reading from 1st Samuel ( Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord”; and then they would return to their home. 26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.)
I think this morning of my colleagues in the Mennonite faith tradition, where "prophets", or clergy, are raised up and set aside, out of the congregation at an early age - those showing the gifts of ministry. And supported by their congregations through their early faith journeys. These clergy grow up in a community of like-minded believers, are supported and nourished by their congregations, and when ready, are called to lead theirs or another congregation. I've seen it first hand from my Berks and Lancaster County, PA days, when these clergy are ready to minister to their congregations.
Mary and Joseph seem to take Jesus' presence in their midst, or at least in the midst of the wider group traveling with them to the Passover, for granted. After all, he's among his own community. His own neighborhood. But sometimes, when we take things for granted, like the fact that Jesus will always be there, sometimes when we look around, he isn't. After all, if Mary and Joseph can do it, so can we. But if and when we sense the lack of his presence, maybe we need to be prepared to ask, seek, and/or knock, to search for him in prayer, in the church, in the Sacraments even, until we find him.
Think about that, dear sisters and brothers in the faith. Pray on it. i think Luke's story gives us pause to ask a lot of questions about our own beliefs, and where we keep Jesus in our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.
"Go, Tell it On the Mountain"
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