Luke 2:41-52
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the
Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the
festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus
stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he
was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to
look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him,
they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 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. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to
him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have
been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you
searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But
they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and
came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these
things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human
favor.
We have been having a movie marathon at the Conger household --- we are
trying to watch all 10 Star Wars movies (7 completed).
Star Wars originally came out when I was a senior in High School.
Not sure what that says
about me or how old the movies are . . .
As I was studying our scripture this week I was reminded of another
very old movie.
This one came out when our oldest daughter was 2 and at the time struck
a nerve in some ways --- today I think it is just silly.
The movie I am referring to is Home Alone.
Do you remember it?
In case you have forgotten, or are one of the few who missed seeing it,
let me give you a very quick synopsis
It is Christmas time and the McCallister family, from the area I grew
up in, is preparing for a vacation in Paris, France.
But the youngest in the family named Kevin got into a scuffle with his
older brother Buzz and was sent to his room which is on the third floor of his
house.
The next morning, while the rest of the family was in a rush to make it
to the airport on time, they completely forgot about Kevin who is left “home
alone” and now has the house all to himself.
The scene where they realize Kevin is missing is hilarious
Once the plane is in the air, the mother has this haunting feeling that
she forgot to do something.
Were all the doors locked? Yes.
Was the garage closed? Yes.
Was newspaper delivery cancelled? Yes.
All of a sudden it hits her; she cries out “Kevin!”
Being left home alone was fun for Kevin, having a pizza all to himself,
jumping on his parents' bed, and making a mess.
The rest of the movie deals with his antics as he copes with being
alone and as he foils the efforts of two bungling burglars from robbing his
house.
Kevin acts quickly by wiring his own house with makeshift booby traps
to stop the burglars and to bring them to justice.
Kevin, who began the movie as a little boy who can’t tie his own shoes
or pack his suitcase, quickly learns to be independent
In our story this morning, Mary was even slower at realizing that Jesus
was missing.
While it took Kevin’s mom just a few hours to notice that he was
missing --- Mary and Joseph didn’t notice that Jesus wasn’t with them for a
whole day. The text tells us that they
assumed that Jesus must have been with some of their friends who were traveling
with them.
It was another three days before Mary and Joseph were able to find
Jesus.
Can you imagine what they must of being going through when their
12-year-old son was discovered missing?
Guilt
Anxiety
Tears
Maybe even some anger
(especially once they found him)
Three days they searched for Jesus
Three days!
After looking throughout the city eventually they decided to go to the
temple in Jerusalem and look there.
And what did they find?
Jesus “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them
questions.”
The text tells us that the teachers were all “impressed with the
sharpness of his answers.”
But his parents were not impressed.
They were exactly like
you would expect --- angry and hurt.
I love how Peterson translates this in The Message:
His mother said, “Young man, why have you
done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for
you.”
Jesus didn’t seem to have any remorse or anxiety over his actions
instead he told them:
“Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you
know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?”
That must have been confusing to Mary and Joseph.
Joseph was probably a stone mason (or maybe a carpenter), and it wasn’t
carpentry or stone masonry that Jesus was talking about.
Instead Jesus was referring to divine
things.
What are the lessons that we are being taught in this story?
First, and this is the hard one.
There is something more important than parents and families.
Jesus will remind us of this many times because
the truth is --- we don’t want to hear it.
Families are important.
Children are important.
Parents are important.
But our relationship with God is to be number 1 in our lives.
We have lost sight of this in our world
We place many things and other
relationships before God
Believe it or not --- we feel the need to
schedule church events around the Colts games (as crazy as that sounds --- or
should sound)
I grew up a Bears fan.
And one of my heroes on the Bears was Gaye Sayers
In 1970 Gaye Sayers wrote an autobiography called: “I am Third”
He explained the title this way:
"My title, I Am Third, symbolized my
philosophy about life. When I was a sophomore at the University of Kansas I had
seen this sign on the desk of Bill Easton, who is my track coach. "What's
that all about?" I asked Coach Easton. He told me what it meant –
"The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third." When I
went to the Bears I had a medallion made bearing the words "I am third,"
and wore it around my neck through my pro career."
Mother Teresa said basically the same thing
JOY
Jesus
Others
Yourself
Today we have flipped the switch
We think we should be
first and greatest of all
The second lesson that I believe we can learn from this story of Jesus
as a child is that kids need to be patient with their parents.
Maybe like Jesus, a child feels that she is ready to be a lot more
independent than her parents think she is.
But sometimes parents hold her back because they fear the world is more
dangerous than she thinks it is, and she really might not be as prepared for it
as she believes.
The lesson I believe is that we need to listen to each other ---
regardless of age.
And that leads to the third lesson: children should listen to their
parents.
Even though Jesus did fine in Jerusalem all on his own, when his parents
told him how upset they were, he paid attention.
The scripture tells us that when he went back home with his folks, “he
was obedient to them.” And because he
was willing to learn: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine
and human favor.”
Our families are the center of our relationships
They are the place where
we learn and grow
Despite the occasional fight and disappointments, no one else is likely
to love us as long or as much as our family.
I love what Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said:
“You can’t choose your family. They are
God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”
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