The 1st Sunday after Epiphany - January 8, 2012

The Church Season of Epiphany
1st Sunday after Epiphany
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 8, 2012)

Readings:  
    Psalm 50:1-15
    1 Kings 8:6-13
    Romans 12:1-5   
    Luke 2:41-52

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 2nd chapter of Luke, especially the following verses...

Luke 2:41-52 (ESV)

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 [Jesus] 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.

So Far the Text

   

Last Thursday was the twelfth day of Christmas, Friday was was the day of Epiphany.  Epiphany means manifestation, and so a continuation of the Gospel of Immanuel, God With Us.  But as we hear in the Gospel lesson, the boy Jesus is not where his earthly parents thought He should be.  The Gospel tells us that they were in “great distress”(v. 48) and wouldn’t you be too if you hadn’t a clue where your twelve year-old was after searching for Him for more than several days?  All who have children or who have been asked to watch over children can relate to the sinking feeling of a child who is not where everyone thinks they should be.  If it is true that absence causes the heart to grow fonder, then most certainly the corollary to that saying for children would be that the absence of a child makes the heart more fainter.  Where is Jesus? 

One day of travel toward home and the child comes up missing, then three days of searching.  Where is Jesus?  Frantically asking the people in the group, and everyone who knew Him, where is Jesus?  And His parents did find Him in the Jerusalem Temple, and when they did find Him they were “astonished.” That reaction is predictable, astonishment, relief, then once the good news sinks in a bit, the grief is relieved, the hammer comes down, “Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”(v. 48) Astonishment and then distress.  It’s easy for us to relate to that kind of feeling.  Relief and angst.  Many of us have uttered similar words to our own children, “Thank God you’re okay”, followed shortly thereafter by “What in the world were you thinking?” 

But, why was the boy Jesus missing in the first place?  How in the world was Jesus not accounted for in that large caravan of people as they set out homewards?  Why did Mary and Joseph even need to turn around and seek Jesus?  Today Children Support Services would be called or we would strive to find the root cause of this event then begin retracing steps.  These words give a clue, “His parents…supposing Him to be in the group.”(v. 44)  It’s apparent that they had not “Fixed their eyes on Jesus.”(Heb 12:2)  And so they had to seek after Him.  Where is Jesus?

Martin Luther said of the Christ child, "If we want to seek and find this child, we must believe the Word, stick to it, and not allow ourselves to be diverted from it. If we disregard the Word, the offense has already occurred. For this child is so humble and wretched to look at that it is impossible for one to approach by one's reason, apart from the Word." (Luther)

Maybe you’ve been seeking to find Jesus.  Maybe you think He is absent from your life.  Maybe you, in your distress to find Jesus, have become more and more frantic.  Maybe you are attacked by thoughts of things you have done.  Sins you have intentionally committed, sins which you have committed by by not doing that which you should have done.  Maybe to you the world seems to be closing in on you because your health is not what it once was. Maybe you’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t make it any longer on your own reason and strength. So you beg, you plead, and you are astonished.   Where have my friends gone?  Where is my respite in this life?  How can I endure? I can’t take it anymore. Where is Jesus?

“[Jesus] said to [His parents], “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”(v. 49)  But His parents didn’t understand the words spoken from the very Word of God.  Maybe it’s because we don’t understand the Words of Jesus so we ask the question, Where is Jesus?  Maybe it is because we neither want to understand His words nor do we want to obey the Words which He gives to us in the Holy Scriptures.  Sin causes us to lose perspective.  To trust in ourselves, to trust our own words, our own thoughts, and our own reason.  We walk away from the One source of comfort which we are given, the Gospel, the Good News, the very Word of God.  Luther said, "The greatest and foremost skill - no matter who the person is - is to cling firmly to the Word and conceive of the things of God in no other way than as the Word tells us. For this reason we should accustom ourselves to know nothing about God and Christ apart from the Word of God.”  Yet we still ask, “Where is Jesus?” “Where is Jesus when I need Him?”  “Why isn’t He here for me now?”  Jesus speaks to you, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” (Mt. 8:26) and “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”(v. 49) 

Repent.  For it is not Jesus who has moved farther away from you.  He has not left you, nor will He ever forsake you.  In obedience to His heavenly Father, Jesus is in His Father’s house.  He has never, ever, lost track of you along your winding way of life.  In fact He is always with you even to the end of the age.  In your baptism you were sealed with His Name, and in the water combined with God’s Word, you are saved.  In the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is not lost, He is here in the bread and wind, the body and the blood, for you, for the forgiveness of sins.  Do not be afraid of the things of this world which cause you become lost, tired, afraid, weary, downtrodden, weak hearted, or in distress.  Jesus could say, “What in the world are you thinking?”  But He does not, rather He lies down on the cross, He dies for you, He lives for you, He gives you eternal life.  Where is Jesus?  His is in the Word, for you.  He is in your baptism, for you.  He is in the Holy Supper, for you.  Didn’t you know? Jesus Christ, the child in the crib, the boy in the temple, the man on the cross, Son of God and Son of Man, was obedient to His Father even unto death.  Where is Jesus?  In His Father’s house, that is where Jesus is, and by His promise there in the Father’s house you too shall also be, forever and ever.  Amen.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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