First Sunday after Christmas Year C.
Luke 2: 41-52
Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church
The Rev. Jerry Morrissey, Esq., Pastor
Thank you Lord Jesus for your perfect obedience as a free gift which is our freedom from slavery to sin and death. Amen.
Title: “Perfect Obedience.”
Mary and Joseph find the twelve year-old Jesus in the Temple, conversing with the doctors of the Law. At the end of the “Infancy Narrative” Luke includes this story from the adolescent period of Jesus’ life. We know nothing of his boyhood apart from this one incident, which Luke alone relates. (There are other stories found in the apocryphal gospels, notably the "Infancy Story of Thomas", but they were never accepted as inspired revelation and probably never happened, being typical of highly imaginative tales of great men, historical and mythological.)
We would misunderstand this story and its place in Luke’s Gospel if we asked questions of the story that it has no intention of answering. It is not told from the viewpoint of the earthly life of Jesus, that is. from what actually happened, but from the viewpoint of post-resurrection faith, that is. what it means for us. On the historical level we might ask: How could Mary and Joseph leave Jesus “home alone” and not make sure he was with one or the other? How come it took them a whole day to realize he was not with them? Where and how did Jesus spend the two nights before he was found? How could Jesus have been so irresponsible if he were so smart otherwise? Did not Mary already know Jesus was divine in some sense at least? Why was she surprised and worried? The story is not concerned with these issues.
On the more important level the story tells us that Jesus early on had a special awareness of his unique relationship to God, whom he called “my Father.” Also, even though Mary and Joseph knew of this, as did his disciples in his adulthood, that did not mean they understood everything about him automatically. As Jesus had to grow and advance in wisdom, age and grace as a human being, they, human beings themselves, had to do likewise when it came to understanding the implications and applications of Jesus’ divinity regarding their lives. It did not come easy for them or the disciples. We should not expect that it will come easy for us either. It takes us many years of applying Jesus teachings in our lives to understand what he really was trying to ask us to do.
In verse 41 each year…Passover: The Law required every male Jew to go to Jerusalem three times each year for the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. In practice, most made it for Passover. Those Jews living in other parts of the world (the “Diaspora” Jews) would try to make it once in a lifetime. Some rabbis taught women had to go as well. True or not, most wives would accompany their husbands along with the children in their family.
In verse 42 twelve years old: At thirteen a boy became a man and assumed all the responsibilities implied in his circumcision. The present day Jewish “Bar Mitzvah” (which means “a son of the commandment”) reflects this custom, although it was not practiced as such during Jesus’ time. The year before that would be a time when a father would prepare his son for it. So, this would be Jesus’ last (maybe first, we do not know) visit to the Temple before he was actually obliged to observe the adult provisions of the Law. Ancient and present “primitive” cultures do not have a prolonged period of adolescence as we do. They have “puberty rites” which celebrate the transition from childhood to adulthood, preceded by instruction and ordeals. After that ceremony the young person is treated as a full-fledged adult. (This custom remains with Lutherans in our completion of infant Baptism with the rite of Confirmation.) A twelve-year-old in such societies would be equivalent to an 18-21 year old in our society today.
In verse 43 after they had completed its days: Passover was linked to the feast of Unleavened Bread. In actuality, they were merged, so the feast took seven days. The Law required that a Jew stay for at least two days. It looks like Mary and Joseph might have remained for the whole thing. However, the fact that the doctors of the Law were holding court in the public precincts of the Temple may mean that the feast was still in progress and they left early. During feasts and on the Sabbath the Sanhedrin stopped judging cases and made themselves available for questions and discussions by the general public. That’s the picture here.
In verse 44 thinking he was in the caravan: Although this story is not told for its historical value, it has undoubtedly come from the “memoirs” of Mary (v. 51). Men would travel in a group separate from the women and young children. Jesus, being twelve, could go with either group. Each thought the other had Jesus, or he could have been with relatives or friends as kids like to do. At nightfall families would reunite to sleep. That is when the discovery would be made. They went all day without realizing Jesus was left behind.
In verse 46 after three days: One day was lost on the journey, so it took another day to get back to Jerusalem and they found Jesus the next day. He was sitting, listening to the doctors of the Law, asking them questions and counter-questions typical of such a discussion.
In verse 47 they were astounded at his understanding and his answers: This does not mean that Jesus was giving supernatural answers, only intelligent ones, surprising for a boy his age. It shows that Jesus had religious knowledge superior to what could be expected of an average boy. There is no thought of extreme precociousness such as we find in the apocryphal gospels.
In verse 48 they were astonished: The verb here, ekplessesthai, means “to be struck out of oneself.” The joy of finding him can be understood by any parent. And any parent can understand that, after that initial joy, the next reaction is anger that a child would do something so agonizing to his parents. So, Mary, gently, we presume, asks, “Why?”
In verse 49 Why were you looking for me?: Jesus responds in a way any parent of an adolescent has experienced. He turns the tables and asks “Why?” himself! He, gently, we presume, rebukes them. Like all adolescents he is establishing his independence while recognizing they are his parents (verse 51).
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?: The first words on the lips of Jesus in Luke speak of his special relationship with his Father. “Father” is rarely used in the Old Testament for God. In his daily prayers a Jew might say “Father in heaven” or “our Father” (as did Jesus in frequent reference to God and as he taught his disciples to do) but “My Father” is without precedent (even John 20:17 adds “”to my Father and your Father”). This is the main point of the story. Jesus, by his own witness, reveals a special relationship with God, even at an early age. Note the emphasis: Mary said of Joseph, “your father,” but Jesus stresses God as “my Father.” This anticipates his teaching about leaving mother and father for the sake of the gospel, emphasizing that loyalty to parents cannot supercede loyalty to God.
In verse 50 they did not understand: Experiencing Jesus and understanding him are two different things. Here the parents anticipate the experience of the later disciples. They have a lot to learn, even though they have been clued into Jesus’ divine origins and nature.
In verse 51 he was obedient to them: It was not yet time for him to engage in his mission, so he remained at home, in relative seclusion, preparing for his public ministry. Jesus is obedient to his parents because it is part and parcel of being obedient to his Father. (This is Luke’s last reference to Joseph.)
His mother kept all these things in her heart: Mary reacts here as she did to the shepherd’s story. She may not understand, but she remembers. This “memory” no doubt helped her to grow and eventually become one of his first disciples. Like Jesus, she, too, had some growing and learning to do before the full flowering of her faith.
In verse 52 Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and man: A similar remark was made at 2:39, possibly indicating that that ended the “Infancy Narrative” and this adolescent story was added later, since it really is not about Jesus’ infancy. “Wisdom” indicates Jesus’ intellectual development; “age” his physical development. “Favor” translates “grace” or “gracefulness.” “Before God” refers to his spiritual growth; “before man” to his social graciousness, for Luke paints Jesus as a friendly, out-going, people-loving person who was attractive to all sorts of people. On the human level Jesus had growing to do in all areas of life, just like the rest of humanity. Luke notes he was quite a bit better at it than the rest of us.
Jesus is an adolescent at this time. He is distancing himself from his childhood and a childish relationship with his parents. He establishes his independence from his parents, not by sassing them or disrespecting them, but by pointing out he has a third Parent to whom he must answer, God. His parents do not understand his uniqueness. What parent does? They have, like all parents, certain expectations of their child, for whom they are responsible. Jesus recognizes this (he is obedient) but there are times when his vision or calling or identity is in conflict with theirs. He must call them to recognize that he is growing and needs to be permitted to “test the waters.” Luke shows these times were not easy for Joseph and Mary and parents should not expect them to be easy for them. They were good people and pious, observers of God’s Law. That did not make them “perfect,” let alone perfect parents. They, like all parents, remained human. They did not always understand. They were anxious for Jesus’ welfare, even though he could take care of himself. They were not sure when to let go and when to hold on. All this should sound very familiar to parents. Luke means to console them. If Mary and Joseph forgot the uniqueness of Jesus, and they both had visions and dreams before he was born telling them clearly who he was, then the rest of us should not be too hard on ourselves. It is not sometimes forgetting that every child is unique, it is refusing to admit error that causes problems.
On the other hand, Jesus teaches that his parents did not need to be omniscient or perfect before he would obey them. Adolescents can easily use the excuse of their parents not understanding them to justify disobedience. Or, they can point to their parents’ foibles and inadequacies as excuses for their own and reasons to ignore their legitimate demands. Jesus obeyed his parents, although he was clear that, if there ever were a conflict, he would obey God first. Later he would teach his followers the need to (psychologically, at least) leave parents, stand on one’s own two feet, and follow him.
In this seemingly simple tale of a boy left at the church (or “home alone,” if you will), Luke has managed to pack an awful lot of helpful food for thought for parents and adolescents and all of us. Luke teaches us that there is really no incident or situation so small that God cannot fit into it. He calls us to see into every scene or situation of our most ordinary lives and pull out the lesson or point or pointer. Not only does God say so much in a few words, people do too. We need to listen with the kind of absorption that Jesus had when he was so intent on learning God’s word that he forgot about himself, his parents, where he was and was supposed to be. To be so enthusiastic, so thirsty for learning, so caught up in discerning God’s messages to us is a gift from God actually contained in the Word itself. There is an attraction and attractiveness that transports us to another realm where we are as unaware of time as we are aware of eternity. It is so engrossing that we become like children who cannot be pulled away from the TV or computer or video games even for dinner. It is not so much a matter of forgetting where we are as being someplace so engrossing and encompassing that we prefer it to anything else. As the many formerly hidden dimensions of the spirit world unfold before our faith-eyes, we become oblivious to the inconsequential and learn to value the things that really matter. When he was in his heavenly Father’s house and presence, he would even ignore his mother. Would that we could learn that lesson.
Jesus loved and respected his earthly mother, but there are just too many instances in the New Testament to allow us to conclude that he had anything close to the unhealthy dependency many people have upon their earthly mothers or that they have on his mother for that matter. He just did not fawn on her like many “devoted” people do. She heard the word of God and kept it. That made her “blessed” in his estimation, as it will also make us “blessed” in his eyes.
God’s Son vs. Mary’s son: Luke combines two levels of interpretation into this one story. One level deals with a typical parent –raising- child situation; the other with high-level Christology. Only Luke, storyteller and pastor, can do this with such ease. On a deeper, theological level, Luke uses this story to illustrate that Jesus early on has a heightened awareness of a special relationship with God, unique to him. Even as an adolescent he was conscious of God as “my Father,” a consciousness no one else had at the time. This is not to say that Jesus knew at that time he was God. The question, "What did Jesus know and when did he know it? “ can never be answered. Humans probably would not understand even if we were told. The relationship between the humanity and divinity of Christ is beyond human comprehension. We do not need to know, in any event. If we did, Christ would have made it an important issue and figured out a way to tell us.
There are two extreme positions on the question. One would hold that Jesus knew from birth, if not conception, that he was God. He always knew. That presents us with the rather silly picture of the infant Jesus under his breath saying to the magi, “Do not let this outfit fool you, underneath these swaddling clothes I AM really God.” The other extreme would say that he never knew until his resurrection that he was God. This presents us with another silly picture of Jesus saying to himself- as he is being raised, “O my God, I really am God! What a pleasant surprise!” The truth lies somewhere in between. We should not confuse the issue. Christ is and always was God. He did not come into being, but into history at the incarnation. When Jesus knew (on the human side, as humans know anything) that he was God is a totally different question. There is no question about Jesus’ divinity, only when he knew it. Like the time of the End, he has chosen not to tell us, perhaps because he did not himself know, need to know, or need to tell us so that we would know.
As far as the human knowledge of Jesus goes we can say this much: Jesus had the ordinary knowledge of the world and things open to anyone else of his day. So, he did not know modern science any more than he enjoyed modern technology. He did have superior religious knowledge, as this story shows. It was his specialty. He thirsted for religious knowledge with a passion he did not seem to show for math or language. He amazed adults with his spiritual depth. The apocryphal gospels attributed to him a precociousness and supernatural knowledge that the church refused to recognize as true. Those stories never got accepted as revelation. On the basis (scant basis) of the precious few texts we do have, we can conclude that Jesus probably grew gradually into a human awareness of his divinity (however he conceived of it) just as he grew up in every other way. We see this awareness peek through at special times like his baptism (and less so here at puberty). When it peaked in his own consciousness no one can say. He always was God; he was not born with a consciousness of that fact.
After the resurrection the early church realized that who and what Jesus was revealed to be, he must always have been. As the gospels were written the moment of that revelation was seen to have reached back further and further into time. Mark begins with the adult Jesus and he is revealed as God’s Son at his baptism by John. Matthew traces that fact back, through his conception, to Abraham, the father of the Jewish race. Luke, in his genealogy, traces it further to Adam, the father of the human race. John goes all the way back to creation and even before that, into eternity, in his Prologue. The Son existed from all time and eternity. Like Matthew, Luke has noted Jesus was divine from his conception, and, in this story, has Jesus himself give witness as an adolescent to this special relationship with his Father. Thus, like Jesus himself did, the Church grew gradually in her awareness of his divinity.
The word that is written across this entire episode is “obedience.” St. Paul writes in Philippians that having taken on our humanity, Christ became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Even here, at the age of twelve. He is the obedient Son of His Father, and of His parents. His obedience took him to death on a cross, so that we who are disobedient might share in His perfect Sonship.
Amen.
