Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

Second Sunday after Christmas (2010)

The Child, Our God and Redeemer Rev. Toby Byrd

Luke 2:40-52 (ESV)

And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

[41] Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. [42] And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. [43] And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, [44] but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, [45] and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. [46] After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. [47] And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. [48] And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." [49] And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" [50] And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. [51] And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

[52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

As we focus on the Gospel Reading for today, it points us to confess the deity of Jesus and to declare with St. John: “we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 ESV). We see His glory as we exalt the deity of Jesus in His appearance in the Temple at age twelve. Moreover, we continue see His glory as we exalt His deity throughout Epiphany as it is manifested in the worship of the Magi, in His miracle at Cana, in His miracles of healing, in the evidence of His power over nature, in His divine wisdom in teaching, and finally in His magnificent transfiguration.

The Gospel Reading for today gives us a glimpse of the deity of our Lord as He reveals the consciousness of His divine being and His holy mission. Therefore, in today’s Gospel Reading we see the Child, our God and Redeemer.

This Gospel is the only recorded event in early childhood of Jesus. St. Luke records that the 12-year-old Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem with His mother and father to attend the Feast of the Passover. Although they were poor and the journey was long from their home town of Nazareth, Mary and Joseph were devoted Jews whose practice was to fulfill the Law and attend the Passover. Whether Jesus accompanied them in prior years we don’t know. However, we do know that this time He is with them and since he is twelve years old he is ready to be trained in the observance of religious duties and to assume full responsibility for His spiritual life.

Mary and Joseph brought Jesus up as a good Jewish boy. He and His earthly parents lived in Nazareth, a little town of Galilee about 66 miles north of Jerusalem and 14 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, like every other Jewish boy, was brought up in the faith of His father. Jesus’ religious instruction began when He was three with simple prayers and Scriptural passages. When He turned six He was sent to the synagogue school, where He learned God’s Word and He was taught to read and write. Following the Third Commandment, Jesus attended services in the synagogue on every Sabbath.

However, this year was special. This year Jesus attended the Passover feast in Jerusalem. (The Passover is one of the three principal festivals for Jews, along with Pentecost and the Feast of the Tabernacles.) What thoughts must have surged through His mind as He made the long journey with His parents? What jubilance He must have felt when they arrived in Jerusalem and as He came into the Temple; the house of His heavenly Father! His mind must have been crowded with thoughts of His heavenly Father as He ascended Mount Moriah to this holy building linked with the history of His people!

Although officially only two days were required for attending Passover, Mary and Joseph stayed for the complete feast which lasted seven days. When the week ended they joined a caravan and began they journey home. However, “the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it.” Our Lord remained in Jerusalem because He had business there; divine business. Moreover, the time had come for Him to inform his earthly parents that He had a Father in heaven, whose will He must do.

Thinking that Jesus was traveling with friends, Mary and Joseph weren’t concerned when they didn’t see Him on the first day of their journey. However, when the caravan stops for the night, making camp, and there initial search for Jesus proved fruitless, they became concerned. That concern quickly changed to worry as they asked others in the caravan if they had seen Jesus and no one had seen Him all day. Frantic now with worry, they leave the caravan and turn back to the city to search for their son. Finally, after three days, the Holy Spirit leads them to find Jesus in the temple.

What a glorious example for any child—to be found in God’s Temple! Too often we fail to stress this important duty. Too often we wait until the child has grown a few years before they are brought into the sanctuary, when all along, from the very beginning the child could be and should be learning through eyes that see the beauty of God’s house and the pastor preaching and ears that hear God’s Word and the people in prayer. A child is never lost who can be found in God’s house. However, a child soon becomes lost who is not found in God’s house of prayer and who from infancy does not behold the rituals of their holy faith and hear God’s Word of eternal life. Like Jesus, who was drawn to the house of His Father, every child should also be drawn to the house where the Triune God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is worshiped and where Jesus is exalted as God and the blessed Redeemer.

Our Lord Jesus reveals His deity in the Temple with His astonishing questions and answers. St. Luke’s writes, Jesus was found, “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” (vv. 46-47). His questions and answers amazed all who heard Him. His grasp and understanding of profound religious truths made them wonder at this Child. The learned rabbis had never seen such a man much less such a boy. Through His divine comprehension, Jesus understood the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the holy Scrolls with remarkable clarity and penetration. His knowledge made the Jerusalem rabbis view Him with awe and reverence. What they did not know was that all this was happening because this Child was God, and not a just mere boy. He possessed rare insight into divine truth. No wonder His questions and answers astounded the learned rabbis. We, too, like the rabbi’s must bow with awe and reverence before this Child who is the Lord God of heaven and earth! And we acknowledge His glory and divine majesty as we behold the Epiphany of this 12-year-old Child to be God.

Having displayed His divinity, every child of God in loving fellowship with the eternal Christ, who Himself was only a child, may look upon Jesus and say, “He is my Brother, He is my God!” Every child may gaze in wonderment at this God-Child. Every child should fall down and worship our Lord Jesus who is God in human flesh. He is God and human in one and the same person, whose faithful obedience to His heavenly Father bridges the chasm between heaven and earth. Children everywhere may in confidence pray to this “holy servant Jesus” seeking divine wisdom, eternal pardon of their sins, the assurance of eternal life, and the opportunity to enjoy a true spiritual communion with Him through faith in His person and work.

Therefore, in today’s Gospel we see the first manifestation of Jesus as the second person of the godhead. Jesus Himself, as a child of twelve, reveals the knowledge that His Father is in heaven. He knows that Joseph is not His real father. Moreover, while He knows He is the Son of Mary, He also knows that He is the Son of God. He knows that He has two natures; the He is God and man in one person. He knows at this tender age that He is born of the Virgin to become the human substitute for all mankind and as the Son of God He might redeem the whole human race. Blessed be the epiphany of this Child-God!

In this epiphany, Jesus reveals His divine mission as our holy Redeemer. After searching for three days, Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple and Mary asks, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (v. 48). Our Lord is surprised at His parent’s attitude and He responds, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?” (v. 49). Did they not know that it was for this very purpose that He was born of the Virgin Mary? Did they not know that for this mission, to redeem all men from sin, He became a human child? This was His Father’s business, to fulfill His promise of a Savior. Therefore, He was sent into the world by His heavenly Father to accomplish that very purpose, and when the time was right, He would die for the sins of all mankind. Thus, He must be “about His Father’s business.”

Undoubtedly, in the Temple He spoke to the rabbi’s concerning prophesy of the Messiah. He was concerned about the questions and answers that related to His Messianic mission. The entire Old Testament is a Book in which the Holy Spirit speaks of Him, the God-Child, and the entire panorama of His vast work to save the fallen humanity. In fact it is St. Luke who reminds us that it was Jesus, who instructed the Emmaus disciples, that beginning with Moses and all the Prophets all the Scriptures concerned Him (Luke 24:27 ESV). Thus, as a child of twelve He was already about His Father’s business.

No, our Lord Jesus was not lost as His earthly parents feared. Indeed, of all mankind He alone knew exactly where He should be and why He should be there. He was in His Father’s house listening to His Word, offering prayers of supplication and thanksgiving, and preparing for the mission His heavenly Father had sent Him to do. As a twelve-year old boy our Lord provides us with a perfect example of how we should live our lives; worshipping our Savior at every opportunity, while being found in the Lord’s house of prayer on every Sabbath. However, many find themselves condemned by this 12 year old boy who is more diligent in listening to God's Word than they are. Therefore, they are the ones who are lost, and hopefully, there are others searching for them.

This is why our Lord calls on us to proclaim the Gospel to every human on the face of the earth. Through the work and ministry of the Church we are to witness that Jesus is both God and holy Redeemer. The Church of Christ is to expend every effort to proclaim the name of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins to those whose souls are covered with the darkness of the world. Moreover, as in the case of our Lord, this outreach includes children, for our Lord says to us, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). Therefore we pray that the grace and mercy of our heavenly Father whose love is manifested in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, will motivate us to proclaim the great saving truths of our faith on our children in every way, in the home and in the church. Moreover, He calls on us to reach out to the children and parents of those who do not know Him so they, too, may come to share in His victory over sin, death, and the devil. We must be “about His Father’s business.”

The Gospel closes by telling us that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (v. 52). Our Lord left the Temple, returning to Nazareth with His earthly parents and He continued to fulfill His Messianic mission. He obeyed His earthly parents and His heavenly Father and thus, He fulfilled the Fourth Commandment in our place. In every way He was the perfect Son. St. Paul provides us with this beautiful summary of our Lord’s faithfulness when he wrote to the church at Phillpi. He says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philip. 2:4-11 ESV).

This is the Child, our God and Redeemer whom Mary and Joseph found in the Temple doing His Father’s business. This is our Lord who found us when we did not know what our business should be and who showed us a better way; His way. A way that led us to His Saving Word of the Gospel, a way that filled our hearts and minds with His wisdom, a way that granted us forgiveness of our sins, and a way leads us to heaven and eternal life. Thank God for His Child, our God and Redeemer, His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

May the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.