THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Text: Luke 2:41 - 52
The late John Hughes is one of my favorite filmmakers. He was known for making many come-of-age movies like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Weird Science, Uncle Buck. He was also well known for two classic Christmas movies Christmas Vacation and Home Alone which is in a way is another come-of-age film.
In the movie Home Alone, there is a scene of a family that is gathered together to celebrate with some of the Christmas holiday festivities as well as getting ready to go on their trip to Europe. The family is awakened with the panic of oversleeping as everyone starts to get scramble to make it by the skin of their teeth. In the shuffle a neighbor’s son gets counted as Kevin McCallister who was punished and sent to the attic without the rest of his supper for misbehaving. The family scrambles through the airport to make their flight when Kevin’s mom finally realizes that Kevin got left at home alone as she faints. In the meantime, Kevin outsmarts two thieves who had been casing all the ritzy homes in his neighborhood. The mother separates from the rest of the family and heads home to reunite with Kevin. Finally, when they all reunited, Kevin’s parents are amazed at his wise-beyond-his years resourcefulness for a kid who who roughly between the ages of 9 -10.
Mary, the mother of Jesus must have felt a lot like Kevin’s mom when she realized that Jesus was not part of the caravan that had gone to Jerusalem for the annual Passover Feast. Like Kevin’s mom she felt all the anxiety and panic until she was reunited with her twelve year-old son Jesus. How would you have felt if you had been Mary? Today’s text points out three important things, separation, recovery and discipleship.
SEPARATION
How have you felt as a parents or parents when you were separated from one of your children?
1) Displaced: Why would we say that Jesus was displaced which means “to remove something from its usual place?” Jesus went missing. As we can see it disturbed Mary and Joseph. Jesus was twelve years old and familiar with the law and the religious customs (see Exodus 23:14 -17 & Deuteronomy 16:16) of the annual Feast of the Passover because the scripture said that they made this journey every year (Luke 2:41).
2) Coming -of-age: Twelve years of age was a time when every Jewish boy should become familiar with the law. That was also the age when a boy would be considered more responsible like an adult and less and less like a child. The modern practice of Barmitzvah when a Jewish boy turns 13 years old seems to come from this custom. There seems to be a parallel of this rite-of-passage ideal in the Christian tradition of Confirmation.
Does Separation can create anxiety?
1) Separation: Mary would tell you yes. The fictional character Kevin’s McCallister mom would tell you yes. Any parent who has looked for a child who was lost from their presence and protection would tell you yes. In fact, there is a clinical term known as “separation anxiety” when one is separated from an environment and people where they were comfortable before the separation took place.
2) Unfamiliar territory: Isn’t that why it feels awkward when we begin a new chapter in our lives? A new beginning or a new job? Losing a loved one or becoming a widow? Becoming a parent for the first time?
Is separation a necessity or a hindrance?
1) Individual responsibility: Jesus had to separate from his earthly parents to embrace what His Heavenly Father had sent Him to to which was to create reconciliation for a world of lost sinners.
2) Repentance: The axe is a metaphor of God’s judgment and the need to repent (see Matthew 3:7-10). The axe that strikes at the root of unfruitful things that miss the mark of who God has called us to be.
3) The necessary separation: Since sin separates us from God, it hinders us in our relationship to God. That is why God sent Jesus to help us take out the trash of our sin. Is there trash that we need to get out of our lives today? Like a prodigal son in his far country of sinful living, we need help. Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
Can separation equal complacency?
1) Complacency: How many in the world today are separated from God because they are seemingly self-satisfied and truly happy?
2) Un-surrendered complacency: Is there an area in our lives where we have gotten sinfully comfortable?
3) Internal resistance: Is there any dark areas in our lives that resist the light of Jesus Christ (John 3:19)? Do the words of Jesus clean us (John 15:3) and make us repent or provoke us and make us mad because it illustrates where we fall short (Luke 2:34 -35)?
RECOVERY
Is our recovery based on gospel discovery?
1) Rise or fall?: Remember what Simeon told Mary after he saw Jesus (Luke 2:34-35)? Simeon said that people would rise or fall because of Jesus’s words.
2) Shepherd pursuing lost sheep: Remember what Jesus said about the shepherd who left the 99 other sheep to go after that lost sheep (Matthew 18:12)? Remember what Jesus said about people who are like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36)?
3) The last , least and the lost: Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18 ESV).
Did Jesus come to recover us from a lost world?
1) Idols: Are there idols that would keep us and destroy us? Do we not become consumed by false things and idols when we get lost from God?
“We have come to worship things, status, fame, popularity, money, security. Anything that comes between God and ourselves is idolatry. Jesus demands Lordship over all such things” (Billy Graham. Peace With God. Waco, Texas: Word, 1953, pp. 148 -149).
2) Remedy: There is no question that Jesus came to save us. John 3:16 speaks of the recovery plan that God has for a world of lost sinners! For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Does recovery have an element of rejoicing? Did Mary rejoice when she found Jesus? Of course she did. Did you rejoice when you found your missing child? Of course you did. Did the prodigal son’s father rejoice when the prodigal came home ( Luke 15:11- 32)? Of course he did. Does God rejoice when those who were lost get saved and recovered by Jesus? Of course God does. Even God’s angels rejoice when a sinner repents and changes in both heart and life (Luke 15:10).
DISCIPLESHIP
What does it mean to be a disciple?
1) Discipleship defined: The word disciple means learner. Someone (Wayne A. Detzler) sums it up well: “Being a disciple involved two principles. First it meant that disciples had fellowship with their teacher. …. Second, disciples carried on the tradition of their teacher.” (Wayne A. Detzler. New Testament Words In Today’s Language. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1986, p. 120).
2) Discipleship and practice: Jesus continued to mature in wisdom and years and found favor with both God and with people (Luke 2:51). How did Jesus grow in His relationship with God? Obviously, the answer is fellowship. Jesus both taught and practiced that we have to pick up our crosses and follow in His footsteps. It is in our fellowship with Jesus that we become more like Jesus!
What was Jesus’s main role of discipleship? That may sound like an odd question but it is a legitimate question. There was a family business involved for God’s only Begotten Son to help to recover those who had been separated from God by sin.
In the fullness of time Jesus came to fix that gap. This is why Jesus increased in both knowledge and [development] stature. He found favor with both God and man (Luke 2:51).
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
