In My Father’s House

In the church year, and in the Scripture, there is not much said about Jesus’ life between infancy and baptism. Over the next six weeks, we will move from Jesus birth through his baptism to the Transfiguration. And during that time, our sermon series will focus on what God’s Word meant to Jesus and means to us. The title of the series is “Thy Word, O Lord” and the symbol is a gyroscope with a star in the middle. The gyroscope symbolizes our lives that spin like tops, delicately balanced. And you may have noticed that the gyroscope is spinning on cobblestones – because life is often paved with them. Yet, through it all, is the star in the center, bringing light, bringing balance, leading us to Christ.

So today, we begin with a story on Luke tells, about Jesus at the Temple when he is twelve. We know how dedicated Mary and Joseph were to their faith because Luke tells us that every year they made the journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. It was required for Jewish people who lived within 20 miles to make the journey, and it was a trip that all Jews tried to take in their lifetime. Mary and Joseph went every year, even though they lived 90 miles north in Nazareth. It was a grand festival, and it really started before they even arrived in Jerusalem. As they traveled the main road, the caravan grew larger and larger. And they sang – we have some of the songs they sang recorded in the Book of Psalms. They are labeled the songs of ascent – Psalm 120 through Psalm 134; called the psalms of ascent because they were sung as they went up to Jerusalem.

So the year Jesus was 12, like every year, Mary and Joseph went as was their usual custom. Twelve is the age of bar mitzvah. Jesus was on the cusp between boy and young man. He was old enough to sit in the courtyard and listen as the rabbis taught.

When the festival was over, the caravan left Jerusalem. Now, there are lots of explanations why Jesus may have been left behind. Some scholars say the women left first and then the men followed, to catch up in the evening. So maybe Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph and Joseph thought he was with Mary. I don’t know. But, I do know that twelve year old boys, when they are with their friends, don’t check in regularly with their parents. And, when you are traveling with friends and family, you know that there is relative safety in numbers and as a parent, I can completely understand Mary and Joseph thinking Jesus was with his friends or cousins. So, it was night before they really started looking for him in earnest. They started checking with family and went tent to tent. Did you see him at all today? No? Well, when they didn’t find him with anyone and no one had seen him all day, I can only imagine the panic.

What if he realized that he had been left behind and set out on his own? What if he was still in Jerusalem and just realized that they had gone? Would they leave now to go back or wait until morning? Traveling in great numbers by caravan was relatively safe. Travelling alone was quite another.

Three days and three long nights later they found him. Sitting calm as can be, at the feet of the teachers in the Temple, asking questions, giving answers. You know that moment – frantic to angry! It hits Mary. Anything could have happened to him – she has imagined it all! You should have seen her watching the ditches all the way back to Jerusalem. She has peered down every alleyway. She has played through the scenarios of the worst in her mind. And there he sits – with people smiling all around him – smart and good and…and…and…he couldn’t look healthier or more fulfilled.

Mary experiences that moment where you don’t know whether to hug and never let go or give the spanking of a lifetime. “Child, why have you treated us like this?” she rounds on him. “Look, your father and I have been searching for you for three days – we have been sick with worry!”

The teetering between child and man is evident in his response, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them.

But Mary and Joseph didn’t understand.

An Episocpal priest from Atlanta tells about going to visit a parishioner at the hospital just before Christmas. He stopped at the front desk to get the room number. “The woman sitting at the desk was talking with another hospital employee. They stopped their conversation to give me the room number. When they realized I was a clergy person, one of them asked, “Can you believe that?” and she pointed to the nativity set on the desk counter. It took me a moment to take in what they were talking about. “Somebody stole Jesus. Can you believe that?” And, in fact, Jesus was missing. There was Mary and Joseph and a shepherd, a donkey and a sheep, but no Jesus. I had to laugh to myself; it reminded me of the nativity set I had bought a few years ago that was missing one piece–one out of forty something–missing the baby Jesus. “Somebody stole Jesus right off this counter! Can you believe that?” I didn’t really know how to respond, so I offered, “Well, I guess somebody just took Jesus out of Christmas.” They just stared back at me. So, I tried again, “Uh, maybe he is out in the hospital making rounds, maybe he’ll be back when he’s done. Hmmmm, maybe the person who took Jesus really needed him.” I don’t think they really appreciated my attempt at humor, so I said, “Well, let’s hope they bring him back soon,” and I went on my way.” (The Rev. Wm. McCord “Mac” Thigpen is the rector of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, GA. Story told in his sermon “Christmastide: A Reminder Where Our Hearts Belong”.)

Obviously, the ladies wanted the priest to be as horrified as they were that Jesus was missing! And I understand their irritation. But together with the reaction of Mary and Joseph, it made me wonder, “Where do we expect Jesus to be?”

Do we expect Jesus to stay with us on our journey? Do we expect Jesus to be in the crowd somewhere? Do we expect Jesus to come home with us? Or do we expect to find him in his Father’s house? Do we expect him to lie in the manger all cute and smiling? Or do we expect him to make rounds at the hospital, or be with the person who really needs him?

New Testament scholar NT Wright draws a comparison between this passage and Jesus’ appearance to the two on the road from Emmaus to Jerusalem, also told by Luke. Jesus does not say or do what Mary and Joseph, or the two on the road are expecting. Jesus doesn’t do what we expect either. “Every time we relax and think we’ve really understood him,” says NT Wright, “he will be up ahead, or perhaps staying behind while we go on without thinking. Discipleship always involved the unexpected.”

As we prepare for a new year, may we be open to the unexpected turns and developments in our discipleship. May we seek Jesus with the fervency of Mary and Joseph. And may we not be surprised to find him here in his Father’s house.