Luke 2,41-52. 1. Sunday after Epiphany

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Luke 2,41-52        0820 

1. Sonntag nach Ephiphanias 014 weiß

Arcadius, Martyr at Caesarea in Mauretania, 3. century

12. Januar 2020

1. O Christ Jesus, the Morning Star, shine Your Light where fear makes death seem invincible, so that in Your Light we see the light of eternal life that triumphs over Death and the curse of sin.  Amen. (VELKD Weekly Prayer for 1. Sunday after Epiphany 2020, § 1-2) 

2. »And His parents were traveling for themselves every year to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. And when He Himself was 12 years, they going up according to the custom of the feast and having finished the feast, as they were returning the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and 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. And after 3 days they found Him seated in the temple in the middle of the teachers listening to them and asking them questions: all those who were heard Him were being amazed at His understanding and His answers. 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.“ And He said to them: „Why were you looking for Me? Have y’all not known that I must be be tending to the things of My Father?“ And they did not understand the words that He spoke to them. And He went down with them to Nazareth and submitted to them. And His mother treasured up all these words in her heart. And Jesus was progressing in wisdom, years and grace/favor according to God and man.« 

3. The Holy Gospels focus on just a few years of Jesus’ adult life – those years of His public ministry. Both Matthew and Luke give us a story from His childhood. We heard Matthew’s story last week about the Magi visiting Jesus. Today we hear Luke’s story. In modern Judaism a boy celebrates his bar mitzvah at 13 and is considered an adult. The celebration is simply one in a line of accomplishments. Rabbi say at five years old one should study the Scriptures, at 10 the Mishnah (the oral traditions) and at 13 the Commandments. What the Jews practiced in Jesus’ day, we do not know; but hearing Jesus at 12 learning from the rabbis should not strike us as extraordinary. 

4. Luke tells us that Joseph, Mary and Jesus were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover; this is one of the three holy feasts in Judaism and Passover commemorates the deliverance from Egypt by the very hand of the Lord. Jesus stayed behind where He listened to the rabbis teaching the Scriptures. The outer court of the temple served as a space for people to gather for prayer; rabbis and Pharisees would often occupy a spot and speak on the Scriptures. About 20 years later Jesus Himself would stand as a rabbi in the temple teaching the Scriptures. 

5. Luke tells us that »all heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.« After Jesus spoke in His hometown synagogue at Nazareth, we are told: »All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were proceeding from His mouth. And they asked: „Is not this Joseph’s son?“« (Luke 4,22). Even Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus meant when He asked them: »How do you not known that it is necessary that I am tending to the things of My Father?« 

  6. All who seek Jesus fail, at some point, to truly understand Him. We are tempted to understand Jesus by our standards without considering that His standards are different from ours. We hear the story from His childhood and simply comprehend it as a nice story about a precocious boy who wanted to learn from the rabbis. But there is more to this event if we will let our minds ponder what Luke records for us. 

7. Jesus tells His parents that it is necessary that He be in Jerusalem and the temple. It helps if we hear His words translated with more authority: I must be about the things of My Father. The Feast of Passover and the temple are concerned with deliverance, forgiveness and salvation. These are the things of the Father and they are the focus of what is done in the Father’s house. Jesus says that He is here for the business of deliverance, forgiveness and salvation. Jesus, therefore, has a destiny that revolves around Jerusalem, Passover and the temple. When you read Luke’s Gospel, there are only two Passovers mentioned: this one in Luke 2 and another one in Luke 22. Jesus’ life is bookended by the Passover, and He spends His ministry building upon the first and setting His eyes upon the second. The second Passover and Luke 22 is Jesus’s final one, for on the next day He is lifted up on the cross; this is the act of deliverance, forgiveness and salvation that the Passover in Egypt typified the Passover of Calvary. Upon seeing the blood of the lamb on the door posts in Egypt, the angel passed over that household and spared that family; upon seeing the blood of the lamb of God on the cross, the Father’s wrath on sin is passed over and His righteousness is satisfied. In His mercy, the Father has forgiven us to Christ His Son.

8. Last week on Epiphany Eve we heard how the Magi visited the Baby Jesus, brought Him gifts and worshiped Him as the Glory of Israel and the Light of the Gentiles. Today were hear how the Boy Jesus was in the temple teaching and preparing people for the great salvation and deliverance He was born to bring. Today it is Jesus bringing us gifts. Next week we will hear about His first miracle: another gift turning water into wine at a Cana wedding feast. Our Lord continues to manifest His Divine Glory among us.  Amen. 

9. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, our Great Rabbi; teach us to see You as the Word of God made flesh for us and our redemption; so that we understand Your great love and mercy for us.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2019 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2020 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.