January 1, 2006
Luke 2:27 The parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required.
Luke 2:33-35 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Luke 2:39-40 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
All of Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16) This verse reminds us that ALL of God’s Word is worth mining and re-mining again and again to learn more and more. There are many verses that we read over once, twice, even ten times - only to see a word of a phrase that we never really thought about - to open a new point of view and strengthen our faith from a different angle. The Christmas story is one of those stories that most of us have repeatedly looked at for years and years. It is only right for us to concentrate on the main part of the story - God becomes man to save man. Yet within the confines of this story - there are other words, other characters, other people that are also talked about. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the actions of Mary, Joseph, Herod and many other people - which we can also learn about. The theme of this week according to the historic pericope was supposed to be on how we seek to do God’s will as members of his family. It seemed strange to me to talk about this during Christmas time - which is a focus on what God does for us. Yet, as I looked at this Christmas text again, there are a few things we could learn as we look at the role of the parents of Jesus. So, today we are going to approach the Christmas text from what I would consider secondary - yet still important angle, as we look at -
The Parents’ Part in the Christmas Story
I. They did what the Law required
Luke 2:27 The parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required. The Law was written in -
Leviticus 12:2-4 “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over.
Leviticus 12:6-8 ”‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting . . . two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”
The women needed to make an offering to make themselves ceremonially clean, and at this time they were also supposed to give an offering to redeem their first born male sons back from the LORD. (Exodus 13:2, 12) Luke 2 doesn’t mention that they made an offering for Jesus, but since Jesus’ whole life was dedicated to God - perhaps they didn’t need to.
Luke calls this “coming to the temple” a CUSTOM of the Law. I don’t know if he was insinuating with those words that the law of making an offering for your son had been reduced to just a custom or not - but he does praise Joseph and Mary in vs. 39-40 for having done EVERYTHING the law required. They had Jesus circumcised at eight days. They came back to the temple at 40 days to consecrate him there to the LORD. At this age Jesus would have been around 10 to 13 pounds. Still a little guy fresh out of the oven.
With these laws God was intimately connecting the life of the newborn child to Himself. He was in fact saying that every baby boy belonged to Him - and that He needed to be respected in light of that gift. This idea of consecrating a child to the Lord seems rather foreign and strange to most Americans. When a young mother and a proud father witness the boy’s head coming out of the womb and feel his fingers for the first time - it brings out a sense of awe and wonder in most any parents eyes - maybe even thankfulness to some god out there for giving them such a gift. Yet more times than not - after the birth is done - when parents are granted a healthy baby - they keep on living as if God had no part in the equation. They forget that God caused that baby to grow in the womb and brought him out of the womb safely. All they worry about is how they are going to take care of the baby - how to juggle their schedules and still be productive - how much day care is going to cost or what kind of clothes to get the child. Their minds are so focused on taking care of the baby and how to raise the baby that they don’t think about the God who gave them the baby.
If this was necessary to consecrate even for a holy child, wouldn’t it be even more necessary for a sinful child? I find it a sad fact that so many parents that are given children never think about having their baby baptized. They never offer so much of a prayer for their child. Mary and Joseph did not live that way. Although they still were sinful and made mistakes, they knew that as parents - especially of the Christ child - they had a RESPONSIBILITY to raise that child in the nurture and admonition of the LORD. When God required them to do something - have him circumcised, take him to the temple - they went. Mary and Joseph went to the Passover in Jerusalem every year. They gave Jesus those opportunities to grow in faith by taking Him to the temple. They respected the fact that this child was from God - therefore it was THEIR responsibility to raise Him in a godly manner.
Luke 2:40 says that, “the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” That’s a very interesting text, because it clearly states that Jesus grew and became strong - equating that also with being filled with wisdom. Even though Jesus was God, in His humility He chose to learn about wisdom from heaven just like you and I. Imagine the One who made the Universe - had to learn HOW that happened by hearing from Genesis! It blows the mind! Joseph and Mary had a part in this. They provided Jesus with the opportunities to do those things. Sure, they had a perfect child to work with. That didn’t mean it was easy for them to travel to Jerusalem every year. It didn’t mean it was easy to stay in Bethlehem for a year. They could have reasoned that since Jesus was PERFECT that He didn’t NEED all that training in the Bible. They were faithful with the perfect child.
My friends, there is no greater advantage you can give your children, nephews, nieces, and grandchildren in life - than by fulfilling your God given duties as parents, aunts, grandparents, and even big brothers and sisters. Younger siblings look up to their big brothers and sisters and cousins much more than they do to their parents - so don’t think you’re immune from this if you’re not an official parent. If you want your kids to come to Sunday School, then you should come to Bible class. If you don’t want your children being short tempered, then don’t be short tempered yourself. If you think your grand kids should come to church, then you could offer to bring them. Don’t just tell them what to do. Live under the law yourself. Just as Jesus grew from it - those under you will grow from your words and actions. You’ll give the Holy Spirit opportunity to WORK in their lives and mature in their faith. If you don’t see to it that your grandchildren, children and relatives are baptized or confirmed or stay in the faith, then you aren’t fulfilling your duty. Your children are God’s gift to you, but they aren’t NOT perfect. Isn’t it all the MORE important then to see your responsibility and take it seriously? God’s training regiment is much more important than whether they can play soccer or make money. If your kids don’t know the Ten Commandments word for word - can you say you’re doing your duty? If they don’t even know how to pray before supper - that’s partly YOUR fault. If they can’t say the Lord’s Prayer by second grade - they should. If you taught your younger sibling how to talk back to your parents, that’s YOUR fault. This is your responsibility. If you don’t teach them, who will? Stop making excuses. Start repenting.
II. They marvel and suffer in faith
When you do have children, and they start growing and doing things they never did before - it is an awesome experience for a parent or a teacher. The first time a child walks is a miraculous event. The first word is incredible. The joy of seeing a child fold his hands and pray is a remarkable thing. Another thing a parent loves is when his or her children are praised by other parents or teachers. It makes us so happy to hear things like, “your son is just a joy to have in class.” But how often does it happen the opposite - where someone comes up to us and says, “I caught your boy hitting his classmate.” You get that sinking feeling in your stomach like you just got punched in the chops. As a natural response, you want to rise to his defense, and you want to believe that your child is just being picked on by the teacher.
Mary and Joseph had a perfect child. So you would think everyone would only have GOOD things to say about Jesus. You would think it would have been just peaches and cream all the time. When they went to the temple on that 40th day, Simeon had some GREAT things to say about Jesus. Holding Jesus in his arms, he said in Luke 2:30-32, “my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Whoa! How did Mary and Joseph respond? The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. They both MARVELED at what was said! That’s great! Not only is He the salvation we have been promised, He’s even going to bring light to the GENTILES! It’s been reaffirmed once again! That’s great! Our child is the Savior!” Good news! What more could you ask for? This, of course - took faith for them to believe. Luther said, “It serves as an example of our faith: we, too, should learn how marvelous God’s works are concerning us and that the beginning and end are quite dissimilar. The beginning is nothing; the end is everything. Just as here the infant Christ does not appear very significant and yet, in the end, he became the Savior and light of all the people. If Joseph and Mary had judged in accordance with what they saw, they would not have regarded Christ as more than a poor little child. But they disregard the external evidence and cling to Simeon’s words with a firm faith.”
Yet, before they became too excited, Simeon had some more words for them - especially Mary. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” These parents would need God’s blessings - having to travel to Egypt just to save Jesus’ life. Things would be worse. A sword would pierce Mary’s soul. If you notice - Joseph is never mentioned again after their time at the temple. It could very well be that he died at an early age - leaving Mary as a widow. But something even worse would happen to Mary - in what would happen to Jesus. Jesus wouldn’t only be the cause of salvation for many - but many others would fall on Him. When Jesus declared Himself to be the Son of God - who alone would provide salvation for the world - many of his fellow Jews hated Him for such arrogance. As a result, they spoke against Him. They hated Him. They called Him demon possessed - a child of a whore. Imagine, now - being Mary - Jesus’ mother. Imagine hearing people say these things about your dear boy who was an absolutely perfect child. Imagine seeing one of your children - the boy you gave birth to, fed, clothed, and prayed for - hanging on a cross and being taunted to come down. Mary would have to go through a terrible time as the mother of Jesus - her very soul would be cut in two at seeing Jesus go through these things.
This is what faithfulness brings to us. Mary and Joseph had to live their lives as fugitives, knowing that Herod wanted Jesus dead - and Satan did too. Just because they were the parents of the Christ they were given neither palace nor prestige. It was a difficult calling. Parenting, teaching and being a mentor as older brothers, neighbors, classmates, and parents seldom comes without it’s crosses. Your kids kick and scream when you set a curfew. They act as if you were whipping them when you ask them to take out the trash. You try to show some leadership on your team by working hard during practice and respecting the coach, and some of your friends accuse you of being an apple polisher and get angry with you for not breaking training rules. You try to give your cousin some advice to help parent their children, and they treat you with anger and tell you it’s none of your business. These are crosses that we don’t deserve - but they come nonetheless. We don’t ask for health problems. We train our children not to do drugs, but they try them anyway. No matter how hard you try, there are sorrows and setbacks in trying to do what God calls us to do.
How do we respond? Mary and Joseph continued to do what God called them to do. Luke 2:40 says, “they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. During this time they did what God called them to do - parent Jesus - by feeding him with both physical and spiritual food. They didn’t give up. Ultimately, throughout the pain and the crosses, Mary and Joseph had the ultimate joy of knowing that this Son who would be spoken against - was also their Savior. In the midst of their trials and sorrows and suffering that was to come - they had the joy of knowing that they were raising their Savior. What a wonderful comfort.
When we do our best to accomplish what God calls us to do - there will be times of marvel and times of sorrow. More often than not we aren’t marveling as we find our children complaining about coming to worship, not knowing the Lord’s Prayer, and not living the way we had envisioned them. More often than not - we will not be proud of the job we have done as parents. Don’t be surprised when you find yourself wishing you had your life to do over - your responsibility to take over - because you messed up in some way. Trying to do what calls us to do - when we live with that calling as parent, big sister, example, uncle - you name it - it’s going to bring guilt. When our children and we do mess up - we won’t be able to play the martyr, because we’ll know that unlike with Jesus - we brought this sorrow on ourselves. So what do we do? Like with Mary and Joseph - throughout the sorrow - we have to keep our eyes focused on the promise in the baby. This Jesus did what He was called to do. He was persecuted, died, and ROSE from the dead. He finished His job of saving the world. Believe in Jesus. Put your sins on Him. Rise from the dead with Him. Throughout the sorrows and the crosses in life - that’s where our comfort has to be . We have to believe that in the end - the promise of salvation - through faith in Christ, will come true. Even as swords are striking our hearts in true faith - we have to cling to Christ. We have to repeat the words of Job in 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
A popular commercial out today provides an “easy button.” The most recent one portrays Santa and his elves trying to make digital cameras out of wood. Instead, one of his helpers says, “we have an easy button.” So they decide to put the easy button - which is supposed to represent ordering the products from some popular company. Life didn’t come with an “easy button” for Mary and Joseph - even though they were raising a perfect child. Life doesn’t come with an easy button for us either. So we find ourselves wishing that life were easier, as we are changing the diapers, worrying about when our kids are coming home, and messing up on a daily basis. Doing what God tells us to do in the law is never an easy thing. It’s an impossible thing just to do our part. Yet behind the laws and regulations and responsibilities and guilt, we need to keep in mind who we are doing this for. We are doing what God asks us to do for Jesus - whom God sent to live and die for our sins. Our salvation is already accomplished with nothing to do on our part - nothing could be easier than that. God has promised us that Jesus did His part. So throughout the failures, we have the promise of forgiveness in Christ. In God’s grace, like Mary and Joseph, through faith in Christ we try to do our part. Amen.
