Luke 2:41-52 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“Find Jesus In His Father’s House”
Christmas 1 December 30, 2018
Wouldn’t you love to know more about what Jesus was like growing up? Scripture gives us only very few details about the life of Jesus until he was somewhere around thirty years old. Of course, we know how he was born in a stable and laid in a manger, worshiped by shepherds and later by Magi from the east, though we’re not certain how much time passed between those events. We know that he was circumcised on the eighth day according to Jewish law. At forty days old, we know that he was in the Temple and presented to God. We also know that his family made an emergency trip to Egypt shortly after the visit of the Magi. Almost certainly, all of these events took place in about the first two years of the life of Jesus. If you would like to know more, you are not alone. It was not long in the early Christian church before stories, uninspired reports about the early life of Jesus sprang up. These accounts suppose that Jesus breathed life into birds fashioned out of clay or curses a family so that the son dies and the parents become blind. They fed people’s curiosity about the early life of Jesus. But the reality is that from the time of Jesus first year or two up until he began his ministry as an adult, the Bible tells us about just one event, the one before us in today’s Gospel. While we might be curious to know more, God has made it clear that what we need to know he has revealed to us. The fact that this account is included in the Gospel tells us that there are lessons for us to learn from it. This account tells us about the Passover celebration when Jesus was twelve years old. Mary and Joseph had a practice of going each year to Jerusalem for the Passover, so this year was no exception. Jesus was getting to be the age when he would have added responsibility for his own religious observations. I guess we might compare it to being about confirmation age for child that grows up within our own congregation. And Jesus attended the feast along with his parents. Then they left for home. By “they” I mean Mary and Joseph, because Jesus was not with them. They assumed he was somewhere in the group of friends and relatives that were together making the trip back from Jerusalem to Nazareth, but he wasn’t. When the group stopped their journey for the night, Mary and Joseph searched for Jesus but did not find him. Back to Jerusalem they went, where they kept looking for three days before finally finding Jesus in the Temple. There he was with teachers, listening and asking questions. And all the people were amazed by the answers he was giving and the understanding he was showing. When Mary explained how anxious she and Joseph had been, Jesus responded by saying, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” Yes, Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus taking care of his Father’s business, clearly a reference to his heavenly Father. Perhaps you recall that other translations have Jesus saying, “I had to be in my Father’s house.” I don’t want to get too deep into the details here, but the Greek there says something like, “I had to be in the things of my Father.” It could very well refer to the place, “in my Father’s house,” but it could also mean something broader, like it is translated in our version. Either way, the point was clear that if Jesus would be doing his Father’s business at that point, he would be found in his Father’s house. That’s a message for us, too, that we might find Jesus in his Father’s house. And as we consider this event a bit more closely, we’ll notice a few things about what we find when we find Jesus. First, as we find Jesus in the Temple, we notice that in many ways he is just like us. In fact, in almost every way he is remarkably similar to you and to me. As a twelve year old boy, he had been growing and developing. He was taller and wiser than he had been, and we are told that this trend continued on. His parents cared for him like parents would, and he was obedient to them in spite of their mistaken assumptions in this case. In other words, Jesus is a true human being. He was living life the way a true human being needs to. But there are at least two major differences that we need to recognize between Jesus and us. One is that he is also true God. And the more time you spend thinking about what it means for his growth and development that Jesus is true God, the more you will have to admit there are just some things that we cannot know about him. How as all-knowing and all-powerful God can Jesus also develop and grow and learn? And our only
answer, that still maybe doesn’t satisfy our limited human minds is that Jesus humbled himself to live as our brother. He did not make use of the power and glory that he has always had and will always have as God. The other way that he is different from us is that he had no sin. He had no intention of disappointing or confusing his earthly parents. There was no selfish whining for Jesus about how his parents could have left him behind and left to return home. This is also difficult to comprehend, especially if you have any experience with children, because if you do, you know how common these sorts of sinful actions can be. And unfortunately that’s not just for kids, that goes for all of us. So Jesus, true God and true human being, without sin, was in the Temple. What was he doing there? He was learning and sharing God’s Word. He was speaking with the teachers, listening to what they had to say, asking them probing and insightful questions. In other words, he was learning God’s Word well. People were amazed by him, not that they necessarily assumed he was something more than a mere twelve-year-old boy, but that he was clearly advanced in his knowledge of God and his Word. No surprise to us as we find Jesus there. As the perfect God-man, his thoughts were perfectly in line with the thoughts of God, even as he grew and developed. This was just as perfect Adam and Eve had once experienced this sort of unity with God’s will. But after sin entered the world, neither they nor anyone else could make that claim. And what were the teachers speaking about with Jesus? We don’t hear the details. But they were at the Passover, so it is very likely that some of the discussion regarded the meaning of that festival and how it pointed ahead to the Messiah who would fulfill the Passover and be the sacrificial lamb. And in order to be that perfect Passover Lamb, Jesus needed to be perfect in all things. When he says that he needs to be taking care of his Father’s business, he means that he is doing everything that is required of him as a human being, that he is doing everything God placed him into our world to do. He was a baby to live the perfect childhood that we have failed to live. He grew and developed in a godly way to replace with his perfection the missteps that we have taken in our youth. He would grow up to be an adult who would live the perfect life that we don’t while we are so caught up in all our other important adult responsibilities. In every way and at every stage, this is what we find in Jesus: that he perfectly obeys the will of his Father so that he can ultimately be the perfect sacrifice for sins. What is clear is that Mary and Joseph at times forgot exactly what it meant that God had entrusted them with raising this special child. They left without him, and when they returned, they had no real idea where they might find him. It took them three days before they came across him doing exactly what he needed to be doing in the place where he needed to be doing it. He was taking care of his Father’s business in his Father’s house. And he was doing it for them just as he was doing it for you and for me. And maybe that’s where we best identify ourselves in this account. We celebrated Christmas just days ago. Are we tempted to walk away from that celebration, that feast, that festival without Jesus? Are we tempted to search for him in all sorts of places where we wouldn’t really expect to find him? Do we stop thinking about what a special child he is when the Christmas carols fade away and the decorations come down? Certainly we face that temptation, and certainly we have fallen far too often. But this is the message of our service: let us look for Jesus and find him doing his Father’s business. Let’s find Jesus in his Father’s house. No, we don’t have the Temple to which we can run, but we have a church where his Word is taught. We can find Jesus doing his Father’s business as we study the Bible together and as we meditate on it on our own. We can keep looking there to find him in his grace and mercy as our perfect substitute, our perfect Savior, our perfect Passover sacrifice. That’s what the Christmas season is for us. It means that we don’t stop seeking the Christ-child whom we worshiped on Christmas Eve. We keep seeking the Word become flesh whom we praised on Christmas Day. We keep seeking the twelve year old boy and so much more who grew in wisdom and stature. We don’t stop seeking the one who would become the adult who sacrificed himself for our sin. Take him with you. Find Jesus doing his Father’s business. Find him in his Father’s house. Keep singing your praises, keep offering your prayers, keep giving him your best, who gave himself for you.
The Text: Luke 2:41–52 (NIV) 41Every
year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Festival. 43When the days had ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. 44Since they thought he was in their group, they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46After
three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” 49He
said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” 50They did not understand what he was telling them. 51He
went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.