WHERE’S JESUS?
LUKE 2:41-52 (NRSV)
DECEMBER 30, 2012 AM
YEAR C, FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS
OSCEOLA, AR FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
INTRO. Where’s Jesus? Reading this passage reminds me of a series of children’s books many parents and grandparents may remember. “Where’s Waldo?” is a series of books that appeared three times in the late 1980s, twice in the 1990s, and twice in the 2000s. Add to that Waldo sticker and activity books, a magazine, comic strip, video games, cereal box, and a film that is still in the works, and you have quite a franchise! What happens in the Waldo books is that you have finely detailed two page illustrations of numerous people in a certain location of the world doing many different amusing things. The challenge is to find Waldo hidden in each picture. He always wear glasses and a hat and shirt with red and white horizontal stripes, but he can be hard to find, as I can personally testify! Yet he is there, in each picture. This reminds me of the account that we find here in the Gospels of this seemingly strange incident in the young life of Jesus, this only stop on the road from the events of his birth in Bethlehem and the visit of the Wise Men to the all too short years of his public ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father. As we step into this event in the faraway land of Israel, it seems that Jesus is lost in the picture, too. He has faded into the background and is about to cause a great uproar for many people who may or may not be looking for him. The question today is not, “Where’s Waldo?” The question today is, “Where’s Jesus?”
I. JESUS IS IN JERUSALEM (Luke 2:41-45). The first answer to the question is that Jesus is in Jerusalem. That’s a good answer because it happens to be true! If you had asked where I was a few days ago at Christmas, the answer would have been my hometown in northern Missouri. Now that was not true a week and a half ago, nor is it true now, but it was true for a few days. That’s the same way this answer is true for Jesus. He was not born in Jerusalem, he did not live in Jerusalem, but he did happen to be there at one point. And why was he in Jerusalem? Luke tells us he was there with his family for the festival of the Passover. This is the year that Jesus was twelve, and probably the first time he came to Passover as a full member of the synagogue back in Nazareth. For a Jewish young man, almost considered an adult of the day, this would have been big stuff. When the Passover was going on in Jerusalem, the population of the city went from 50,000 to 150,000. This, too, would have generated great excitement, especially for a small town boy like Jesus.
So the family went to Jerusalem, they enjoyed the Passover, and they hit the road for home. I can’t speak for you, but when I come home, I like to put the petal to the metal! I wonder if Joseph wasn’t like me. People traveled in groups back then for safety. The women and children would stay to the front, while most of the men would bring up the rear. And so, all day long, Joseph no doubt thought Jesus was up front with Mary and the children, while Mary believed Jesus the young man was in the back with Joseph and the other men. Have you ever lost a kid? What a feeling of panic and despair must sweep over the parents or whatever adult is responsible! Years ago, when Carol and I lived in Tennessee, I remember taking some kids to a church event near Nashville. Along the way, we stopped somewhere for gas or bathroom break or whatever. We loaded up and I forgot to count noses or take attendance. A couple of hundred feet down the road, I happened to glance in the rear-view mirror, and there was one of our church kids, running for her life down the street behind us! What a feeling! And what a feeling it must have been for Joseph and Mary. Jesus was in Jerusalem - somewhere - and they were struggling to find him.
II. JESUS IS IN THE TEMPLE (Luke 2:46-47). The second answer to the question is that Jesus is in the Temple, and it’s another good answer because it happens to be true as well. After all, why did Jesus and his family go to Jerusalem for Passover in the first place? It was to worship at the Temple and to thank God for his deliverance in Egypt. Why shouldn’t Jesus be at the Temple? What better place for him to be? But as we know, parents do not always think and reason like their kids do, so while they tear up the city for three days, Jesus is busy in the Temple all that time. When Mary and Joseph finally catch up with Jesus in the Temple, Luke says Jesus was doing three things (2:46).
First, he was sitting among the teachers. What reason would Jesus have for doing that? Was he a teacher’s pet? I think the reason is much more important. I believe that Jesus not only modeled a teachable spirit, but he had a teachable spirit. Verse 40 says that Jesus was “filled with wisdom”, but verse 52 here says that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in years,” and that reveals the kind of attitude that would sit among the teachers.
Second, Jesus was listening to the teachers! Now, my wife is a teacher, and I know some of you here are teachers. I have done my share of teaching as well, and don’t we all love it when our students are listening! When they are listening, they are zoned in. Whatever you are trying to pass on, they are doing their best to receive. Jesus was listening to the teachers of the Law explain and apply what God meant by what he said and Jesus was soaking it up like a sponge.
Third, Jesus was asking the teachers questions. I think this is what the experts call active learning or engaged learning. Not only was Jesus in the place of learning, not only did he have his ears and his brain wide open, he was asking questions to make sure he was getting it right! “Is this what you mean?” “If that is true, then does this work that way?” Great teachers will attract great students like this, and Jesus was being a great student.
When God brings us to the Temple at our Jerusalem, it would be great if we were half the student that Jesus was at the ripe old age of twelve. Opening our hearts and minds, asking questions, drinking it all in.
III. JESUS IS IN HIS FATHER’S HOUSE (Luke 2:48-50). All this time, Joseph and Mary have been asking, “Where’s Jesus?” they have been searching high and low for him in the very detailed picture that is Jerusalem at Passover, and I doubt he is wearing a sweater with red horizontal stripes like Waldo to help them find him. But when they finally located him, in the middle of the reunion, a confrontation broke out. And this is a normal thing. This is the way it should be. Good parents would be going crazy after missing their child for three days, and this describes Mary and Joseph. “Son, where have you been? We have been tearing up Jerusalem looking for you! Just wait until we get you home, you’re going to be grounded forever and ever!” Now that’s a threat with some teeth to it, isn’t it? But when Mary stopped to take a breath in her tongue lashing, Jesus had a reply: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) Not only was Jesus in Jerusalem, not only was he at the Temple to worship and give thanks, he was there to meet with his Father. Jesus knew, even at this age and stage of development, that when he came before God, he was in front of his Father.
During the 1800s, as the United States expanded westward past the Mississippi River and over the Plains, representatives of the federal government would try to impress upon the Native American tribes the authority and trustworthiness of the government. Somewhere along the way, the phrase “Great White Father” came into use. In speaking of the president, officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs would refer to the Great White Father and his concerns, requests and demands. When different chiefs of the tribes thought they were not being treated fairly, they would appeal to the Great White Father. He became almost a godlike figure at times. Jesus knew that day in the Temple that he was not meeting with some imaginary person. He knew it was not some false god of the nations that he was sacrificing to in vain. He knew he was before the Lord God, Creator of the Universe, Sustainer of all there is!
Now, Joseph and Mary did not quite understand this. They didn’t quite get it. When he said he had to be at his Father’s house, apparently they thought he knew it was time to go home, back to Nazareth. This reminds me of how we misunderstand Christmas. Steve McGuire, our retired county judge, mentioned to me the other day that when someone wishes him “Merry Christmas,” he will sometimes tell them, “I wish you a happy birthday for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!” He has seen, like all of us need to see, that Christmas was not just the lights and presents and Santa and Rudolph and all the other stuff. It is Jesus, and when he leads us to the Father’s house, he is taking us into the presence of the Almighty. Respect that presence. Enjoy his presence. Be changed by his presence, just as Jesus was.
IV. JESUS IS IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THOSE WHO WILL LISTEN TO HIS VOICE (Luke 2:51-52). I want to ask one more time - where is Jesus? Jesus is in the hearts and minds of those who will listen to his voice. In Luke 2, we are told that Mary maybe halfway got it. Verse 51 says that she “treasured all these things in her heart”. But we do have a hint that it may have gone further than that. Verse 52 says that Jesus “increased in divine and human favor” as the years went by. More people started to get it, and in a positive way. You might say the ministry of Jesus was wrapped up in the process of getting people to listen to his voice. There are many accounts in the Gospels of crowds listening to Jesus and rejoicing at what they heard, but it seems there are just as many accounts of rejection and opposition. But here, at twelve years old, as Jesus was at Jerusalem, at the Temple, at his Father’s house, in front of this crowd of family and teachers and strangers, he was speaking. No doubt in years to come, people who had been in the crowd that day and saw what became of Jesus would remember with pride, “I was there! I heard him that day!”
How does it really sink in for us? What does it take to get to the point where we are just not hearers, but doers? One writer has suggested it goes something like this (“Preparing to Hear God’s Word,” J. Hampton Keathley, www.bible.org).
First, communication. We listen to God. We listen to God in the variety of ways he speaks to us. These include the Bible, the Holy Spirit, events in our lives, and people God sends to speak to us. We must be alert for these ways. We never know when God will speak up and speak out.
Second, comprehension. We need to understand what God is saying. This takes work as well. It involves such things as spiritual preparation, having an open heart, and actively participating in what God is bringing about.
Third, confidence. We have to trust what God is saying to us. I know in this age of political scandal and business wrongdoing and legal shenanigans, it is hard to bring ourselves to trust anyone or anything. But we must do this in order to truly take in the words of Christ and allow him to work in and through us. If you have never truly trusted God for anything, I encourage you to take that step. He will not always handle your life the way you think he should, but I can tell you this - he will never disappoint you, as every other person and institution in your life will, sooner or later. But God’s track record is unblemished. You can have confidence in him.
Fourth, change. Be transformed by what God says to you. You cannot overestimate how listening to God will change every part of your life. It will make you a better person, a better husband or wife, father or mother, son or daughter, supervisor or worker. Listening to God and acting on what you learn will turn your life upside down and your heart inside out.
CON. When Joseph and Mary took that trip to Jerusalem that was probably a repetition of trips taken in past years, they had no idea that it was going to be any different. Another year, another Passover. A good time, a holy time, but also an interruption of the daily routines of life. But a few days later, their lives had been changed in a way that there was no going back from. They could only move forward. They could only live differently. Better. Gaining even more knowledge of God from this son they knew was not like any other in the world, but oh what a difference. Oh, what a change. Where does that leave you and me? What about our encounter with Jesus this morning? Is my life any different? Is yours? It is God’s plan that we all leave this place as changed people. Will you follow his plan?
