Growing Pains

a sermon by

Rev. Katie Crowe First Presbyterian Church Charlotte, North Carolina January 11, 2006

Luke 2:41-52

Our scripture lesson for this afternoon comes from the final word in the gospels from the childhood of Jesus. Before fast forwarding to his adult life and ministry, we are given one last glimpse into his early years in a scene from his adolescence a scene which only Like records. It comes to us from Luke 2:41-52. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a days journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. He said to them, Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house? But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. While the pages of the non-canonical literature are filled with stories of the child Jesus, they read much the way a comic book might when describing the childhood of a super hero - they are fascinating (and altogether possible accounts), but are more along the lines of the infant Jesus turning water into apple juice rather than anything we might attribute to a normal boy growing up. Our author is very interested in the development of the man Jesus, so much so that he illustrates for us a scene from his life that would seem to serve more as a point of interest rather than occasion for serious study. I will admit that I myself struggled with whether or not to include this text in our series precisely because of how ordinary it seems. So Jesus holds his own with the Scribes and Elders - ok, hes special, hes the son of God, what else is there to say about this story? It seems like pretty small potatoes compared to the ecstatic Simeon or the virgin birth. But Luke puts this story in there for a reason, like all the gospel writers - to clue us in to a portion of the larger story about Christ and Christianity that they want us to understand. It begins with a simple drama. Though the scene may conjure up images of the movie Home Alone where stressed out parents and siblings leave their youngest behind in their holiday excitement. At the time it was customary for families to travel to festivals together in large groups, with each member being equally responsible for keeping up with other - especially the younger ones. They were a devout family, making the 65 mile trek from Nazareth to Jerusalem annually for the festivals surrounding Passover. But this year - just months before his 13th birthday and Bar Mitzvah (his rite of passage into adulthood), Jesus gives them all the slip and situates himself in the temple, right in the middle of the debates of the Scribes and Elders. Often we think of Jesus teaching in the temple, but the words used are literally sitting, listening, and answering in the Greek, suggesting that he was simply dialoguing with the leaders, and undoubtedly perplexing them with his depth of understanding. Twelve years before, he was brought to that place in the arms of his proud mother for a blessing, and in such a short time, my

gosh how he has grown! It seems innocent enough until you put yourself in his parents shoes and begin to feel the lump in your throat or fear in the pit of your stomach at the prospect of losing sight of a child for even a moment, let alone 3 days. I believe the author is pretty generous with Marys response when they finally find him - I know that my mom at least would have been just a little more emphatic, possibly accompanying her thoughts with some sort of physical manifestation - like a swat across the seat of the pants. Perhaps a more easily identifiable response for us today would be, Jesus, you scared us to death! Or Get over here this instant, mister, you are grounded! Or, in the Judeo-Christian guilt tradition, Do you have any idea how long your father and I have been searching for you Jesus all we could think was that you were dead in a ditch! Throughout art history this image of Jesus in the temple and Mary and Joseph finding him has been depicted countless times. Often the child Jesus is poised at a sort of podium, or on a chair in the middle of a crowded room, hand up as if gesturing while pontificating, the elders staring in amazement and crowded at his feet. In one scene from South Africa, the child Jesus and elders sit together on the floor of a hut, and the faces of the scribes are both amazed and amused. My favorite has to come from an 18th century painting1 that depicts the holy mother and father ushering Jesus out of the temple - each grasping a hand and each speaking what is clearly a hard word in love into both of the childs ears - Jesus face shows a mixture of shock and protest. But perhaps equally realistic as these is an etching by master Rembrandt - who depicts the family on the road home - Joseph staring straight ahead looking haggard and exhausted, Mary looking tired but relieved - her hand over her heart as if she is only now on the road outside of Jerusalem beginning to breathe again. This was surely a family story that would resurface to young Jesus mortification for Passover feasts to come. When we come to really identify with the fear of his parents, then I find that at least my own mixed feelings over his response really begin to surface. Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house? On the one hand, his response seems condescending to his mother - werent you there for my birth, mom? Dont you remember what the angel told you? Of course I was here. On the other hand, it seems casual - this is where I belong, where else would I have been? That last phrase is intentionally ambiguous - In my Fathers house. It also can mean, about my Fathers interests. Jesus had gone to the temple on family business - the business of God. How could his parents have possibly understood in that moment of fear and relief and fatigue what Jesus was saying? How could they have possibly grasped the full extent of what Jesus was now only beginning to understand: That by definition he was born with divided loyalties, and they would all soon have to face the beautiful and painful truth that this child Jesus had only one true father, and one true home. And he is challenging us to have the same. For the gospel writer Luke, what appears to be a scene of typical pre-teen, adolescent disobedience serves to foreshadow things to come. When the child Jesus who rebukes his parents in public for not knowing where to find him would grow to be the man who would challenge his disciples to leave their father and mother and riches and status, and everything else that brings comfort and favor, and come and follow him.

James Tissot

It is a brief but sobering glimpse into the journey of grief that Mary had only begun to walk as she realized that this child was only on loan to her,2 and that he was born for the very purpose of being called apart to change everything. And so she bottled up that first impression when she saw Jesus not crying for her in a corner of the temple, but instead standing with the scribes and priests and talking about intricacies of the law and prophets that she certainly had never heard of. She took his innocent response, Why were you searching for me? And she pondered them in her heart. Id imagine right beside those words from the angel announcement, You will bear a son ... He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High ...3 Or the words of Simeon, who had looked her right in the eye and said a sword will pierce even your own soul too.4 For this isolated experience of disobedience and fear and loss and relief was only a sign of things to come as Jesus would grow to live into his identity not as the child of Joseph, but the son of God. This was the starting point for his eccentric and profoundly difficult message that would challenge and change the world with his rebellion. The time would soon come when he would not simply return home and live in obedience, but would refuse to live the way we want him to live, or say the things we want him to say, or tell us what we want to hear or that the things we want to matter really do matter. His message would never be, Im sorry I made you worry, but rather, My family are those who do the will of my Father. And, Obedience does not bring salvation. Money has nothing to do with true wealth. Your stature in this world means nothing in the eyes of God. He doesnt care about the way you love those who love you, but those who hate you. God is not interested in the condition of your home but of your heart. It is about how you welcome the stranger, not how you embrace the friend. It is a hard Word that Jesus asks us not just to ponder in our hearts, but to follow. It is a hard message that the growing pains of his adolescent experience of coming to terms with who he was in this world would also mean growing pains for his family and for us. Because what he is asking of us hurts. He is calling us into his same defiance against the way things are. He is asking us to reorder the priorities of our lives so that every single thing is subordinate to God. He is asking us to treat each relationship as though the person is our brother. He is calling us to take a hard look inside and at the world around us to identify where, really, is our hearts true home. And whose business is it exactly that we are going about? I suppose we could all use to be a little more defiant with the gospel at our side. To embrace rather than avoid the growing pains that comes with the life of faith. For Christ isnt leading us into rebellion. He is leading us into the kingdom of God. Amen.

Dennis Bratcher, Lectionary Commentary and Preaching Paths (Christmas C1), Dennis Bratcher/CRI/Voice Institute, Institute 2005.
3

Luke 1:31-33. Luke 2:35.