1st Sunday after the Epiphany: Luke 2:41-52

Jan 13, 2013; 1^st Sunday after the Epiphany; Texts: Psalm 50:1-15; I Kings 8:6-13; Romans 12:1-5; Luke 2:41-52; Title: Whose Are You?           Rev. Tim Beck

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

This is the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the revealing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Properly speaking, this revealing began long before. Adam and Eve, while hiding, heard His voice in the garden. Abram was promised a blessing for all peoples. Moses heard the messenger of the Lord (who was also the Lord) speak from the burning bush, and with the 70 elders ate and drank before the Lord. And do not forget the Passover or the Tabernacle, both images of what was to come, of who was to come. King David was promised a shoot from the stump of Jesse that was yet its root, David prophesying “My Lord said to my Lord…”  And the prophets spoke of the day when the Son of God would become Immanuel, God with us, God clothed in human flesh.

          They spoke of his divine conception, his virgin birth, the place of birth, where he would grow to maturity, and the message of his name Jesus, Saviour. Then at last the epiphany walked among us. Jesus Christ was made manifest: Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 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, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

          As for our text, Luke first tells us a little detail that is important but easily missed. His parents went up to Jerusalem. Travelers always went up to Jerusalem, even if coming down from Mount Hermon, Mount Sinai, Mount Carmel or other geographically higher peaks; for Jerusalem was the city of the great king. That wasn’t David; for David looked forward to the promise of an everlasting king… so too did Joseph and Mary look forward. So believing Joseph and Mary went up every year for the Passover as the law required, looking forward to the Passover. The Passover did more than commemorate deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It too looked forward. The whole history of Israel looked forward. For example, Jews today still leave a chair open at their Passover in case Elijah comes. But Elijah returned, said Jesus, said He of whom Israel looked forward. But now, Mary, Joseph, their kin and friends look forward while the 12 year old Passover Lamb, the rightful king of Jerusalem, was walking to His city and to His temple.          

          They went up, Jesus age 12, the text literally saying “when Jesus became 12.” In the custom of the day that’s when a boy became a man. Jesus could now enter the life of Israel as an adult, enter His temple and speak as a man. As a man, Jesus stays in His city, in His temple, in His Father’s house when others return to Nazareth. Mary and Joseph did not know. They were not bad parents. The society they keep is safe, the friends and relatives many and Jesus is 12 years old. Everyone knows when to pull away from the huge crowds gathered in Jerusalem, and everyone knows the way home and everyone has companions. But when night comes and the party regroups, where is Jesus? What anxiety does mother Mary and legal father Joseph feel because Jesus didn’t tell them? Yet Jesus is where He belongs, where He will manifest His glory to the full, and Mary and Joseph should have known it.

          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. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. After three days… does that remind you of another great anxiety resolved after three days… meanwhile, where had Mary and Joseph already looked? Did they search the town’s maze-like corridors where children played? Did they visit the fascinating markets and the gardens around the city? Did they cautiously enter the grandiose Roman edifices or powerful Herod’s opulent courts? In any case, they did not know where to go first, did they? How well did they know their Son?

          Jesus was in the Temple grounds. Nearby loomed the sacrificial altars where priests carried out their bloody business in sight of all Israel. Beyond that were holy buildings only priests entered to intercede for the people.  And most important of all, the Holy of Holies was there, that only the High Priest entered but once a year to make atonement. Now Jesus, the true High Priest, the king of the royal city, the Passover Lamb - God made man - was sitting, as our text literally says, “in the midst” of the teachers. In the temple area devoted to teaching the word of God, the Word who was with God and was God, was manifest. In the custom of the day, Jesus did not stand but sat, so He manifest Himself not like a learner but as a master among the teachers of Israel. He heard them. And he asked questions. I wonder, how uncomfortable did Jesus make it for those teachers? The word for “question” can be translated not only request and inquire but also demand and interrogate. These teachers must answer Jesus, the LORD. And all were amazed, astounded, captivated at how Jesus flowed with knowledge.

          This is not just gape jawed excitement watching “America’s most talented teenagers” sing, dance, pole vault and skydive. This most talented young theologian is more than exceptional. Even his parents, when they heard him were shocked. Their amazement was greater than those already gathered around Jesus. Mary and Joseph were astonished, struck out of self-possession, even a bit panicked.  What, is this our son? Is this our boy?  Forget the legends about an angry four year old Jesus striking playmates dead then raising them to life at Mary’s knowing, calm rebuke. Mary and Joseph couldn’t believe their eyes at this manifestation, this epiphany. Jesus wasn’t acting like the good, but ordinary child they were accustomed to.

           And his mother said to him, “Son (tekvov, literally child), why have you treated (poiew) us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”  Why does mother Mary say not “son” but “child?” Jesus became 12 years old before this Passover. He is a man and acts accordingly. Further, Mary said literally, “Why have you done this to us?” “Your father and I;” and it is as if she has not told Jesus what she was taught about Him. “We have been searching in great distress!” These are good parents, loving         parents, but who is Jesus? Joseph and Mary do not grasp the epiphany. They do not understand whose child He is. Have they forgotten Elizabeth’s prophesy and John the Baptist’s birth, the angel’s annunciation to Mary, her prophetic song and the shepherds’ worship? Have they forgotten Simeon’s and Anna’s glad tidings, the wise men’s visitation, the flight to Egypt and voices weeping in Ramah? And in an answer that further amazed those hearing Him, especially the teachers of Israel (if they had faith)… Jesus said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (ev tois tous patros)

          “Did you not know” Jesus asks. Did you not know from the long history of sacred writ, and from the special dealings of the Living God with you? Before we drop our jaw in amazement of how little Mary and Joseph really comprehended, ask if that question is addressed to us as well? Do you not know the Scriptures? Have you absorbed more than this pious couple, virgin Mary and Joseph? You know His birth, His sufferings, His death, His resurrection, His ascension and yet do you find reason to be greatly distressed? And in your distress do you wonder where to find Jesus, Saviour, the Christ, the Son of God made man as God-with-us?

          Jesus points out that Mary and Joseph of all people should know where He must be; they of all people should know who He is and whose He is. I must be… it is necessary… nothing else will do… my entire life is wrapped up in these things. Scripture must be fulfilled and I, Jesus, will do it for you. And dear mother, the vessel of the Lord, the Lord’s handmaiden, blessed virgin who believed the promise of God, I am about my Father’s will. For I have a task to do, and you are now stumbling upon me and upon what it is I am about, and about to do for you so that your sins are forgiven. You know that, and so you are convicted of sin; and yet how can you truly understand until I accomplish what I am about to do?

          Mary, Joseph, and all Israel were looking forward until Jesus was raised in glory. And we too are called to look for Jesus, where He is to be found. I must be in my Father’s house… more literally “I must be in the-the-of my father. The word “house” is not said, but taken from the context. Jesus must be, in the place of His Father, in the things pertaining to His Father, in the will of His Father. This 12 year old man, the son of man, manifests, epiphanies himself as the Christ, the King, the Lamb, the High Priest, as Immanuel the Son of God. He shall do the will of the Father, regardless of how little we understand who He is and whose He is. Even the mother of God (of God!) doesn’t get it. And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 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. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

          They did not understand the word he spoke to them. Yet that did not change the course of this one who confessed He is the Son of God. To fulfill all things, to fulfill the law as God with us, as God made man who is also the son of man, He went down from Jerusalem. His time to reveal the Father’s glory was not yet. His time to subordinate himself to Joseph and Mary was for a little longer. In his human nature in the one person, he grew in wisdom, in maturity and in favor with God and man.  And Jesus alone among men obeyed the law, truly loving God, and so pleased God. Before men, Jesus truly loved His neighbor.  Jesus is the pure Lamb of God.

          Although Mary’s understanding was incomplete until after the resurrection, as a woman of faith, she kept these words, pondering them in her heart, meaning in her whole person. We too, like Mary, ponder that Word, the Living Word, because that word is making us into whole persons. That’s why you’re here, to hear the word that makes you who you shall be.  The understanding of that wholeness is in this account; in an event that asks a question you should know how to answer. Who are you? More importantly, whose are you, for that is to answer the first question.  Unlike Mary, you have the illumination of the cross, the resurrection, the ascended Jesus interceding for you, the Holy Spirit given you.

          The answer to the question is found in who is your true Father? To whom do you rightly pray “our Father?” That is not a decision we made. It is an Epiphany, a revealing that entered our unknowing, unbelieving lives for faith.  He found us before we knew where to look for Him.  Who made the sign of the cross upon you, naming you as His own? Who joined you to His death and resurrection in Baptism’s promises? Whose promises explain whose you are, promises began in Adam’s day fulfilled by the Second Adam death and to be completed in His second coming? And when you are filled with distress, anxiety, troubles, care, worries, where shall you find Him, where shall you find Jesus? He is in the things pertaining to His Father, in His Father’s house, preparing a place for you.  Jesus is also here, the Son of man, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, your King, your temple, your High Priest, the Passover Lamb, is manifest. He is manifest in order to be yours, and you His. We have so much to look forward to, and we have so much now. He is manifest, here for you.  

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord (amen).