Title: 2010
ORIENTATION: OUR FATHER’S HOUSE
Focus: On this first Sunday of 2010, the Scriptures call us to place our trust in Jesus for our salvation from sin and death, and to orientate our daily lives at the center of Christian worship.
Function: To encourage the people to anchor their faith in Christ and to make Christian worship the center of daily living.
Text: Luke 2:40-52
In the olden days, before GPS devices and compasses, sailors would find their destination on the oceans and seas simply by looking for the North Star. It was the North Star that helped them to locate themselves, and that enabled them to navigate the waters and sail their ships.
But what will you and I use to orientate ourselves daily throughout this new year? What will give us direction and stability as we face the storms of life this year? Today’s Bible reading will help us answer that question. On this first Sunday of 2010, the Scriptures call us to place our trust in Jesus for our salvation from sin and death, and to orientate our daily living at the center of Christian worship. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I encourage all of us to anchor our faith in Christ and to make Christian worship the center of daily living by which we navigate the waters and storms of life.
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Last week Sunday morning, we observed Simeon and Anna in the temple at Jerusalem, welcoming the Christ child. Jesus was no more than 48 days old—a little tyke, who triggered prophetic ecstasy and astonishment in the hearts and minds of a very small group of people in the temple of God.
Today, we observe a twelve-year old Jesus triggering anxiety in Mary’s and Joseph’s heart, and astonishment in the minds of the priests and scribes in the temple of God. Let’s make a number of observations about this story—observations that will help us gain insight and understanding, and provide us with direction for today.
Observation #1. Luke frames the story with two verses. Verse 40 tells us: “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” That’s a reference to Jesus as a little tyke in the temple of Jerusalem. That’s the top frame of this passage. Now the bottom frame: Verse 52 says: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” That’s a reference to Jesus as a 12 year old Jewish boy, preparing to take his place (his Bar Mitzvah) in the year ahead.
Sandwiched between these two verses we find the story of Jesus, coming of age and locating himself squarely in the house of his heavenly Father. These two verses frame the story, and they alert us to God’s wisdom, favor, and grace upon Jesus. That little tyke is growing into a man filled with God’s divine gifts and favored by people around him. The framework of the story prepares us for the story itself. Pay attention! This child called “Jesus” is not an ordinary child.
Observation # 2. The context of the story is a Feast. Luke tells us that “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was 12 years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.” Now the Passover Feast gets at the heart of Israel’s faith. For the Passover points to the Exodus event. The Passover Feast orientates the Israelites and help them root their faith and daily lives in the story of God bringing deliverance to his people. Just as Easter and the resurrection of Christ make up the center of the Christian faith, so the Passover Feast and Israel’s deliverance from slavery to Egypt make up the core of the Jewish faith.
While Joseph and Mary locate themselves, along with all the Israelites, in the story of the Passover Feast, we find 12 year old Jesus in the house of God in Jerusalem. There he is: at the feet of Israel’s teachers. Listen to him, blowing his teachers away with his questions and understanding of God’s mighty works as recorded in the Scriptures. The Passover Feast is the context of Jesus’ coming of age in the temple of Jerusalem.
Observation # 3. The story draws us into Joseph’s and Mary’s anxiety about their son. Although quite understandable from a parents’ point of view, their anxiety, however, plays second fiddle. It’s not the point of the story. Listen: “After the Feast was over, while his parents were retuning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.” You can almost sense their restlessness. And anyone of us who had to look for a child lost in the shopping mall, for example, knows the awful feeling creeping up in your soul.
The text
goes on: “When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for
him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the
teachers, listening to them and asking them question.” I can just
imagine the immense relief Joseph and Mary felt once they saw their son, but
also I can well imagine their impulse to box the ears or paddle the butt of
Jesus. “How can you be so inconsiderate of your parents and disappear without
notice?” Luke, however, is much milder in recording Mary’s rebuke to Jesus,
saying, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been
anxiously searching for you.”
Now this part of the story gives us some insights as to the parents’ relationship with Jesus. Yes, they love their son. But as Jesus is entering these adolescent years, the parents must now get used to the notion that Jesus will distance himself more from them. He is coming of age. His self-understanding is growing, and he is coming to the conclusion that he must locate himself in his Father’s house. Jesus’ business and destiny in life is not to please his parents and hold on to his mother’s skirts. Rather, Jesus aligns himself with God’s business. And that means that Jesus must distance himself more and more from his parents’ supervision.
Observation #4. The story places
Jesus squarely in God’s temple, his heavenly Father’s house. For example, in
response to his mother’s question, Jesus replies, “Why were you searching for me?
Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
These are the only words from the adolescent Jesus, recorded in Scriptures. The next time we hear him speak he is about 30 years old. 12 year-old Jesus has 2 questions for his parents, and he does not even expect an answer from them, for his questions are rhetorical. The answer to his questions is implied: Yes, they should have known that Jesus had to be in his Father’s house.
Here’s why: The O.T. scriptures
conclude with the prophesy of Malachi (Malachi 3:1ff.) “’See, I will send my messenger, who will
prepare the way before me. (John the Baptizer). Then suddenly the Lord you are
seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you
desire, will come,’ says the Lord Almighty….he will be like a refiner’s fire or
a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will
purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”
In other words, Israel’s Messiah or the Christ would show up in the temple, where the priests are. And he will refine their teachings and their practices. He would have encounters with the priests in the temple of God.
Writing his gospel, it is Luke who shows Jesus’ orientation. For example, Luke begins and ends his gospel in the temple (Lk. 1:5-9 Zechariah in the temple; and Lk. 24:52-53 after Jesus’ ascension the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy. “And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God”).
Also, when Anna, the prophetess, saw baby Jesus in the temple, she “spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem”(Lk.2:38) The real redemption in Jerusalem, however, takes place in the last pages of Luke’s gospel, describing the suffering, death and the resurrection of Jesus. And Luke refers to these redemptive events in Lk. 9:31 as the “exodus” of Jesus.
Furthermore, Malachi prophesied that Jesus, the Messiah, would come for the purpose of purifying the priesthood, the Levites and their teachings and service. And that meant that Jesus would be in confrontation with the teachers of the Law. In Luke 20:1, for example, Luke tells us that the “chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Jesus.” Their confrontation came in response to Jesus purging or purifying the temple square from the merchants and moneychangers.
When Jesus
was 12 years old, the priests were astonished at Jesus’ questions and
understanding of the Law. But later on, when Jesus purged the temple square, and
contradicted their teachings and interpretations of the Law, these priests or
Levites were ready to kill Jesus. They looked for (Lk. 20:19) a way to arrest him….But they
were afraid of the people.”
And guess what? In describing Jesus’ words about Jerusalem’s coming destruction, Luke places that prophecy in the temple itself (Lk.21:20-24). Here’s the upshot of Jesus’ ministry: He had to be in his Father’s house. For he had come to do his Father’s business—which includes purifying the priesthood, sacrificing himself, rising from the dead, and thus securing eternal life and a way for all of us to be reconciled with God the Father.
Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house? It is in the context of God’s mighty works, and in the midst of God’s priests in the temple of Jerusalem—that Jesus places himself and orientates his life and mission. He would be about the business of his Father in heaven. That’s what anchored Jesus as a young boy. And that orientation led him all the way to the cross and later all the way to the throne of glory in heaven.
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Now what is God saying to us in this story today? As we face a new year and as we must navigate the storms of life in our daily living, I suggest we do two things as followers of Christ. We do them NOT to save ourselves or earn brownie points with God. No, we do them to grow strong in our witness of Christ.
#1. Location: Anchor yourself squarely in the house of God—that is, the assembly or church for weekly worship. Through weekly worship celebration and proclamation of the gospel, you and I will be able to go through life with a sense of direction and purpose. We witness to God’s mighty acts of salvation, and we testify of God’s blessings in our lives as we orientate ourselves in the life and mission of the church.
If you are a baptized Christian, you are part of the church. You belong to the body of Christ. Christians are citizens of heaven. We are ambassadors of Christ and his rule here on earth. The church is the embassy, the place where Christ resides in worship and shapes and forms us for weekly service in our daily living. Location--Anchor yourself in the church and her public worship.
#2. Participation: Jesus participated in the life of worship. He lived out of the power of Israel’s feast, including the Passover or Exodus. You and I, too, have opportunity to participate in the Feast of Christ’s birth, in the services of Christ’s journey to the cross; we have Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday to re-hearse, re-enact, and re-enter (and thus experience anew) the power of Jesus’ sacrifice and death on the cross.
We also have Easter, and Ascension Day, and Pentecost to re-hearse, re-enact, and re-enter (and thus experience anew) the power of Jesus’ resurrection and present-day Lordship. Learn to participate in these mighty works of God through worship and celebration, through teaching and preaching and hearing, and reading the Holy Scriptures. It is through participation in the Christian feasts and festivals, as well as in the weekly Sunday worship services, that God strengthens you and guides us to navigate the waters and storms of life. Participation—Jesus did it; so should you and I.
If location and participation are things we do as followers of Jesus, then here is what the Scriptures remind us to assume (NOT do but assume): assume or take on the posture of a beggar and receive by faith this Jesus and his saving work on our behalf.
2010 will give us many opportunities to serve our heavenly Father. I pray that our discipleship and service are done NOT on the basis of frantic spirituality or religious duties to score points with God and make ourselves feel better. I pray that we will get away from burdensome works of self-righteousness that suggest that the Christian faith is all about us and about what we do.
Rather, I pray that you and I learn to rest—solidly, quietly, and wholeheartedly in the accomplished, saving work of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Anchor your faith in Christ and make Christian worship the center of daily living. In that way, through his Word and Spirit, God will have his way with each one of us. And we will be the better for it.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.