Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Gospel lesson. Luke 2:40-52.
As a parent, this text infuriates me. I would have been
livid had I been Joseph. For a child to so completely disrespect his parents,
to not follow obediently and trave with them – at least be in the same group! –
is unconscionable. He shows complete disregard, not only for Mary and Joseph’s
parental authority, but for their parental responsibility, their fears, and
their concerns. Overall, it seems that Jesus simply doesn’t care about Mary and
Joseph one whit.
As a parent, I empathize with Mary and Joseph deeply. You
parents, you grandparents, you probably do as well because you’ve had that
experience of having a child disappear while you were at the grocery store or
the mall or at the ballpark. Your son, your daughter, your grandkid – he or she
was right next to you just a second ago, but when you turn around it’s as if –
poof – they disappeared. The frantic search, as concern quickly accelerates to
angst and then fear; the terrible “what if” thoughts; the scurrying down
aisles, looking under clothes racks, below the bleachers, to finally find them
stretched out beneath a rack filled with coats, simply needing a nap, them
waddling towards you with two boxes of their favorite cereal under their arms, or
down the toy aisle staring at the latest and greatest thing they saw at their
friend’s house, or playing quietly with a couple other friends, totally
oblivious to your frantic and panicked search. Thankfully, most of the time,
these panicked searches end up well, but with a bag of mixed feelings: joy the
lost child is found, frustration the child left in the first place, and shame
that you missed the fact that your child disappeared without your knowledge.
Because you’ve experienced this, you can understand and
imagine Mary and Joseph’s frustration, fear, and concern. Luke wants us to see
this story through their eyes. He wants us to know their grief and pain, their
frantic efforts to find their son. At the evening camp, after a day’s journey –
fifteen to twenty miles – from Jerusalem, they discovered Jesus wasn’t there. A
quick search among their traveling companions identified Jesus was not among
them. Then, the frantic return to the city, swollen in population for Passover,
growing and blossoming hour by hour, stretching into a three-day search for
their son, their twelve-year old son, their only son.
They went to the temple. I wonder if their return to the
Temple was motivated by spiritual, as much as physical and emotional, need? You
know how it is – in times of great crisis, literally going to the house of God
for prayer, solitude and – perhaps – answers? A sense that they’ve tried
everything else, so perhaps this was the final option? Or was it less
spiritual, and simply checking the last place they remembered seeing Jesus?
And, then, I can imagine – as can you – their mixed bag of
emotions when they discover Jesus there, in the Temple, surrounded by the great
teachers of the Law. It was apparently an incredible give-and-take between the
boy and the men: Jesus both listening to them and asking questions, but also
answering and demonstrating great understanding. Mary and Joseph, astonished at
what was before them, both seeing and hearing this dialogue; frustrated at
their son’s seeming lack of respect and concern; relief to find him safe.
And I have to wonder if she remembered the day she and
Joseph brought Jesus to Temple for His circumcision, that strange day that the
old man, Simeon, held the baby in his arms, sang the Nunc Dimittis – Lord, let
your servant depart in peace – and then he looked at Mary and said:
This child is destined to cause the falling and rising
of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so
that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your
own soul too.”
Did she wonder if this moment was the first of more to come?
Was there understanding that in her Son, God deigned to dwell among man, not in
a Tabernacle, or even in the Temple, but in human flesh? Did she have any
inclination that the day would come when those same teachers of the law would
turn against Jesus, instead of sitting and engaging with Jesus in teaching and
learning they engaged instead in plotting to kill Him? Could she have any idea
that He would, in 30 years, make His final journey to Jerusalem for Passover?
Was there any inkling in her mind that then He would be left behind again –
this time not by parents but by everyone – including His Heavenly Father? Did
she understand that there would be another three-day period where she would be
separated from her son who lay, dead and buried, behind a sealed stone and
where she would finally find Him, but mistake Him for the gardener?
No…I don’t think so. Standing there in Temple, watching her
12 year old son with pride and curiosity, with frustration and anxiety, she didn’t
have any idea of what lay ahead for Jesus and what was necessary for Him to fulfill
His name and be Savior. What she knew is that it was time to go home, back to
sleepy little Nazareth, and for Jesus to go with her. He did, Luke noting that
He continued to grow in wisdom and in stature with God and man. She had found
her Son, where He was most at home – in His Father’s house. But it was time to
leave the Temple behind for another year.
I started this sermon by putting us parents in the shoes of
Mary and Joseph. Whether you count your child’s lifespan still as weeks and
months, or by the decade, whether you push him or her in a stroller or they
sometimes push you in a wheelchair, you have had those moments and experiences
of anger and frustration – some were righteously felt, but if we’re honest,
others not so much. Parenting is one of God’s great gifts and children are a
blessing. It is the primary relationship of all mankind, parents and children,
and it is to be one where grace and mercy is freely practiced and love and
compassion are exercised.
But, when this relationship breaks, it causes terrible heartache and heartbreak.
The devil cannot abide a peaceful, loving home. So, the devil loves to take
the gift and fill us with frustration and hurt so that we call parenthood a
burden, and he loves to take the blessing and fill it with harsh words and
broken hearts so that we call motherhood and fatherhood a curse. He fuels society to call children a
disposable choice, much like the terrible Christmas sweater that you discarded
last week. Love and compassion are surrendered to getting even and showing
who’s boss. Grace and mercy are given over to self-justification and
self-righteousness. And then, when we realize our mistakes and our sins against
our kids, the devil takes that all and
wraps it up with a horrible, thorny bow and delivers it to us again as shame
and guilt. He brings up memories from weeks, years, even decades ago, that
Christian parents would never have thought such things, or felt such things, or
done such things toward their children. He leaves us parents in our own
despair, seeing only our failures and our homes as anything but places where
the Spirit of God dwells.
Parents – moms and dads of all ages – hear this Word of God.
Christ comes for you. He, who descends to earth as a human boy, who in holiness
perfectly submitted to earthly and sinful parents, is your Savior. For all of
those parental melt-downs, and fatherly conniption fits, and motherly tantrums,
and exasperated grandparent “that’s not how we did it in our day,” Jesus is
yours. In repentance, surrender them to Him. As this year begins and the old
year disappears into the rearview mirror, do the same with your sins. They are
in the past, forgiven, abandoned at the cross. Jesus didn’t drag your sins up
from the grave with Him on Easter. Don’t let Satan continue to weigh you down
with those moments. In faith, know, believe, trust and rely that you, too, are
forgiven by Christ. In humility, confess your failing to your kids and ask them
for their forgiveness, too, without excuses or condition (you know, the “I’m
sorry I yelled, but if you would have cleaned up your room…”) and pledge to do
better next time. When you do that, you give your child the wonderful
opportunity to share the Word of God with you, the Word that says, “I forgive
you, Mom; I forgive you, Dad.” You might have to teach them to use those words;
that’s OK, and it’s worth teaching. Because there, in the family, united with
Christ in Baptism and grounded in the Word, there is Christ.
Amen.
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