In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord and
place a special emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. Last Friday, at the Epiphany
of our Lord, we celebrated the revelation that this child in the manger is
truly God. At the Epiphany, there is a special emphasis on the divinity of
Jesus and His kingship over all creation. As the Sundays after the Epiphany
progress, the Gospel readings will focus on the miracles of our Lord which
reveal His divinity. Epiphany means “to reveal.”
It is then notable and quite interesting that we begin the Sundays
after the Epiphany not with a miracle text, but with the only text God has
delivered to us which describes our Lord’s boyhood. When Jesus was twelve years
old, His family went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, as was their
yearly custom. After the feast, His family departed Jerusalem to return to Nazareth.
Since they’ve spent eleven years with Jesus in the family and have come to
expect His perfect obedience, they didn’t even bother to check that He was
numbered with His brothers. Joseph, Mary, and their relatives departed for
Nazareth.
It took an entire day for them to notice that Jesus was not
with them. When they returned to Jerusalem to search for Him, it took three more
days for them to look in the Temple. At last, when they found Jesus, Mary
rebuked Him for making Joseph and her anxious. Jesus responds, “Why did you
seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”[1]
After this, Jesus went down with them and was subject to Joseph and Mary,
increasing in wisdom, stature, and favor in the eyes of God and men.
The first question you may have of this text is how could
they forget Jesus for a full day? Remember, Jesus is God in the flesh. They
have raised Him for the last twelve years and He is perfectly obedient. Joseph
and Mary have left Jesus behind because they’ve grown complacent. Because He is
perfectly obedient, they’ve come to expect that He can read their minds. When
they forget to tell Him they are leaving town, they expect He will know anyway.
From this, we see that neither Joseph nor Mary is without sin,
but Jesus is. Jesus does not sin if Joseph and Mary fail to communicate with
Him. Even Mary’s attempt at rebuking Jesus makes it clear that the sin lies
with her and Joseph. “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and
I have sought You anxiously.”[2]
It is clear that she is at fault for not being a diligent parent and yet to
admit as much would be embarrassing. She knows it would be a lie to say, “You
hid from us” when the truth is they forgot Him. So she says the next best
thing, “why have You done this to us? You made us so anxious.”
This is the temptation for anyone who has been a Christian
for any length of time. It is tempting to become complacent with your faith. It
is tempting to believe that you’ve already heard about that stuff and so you
don’t need to come to church, or bible study, or read the bible at home, or
review the catechism. In fact, there are many in our church body who believe
that once you’ve been examined in a confirmation class, you no longer need to do
memory work and there is no reason for the Pastor to examine what you know of
the Scriptures.
This is complacency. All Christians must be on guard against
such complacency because should you fall into this temptation, you won’t even
notice that you have left Jesus behind. Joseph and Mary were blessed by God to
have remembered after one day of journeying. If you fall into complacency, you
have no promise that you will remember after one day or even before your death.
The less you attend to your faith, the less you will want to.
On the other hand, the sin of Joseph and Mary speaks
specifically to parents. Sending children to school—be it public, private, or
otherwise—does not absolve you as being in charge of their education. We do not
send children to school to be taught by experts. We send them to school to
assist us in our duty to educate them. The same goes for teaching the faith.
Catechesis classes at the Church are important but one hour a week at Church
will do nothing to foster the faith of anyone. Daily prayer, daily bible reading,
daily discussions concerning the Word of God are necessary for raising a child
in the faith.
It is necessary that children be present at the Divine
Service. Children’s Church is a terrible heresy of the North American church. By
distracting children with food and games during the Divine Service is the same
as telling them there is nothing here for them. How does a child learn? A child
learns by imitation. Repetition is the mother of learning. The youngest among
us is learning the faith right now. Sure, the infants in our congregation do
not yet understand language, but they are learning the sights, sounds, smells, textures,
and even tastes of the church. If we teach children that the church is a place
to play and eat, then we can’t be surprised when they leave the church for more
entertaining pastures.
We must now turn our attention to Jesus. Whether Joseph and
Mary completely forgot to tell Jesus they were leaving or if they simply gave
unclear direction, we do not know. We do know that without sin, Jesus remained
in Jerusalem. He remained in Jerusalem and went straight to the Temple to
learn. Do not misunderstand the text. He is not teaching in the Temple. He is
sitting diligently at the feet of the teachers. He is listening to them and
asking questions. Those standing around were amazed at what diligent of a
student He was.
Imagine a student is perfectly attentive and perfectly
obedient. Then imagine the teacher asking a question and this student doesn’t
give an inappropriately academic answer, but gives a thorough answer displaying
understanding of precisely what the teacher was teaching. This is the boy Jesus
in the Temple.
It is very rare that I share personal stories from
the pulpit because you come here to hear the Word of God, but in this case, it
is illustrative. Sometime in grade school, we were given an assignment over the
weekend to write a story about our summer break. Because the assignment was to
write a story, I returned on Monday morning with a fantastical story about
falling into a hole in the street and discovering a cave full of treasure. The
teacher was delighted but told me I misunderstood the assignment. She was
looking for a story about something that really happened.
The point of this anecdote is that in misunderstanding the
directions, I did not sin. Our Lord, Jesus Christ, can remain perfectly sinless
and perfectly obedient while making a mistake. Mistakes of this nature are not
due to sin, but to the imperfection of the world around Him. Thus, it would be
entirely possible for Christ to have mis-measured a board in the shop with
Joseph or answer a question of the teachers in the Temple incorrectly.
The difference between Jesus and you & me, is that we do
not know what it is to make mistakes without sin. I miscut a board because I am
in a hurry and didn’t carefully measure. You miss questions in Bible Study
because you were busy talking to your neighbor or thinking about lunch. We make
mistakes because we are imperfect. He made mistakes because we are imperfect.
This ought to bring you a degree of comfort. Jesus Christ,
True Son of God and True Son of Mary, was capable of making mistakes without
sinning. He is truly man and is displaying that God is not interested in all
Christians having perfect academic records. The Father is interested in
diligent study of His Word. Does that mean everyone must know Greek and Hebrew?
No. God has given you other vocations. Does it mean that everyone ought to
devote more time than you do to God’s Word? Absolutely. Diligent study of God’s
Word simply means to read and reread the Word of God so that it becomes a part
of you.
Our Lord’s subtle rebuke of Mary is astonishing. “Why did
you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” It is
as if He is calmly saying, “Why didn’t you start by looking in the Temple?”
Where else would Jesus be? Joseph and Mary likely went to all of the places a human
twelve year old would be found; a twelve year old driven by the passions of his
flesh and the desires of a sinful heart. They remembered that Jesus is True Man
but had somehow now forgotten that He is True God.
Why be anywhere else? Not all Christians are called by God
to spend their days contemplating the Word of God from sunrise to sunset. You
have families. You have homes. You have vocations every bit as pious and holy
as the Office of the Holy Ministry to attend to.
Rather, find the joy in receiving God’s Word. Enjoying
coming to Church doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy other activities. It means you
can enjoy those other activities because God has given them to you. The joy of
the Divine Service and the Daily Offices comes not from getting what you want
but from receiving what you need.
This is the final lesson to learn from the Boy Jesus. From
beginning to end, Jesus displays humble submission in this text. While He is in
the Temple, Jesus sits quietly and obediently learns from the teachers. He does
not question their authority, even though He has been since before the world
began. He does not demand the teachers act according to His expectations or
even that they teach the topics He is most interested in. No. The Word through
whom creation was made humbly obeys the authority of His teachers and
diligently learns from them.
Then, when the Holy Family returns to Nazareth, Jesus is
said to be subject to them. In spite of the sins of Joseph and Mary, Jesus is
subject to them because they are His parents. God has set the world in order,
and it is not always related to ability. God created Adam first and then Eve. Man
is the head of woman not by ability but by Divine Order.
What do I mean not by ability but by Divine
Order? It is conceivable that a woman could craft better sermons and teach more
effectively in the church than a man. Yet God has strictly forbidden this. Why?
Because it is not given to woman to have authority over men. Man is to be the
head of woman even as Christ is the head of the Church. If Jesus Christ can
submit Himself to His parents, then all women are capable of submitting
themselves to the authority of men.
And make no mistake—submission does not mean weakness nor
slavery. Submission means recognizing the authority of another and placing
yourself under that authority. The one who is in authority must also recognize his
duty to lovingly serve and care for those under his authority. No Christian is
to lord his authority over another, be it male or female. At the same time,
having authority sometimes means rebuke, warning, and exhortation. Sometimes
authority means simply to teach. In all cases, him with authority is called to lead
by divine right, not by human order.
If Jesus Christ, True Son of God and True Son of Mary, can
submit to teachers in the Temple and sinful human parents, then all Christians can
follow His example by submitting our wills to His. By such submission, we too
will follow our Lord in growing in wisdom, stature, and favor with both God and
man.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
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