SERM: Luke 2:40-52, Christmas 2, LSB C
The Second Sunday after Christmas The Holy Family Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today’s Gospel, Jesus “*went down with His parents to Nazareth and was submissive to them.*” Dear Christian friends: When the Virgin Mary “*gave birth to her firstborn son and… laid Him in a manger*” (Luke 2:7), the Lord God was doing something more than merely entering into His creation. In Mary’s infant Son, God nestled Himself into the most intimate recesses of our lives. God entered a family. It did not need to be that way. The angel Gabriel had earlier preached to Mary, “*Nothing shall be impossible for God*” (Luke 1:37). Those Words indicate that our God could have come to us as a fully grown man at the head of an unconquerable army. God could have come in a dark and frightening cloud, as He did at Sinai. God could have arrived in a monastery, as part of a traveling circus, or in any other way He pleased. There is but ONE way that pleased God to come: God was born into a family. Is there any better place to be, than near to family? It is why we travel at the holidays. It is why we Facebook and Skype. Family is why we abandon at least a portion of our dreams in life. Family is also why we seek substitutes. Life in this sinful, lonely world has forced radical reconfigurations of family. There is no such thing as a “normal family,” but all the other descriptions are too painful to bear. Who wants to admit such phrases as “dysfunctional family” or “blended family” or “nontraditional family” or “broken home”? When I was a young child, I thought my parents had achieved something exceptional. It took twenty years for the illusion to die. When it finally did, I was stunned to see that the Rottmanns were just like everyone else. Family is something more than the most basic building block of all human society. Family is where we each stand, the most vulnerable, the most unmasked, the most tempted. Is there anyone ·whose repetitions or insubordinations make you angrier? ·who has more deeply hurt or saddened or disappointed you? ·who has stirred more fear in your soul? ·who has presented themselves as a more worthy idol? ·you were more chagrined to lose? ·who has done more to leave you wanting more? ·for whom you would more quickly open your veins? ·who knows you better and tolerates you more than your family? No one is as strange as our parents: Are those people really the same people who raised you? No one is more worthy of exile than our siblings: You would never have gotten away with such things when you were growing up! No one is more able to tear us away from the Christian faith than our children: It might be easier to change your opinion concerning the Holy Communion, rather than to accept that your child’s willful rebellion has separated him from the communion. Family is something more than the building block of all human society. Family is where we each stand, in all of our weakness and in all of our glory. Family is exactly where Christ Jesus our Lord chose to be. Today’s Gospel is for your comfort and for your forgiveness and for your strength: Jesus “*went down with His parents to Nazareth and was submissive to them*.” ·Christ Jesus our Lord experienced the full spectrum of family life. We know this because the Scriptures declare that He was “*tempted in every respect, as we are, except without sin*” (Hebrews 4:15). Only Jesus was without sin; Joseph and Mary had plenty of sin. That means Christ Jesus our Lord had to exert the same sort of endurance in His family life that you and I must exert in ours. Our Lord’s endurance contains power and strength than will help us endure. We should pray that our Lord’s family life be brought to bear upon ours. ·Jesus “*was submissive to them*.” That means Jesus placed Himself under the authority and guidance and decision-making of other people. He abandoned His divine right; He tolerated parental injustices; He allowed the needs of His family to shape and direct His everyday life. To speak in sociological terms, Jesus placed His individuality into the context of His God-given group. In so doing, Jesus allows us to think that our family obligations and responsibilities do not end up robbing us of who we are. Whether our families are large or small, distant or near, they help make us who we are. Perhaps we can even dare to believe that our family pressures play a role in “*conforming us to the image of God’s Son*,” to borrow some wording from Romans chapter 8 (v. 29). If we should get pressed into the image of God’s Son, we can be sure we are headed in a good direction because Jesus “*the image of the invisible God*” (Colossians 1:15). ·Today’s Gospel shows that there is but one thing Christ Jesus our Lord could not do for His family. Jesus could not trade His faith in God for their
SERM: Luke 2:40-52, Christmas 2, LSB A
Sermon for the Second Sunday After Christmas A SERMON [NOT ONLY] FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. At the beginning of today’s Gospel, St. Luke states that Jesus was continually growing, increasing in both wisdom and in strength. At the end of today’s Gospel, Luke repeats himself. Luke repeats Himself so that you will notice and be nourished this Word from God: “Jesus [continually] increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Dear teenagers, preteens, and younger children of the Church, CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT YOUR LIFE, RIGHT HERE AND NOW! Many people think of Christmas as being about “the little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay” (LSB #364.1). Christmas is about much more than the baby Jesus. Christmas is also about the childhood that Jesus experienced. · When Luke states that Jesus increased in wisdom, that means Jesus started His earthly life without much wisdom. Stated another way, Jesus had to learn His Sunday School lessons, just like you have to learn yours. Jesus also heard different messages in His life—not all of them helpful or beneficial—just as you also hear many different messages in your life. Jesus had to sort through and come to understand who He was, just as you must sort through who you are. · When Luke states that Jesus was continually growing in strength and stature, that means Jesus had to go through the same process you now also are going through. His body, like yours, had to transform from the body of a child to the body of an adult. His mind and His thinking, like yours, also had to mature in the same way that yours must mature. This is good news for you, because there were many things in Jesus’ life that He did not always understand simply because He did not yet have the equipment to understand. For example, Jesus seems very surprised in today’s Gospel that Mary and Joseph did not immediately come look for Him in the temple. “Why were you looking for me?” He asked. “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Jesus, in His very young way of thinking, does not yet seem to realize the terror that parents feel when they look around and see their son or daughter is missing. You children probably do not understand that feeling, either, but you will.) Christmas Season is not merely about the Baby Jesus. Christmas Season is about you Lord Jesus must pass through every single stage of life that you also must pass through. Jesus grew through the stages of His life without sin and no one else has ever done that—neither you nor your parents before you. Just because Jesus grew up perfectly, do not assume that growing up was easy for Him. Jesus struggled in every way that you struggle. Jesus was tempted in every way that you are tempted. Jesus experienced every feeling and emotion that you experience. Jesus had to discover who He was, independent of His father and His mother, in the very same way that you also must discover who you are. LEARN YOUR INDEPENDENCE FROM JESUS Today’s Gospel is very important for you because it tells you about one of the steps along the way of Jesus’ eventual independence from His parents—steps that you each are right now in the process of taking. “When the [Passover] feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.” A little separation from mom and dad for a little while must have been sort of nice. As the children of my generation were singing with Cheap Trick thirty years ago, “Mommy’s all right, daddy’s all right, they just seem a little weird” (Cheap Trick, “Surrender”). I know that most of you can chuckle and say that I am an old man. (If you don’t, my sons will do it for you.) Please believe me when I say that I understand very well you growing desire for independence. You and Jesus are not the only two people who ever felt such needs. Your desires for independence are most certainly made worse by some of the music that you are pumping into your ears. You probably are not singing much Cheap Trick these days. Shinedown is likely more your speed: Tell my mother, tell my father, I’ve done the best I can To make them realize this is my life I hope they understand (Shinedown, “Second Chance”) Yes, dear Christian: This IS your life. Make sure that you do not allow the devil, the world, and your own sinfulness to fool you. Do not get fooled into thinking that that you can do whatever you want with your life, just because it is yours. “You are not your own,” says Paul, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Learn your independence from Jesus, my young saints! Jesus did not grow into His independence by running away from the way He was raised or by throwing out the things He was taught to hold dear. Your Lord Jesus grew into His independence voluntarily embracing those who once held Him in their arms. · Jesus grew into His
SERM: Luke 2:40-52, Christmas 2, LSB B
Do You Take Yourself too Seriously? Second Sunday after Christmas January 4, 2009 Luke 2:40-52 Jesus was an obedient child. Mary and Joseph were comfortable in leaving Him to come home with relatives in the group without checking in with them. They trusted Him. But when they needed to talk to Him they were struck with the realization that boys will be boys evidently applied to their son also. They still didn't have an understanding of the whole Jesus thing. They were still somewhat stuck on themselves. Why were they astonished at what they witnessed in the temple? Why did they insist that He should have been with them rather than in the House of God? Why did they not understand what their precocious boy was insisting on? It's because they took themselves too seriously. This is a characteristic of us Christians. I guess we should lump the non-Christians in here also. We're always getting in the way of Jesus doing His thing. Notice how very unseriously He takes Himself. He obediently goes with His parents to Jerusalem for the Passover. When He goes, He seems to be the only one in the group—including His parents—who seems to know why they really were going there. He stays behind. Not to get into trouble as boys can be prone to do. To be in His Father's House. To be about the business of what the Passover is all about. And as we know from the New Testament, what the Passover is all about is Jesus. Jesus knew this, even at twelve years old. Jesus was in His Father's House because it's communion with Him that is the ultimate goal. The Passover of the Old Testament was the shedding of a lamb's blood to be painted on the doorpost so that the Angel of Death would pass over that house and the occupants would be spared. By being in God's House even at such a young age, Jesus was being prepared by His Heavenly Father for Himself being the very Lamb of God whose blood would be shed so that we may be spared eternal death and receive salvation, communing with God eternally in heaven. Oftentimes precocious little boys can take themselves far more seriously than what they ought to. Not Jesus. He knows who He is, but when He is with the teachers in the temple He is listening and asking questions. Jesus is always Jesus. He is always God and always working His work to bring salvation. But He never is full of Himself. He always is coming in humility. And that is why even when everyone is amazed at His understanding and His answers, it's not through standing up among men and teaching them a thing or two, but through listening and asking questions. And even though He corrected His mom, He never once upbraided His parents. Rather, He went home with them and was submissive to them. That's what we learn in the fourth commandment, and in Jesus it is fulfilled in perfection. That is because Jesus is the ultimate servant, delighting in God's will. He never took Himself too seriously but always took seriously the passion and will of His Heavenly Father to save the people He created. That's why we need to get out of the way. So that we can stop dwelling on ourselves and get caught up in the salvation work of our Lord. It's a shame we so often take ourselves too seriously. We're very concerned about our rights. Kids want to make sure everything's fair. But don't we want our due? Aren't we envious of those who seem to have more or better when there's no reason we don't deserve it as much as they do? When we have difficult decisions to make, aren't they often difficult because we want to get out of doing the right thing to ensure we can get what we want? Perhaps you made new year's resolutions. Look them over. What ways have you determined you're going to improve yourself? Are they all concentrated on what you need to do to be better? Do they focus on how you can enjoy life more? None of this is bad. But are you taking yourself too seriously? Do you easily dismiss the true and eternal focus and basis of your life? Mary and Joseph did. He was right there with them. After twelve years of raising the Son of God they still took themselves too seriously. They still weren't ready to see in Him the very salvation of the world. They still needed to think of themselves as the ones who were calling the shots. They weren't quite ready for kings bowing down before their baby. They weren't thrilled with their twelve year old son who wandered off on His own to be about some business they didn't quite understand. They weren't ready for a son who went out and got Himself arrested and brutally beaten and killed on a cross. We take all these things for granted because we've heard them so many times. But do we take ourselves any less seriously than Jesus' parents? We might not have much problem with a baby who has come to save us. Or even a twelve year old. Or an adult. But how much stock do we put in our Baptism when things get rough in our lives? How much do we long for Holy Communion when we're troubled by our sins? How much do we really take
SERM: Luke 2:40-52, Christmas 2, LSB B
Sermon for the Second Sunday After Christmas No Longer at the Temple for Epiphany, but for Christmas Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today's Gospel, the King of the Universe gives us a picture of manner in which He subjected Himself for us and for our salvation. After a few days in Jerusalem that proved disturbing for His parents, boy Jesus went down with them [from Jerusalem] and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. Dear Christian friends, Historically, today's Gospel was preached during Epiphany. Epiphany is the season that focuses on the visual display of God's glory in the human body of Jesus. Other historic Gospels for Epiphany include the miracle at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1-12); the cleansing of a leper and the restoration of a centurion's servant (Matthew 8:1-13); the calming of the stormy sea (Matthew 8:23-27); and the Transfiguration of our Lord (Matthew 17:1-9), when Jesus' face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light (Matthew 17:2). In each of these Gospels, some aspect of Jesus' divine nature is displayed for you, so that you may learn and know that this Child born of Mary is indeed the Lord's Christ (Luke 2:26). When today's Gospel gets preached in Epiphany, it is preached in such a way as to display Jesus' divinity for you, just like all the other Epiphany Gospels. For example, Luther preached that today's Gospel shows that Jesus is not an ordinary but an extraordinary child, as He secretly withdraws from His parents and oversteps the discipline which all children owe their parents (The House Postils, volume 1, p. 225). Stated another way, Jesus displays His divine glory-His Epiphany glory-in today's Gospel by staying in His Father's house. By so doing, Jesus is showing that He was not only His mother's son, but also her Lord and God (Ibid., 226). Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem because He is answerable to a much higher authority than that of His parents. And He said to them, 'Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father's house?' That would make a fine sermon also for today, if today's Gospel had remained a Gospel for the season of Epiphany. That has changed with the newer series of readings we now follow. It is not yet Epiphany. Today we are still in the Christmas Season, on the Second Sunday after Christmas. Today's Gospel is no longer an Epiphany Gospel, but it has now become for us a Christmas Gospel (much to the chagrin of some of my dearest fellow pastors). Epiphany focuses on the revelation and display of God's glory in Christ. Christmas does not do that. Christmas focuses on God the Son's entry into our human flesh. Where Epiphany displays for us the divine nature of the human Christ, Christmas calls us to marvel at the fact that the divine would even bother to come and join to the human. Epiphany shows us that there is much more to Jesus than usually meets the eye. Christmas shows us that our God went into hiding, as it were, voluntarily containing Himself in our human likeness, hiding Himself within our human flesh, subjecting and enslaving Himself to us-for us. Today's Gospel makes for a good Christmas Gospel, just as it makes for a good Epiphany Gospel. If this Gospel in Epiphany declares that Jesus is an extraordinary Child (per Luther), this Gospel during Christmas points us to the extraordinary thing that this extraordinary Child has done: He subjected Himself to His parents. He went down with them [from Jerusalem] and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. Your Lord did not submit to His parents because they were greater than He. He is greater than them. Your Lord did not submit to them because of the Fourth Commandment, which requires that we honor our father and our mother. Jesus is greater even than the obligation of the commandment. Jesus submitted Himself to Mary and Joseph for one reason. That one reason can be stated in one word: love-love for Joseph, love for Mary, love for your neighbor, and love also for you. Jesus came to Nazareth and was submissive to them because He loves you. ·Because He loves you, Jesus is born of the Virgin Mary. ·Because He loves you, Jesus submitted to circumcision and to all the worship forms of the Old Testament. That is the First Table of the Law and Jesus took upon Himself the First Table of the Law when He was circumcised (New Year's Eve) and when Simeon met Him in the temple (First Sunday after Christmas). ·Because He loves you, Jesus submits to His parents. That is the Second Table of the Law and today Jesus takes up the Second Table for you. That is to say, today's Gospel shows you Jesus gladly stepping under and entering into and obeying the Fourth Commandment and with it every other commandment. Jesus
