Second Sunday after Christmas
January 4, 2009
The Rev. Charles Henrickson
“Increasing in Wisdom” (Luke 2:40-52)
When last we left Jesus, he was forty days old, being presented in the temple.
From that point on, we know nothing about the life of Jesus up until he began
his public ministry, at age 30, except for two incidents. One is the visit of
the Magi (and the flight to Egypt), when Jesus was less than two years
old--we’ll hear about that this Tuesday evening at our Epiphany service. The
only other incident we have in the gospels from Jesus’ childhood is from when
he was twelve years old, in our text for today, the story commonly known as,
“The Boy Jesus in the Temple.”
This is the story of when Mary and Joseph took the twelve-year-old Jesus to the
temple in Jerusalem and then couldn’t find him when he stayed behind after they
left. When they come back and do find him, his mother says to him, “Son, why
have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you
in great distress.” And Jesus answers, “Why were you looking for me? Did you
not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And, it says, “they did not
understand the saying that he spoke to them.” Others since then have not
understood Jesus’ response either, thinking he’s talking back to his parents.
And so some might want to call this story, “Jesus the Sassy Tween.” But we’ll
stick with “The Boy Jesus in the Temple.”
In a way, this reminds me of a story from when I was a twelve-year-old boy.
Our family, too, went on a trip--a train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. On
the way out, we took a day side-trip to see the Grand Canyon. Well, when I saw
it, I thought the Grand Canyon was pretty cool--even though it was like 110
degrees that day. I thought it was just fascinating, and I wanted to see more.
So I started walking down this narrow trail on the South Rim. I kept walking
and walking, this way and that, down the switchback trail, down, down--well, I
just kinda kept going, until I ended up the bottom of the mile-deep canyon. Of
course, being a twelve-year-old boy, I hadn’t bothered to tell my mom. And now
I’m at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, wearing my flip-flop sandals, with no
water, and it’s 110 degrees, and now I have to get back up. Like I say, I was
a twelve-year-old boy. Fortunately, I met some other hikers down at the base
of the canyon who
did have some water, and they helped me get back up to the top. When I get
there, my mom is frantic, of course--she was about ready to call the park
rangers to search for my body. We barely got on the bus in time to get back to
the train. Looking back, I think my mom’s response may have been a little
harsher than Mary’s, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, we have been
searching for you in great distress.” And I richly deserved it! I was
certainly not displaying much wisdom.
But the difference is, Jesus was! It was indeed wisdom, divine wisdom, that
Jesus was displaying there in the temple--and in his reply to his parents.
Jesus did nothing wrong by staying behind in what he rightly called, “my
Father’s house.” That was where he belonged at that time. And Jesus did
nothing wrong in his reply to Mary and Joseph. In God’s infinite wisdom, Jesus
was where he had to be at that particular time, as part of his mission, and
that was what even Mary and Joseph needed to learn: that their son had a
higher calling, a divine, heaven-sent mission; that he was “theirs” on loan, if
you will; that he had to be about his heavenly Father’s business, and that
business would take him away from them, finally. Only that mission would be
for their ultimate good, so that he could then be with them in a much greater
way, forever--just as he is with us. Jesus displayed divine wisdom, and as
Mary and Joseph learned more about
him, they too would increase in their own understanding--as will we.
Wisdom. That is what Jesus had, and that is what he even increased in. Now
our text today picks up where we left off last week, at Luke 2:40, which reads:
“And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of
God was upon him.” That is how Luke covers the entire period from Jesus at
forty days old up until the time he was twelve years old. Then, after the
story of Jesus at age 12, Luke fast-forwards all the way to Jesus at age 30
with a similarly brief summary, in verse 52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom
and in stature and in favor with God and man.” What jumps out at you here in
these two summary verses, as well as in the description of twelve-year-old
Jesus wowing the learned teachers--what really stands out about Jesus, even
from his childhood, is his wisdom. “Filled with wisdom.” Amazing people with
“his understanding.” Increasing “in wisdom.” That is the common thread.
But how can this be? This is impossible, isn’t it? How can Christ, the very
Son of God, “increase” in wisdom? Doesn’t he always and from eternity already
possess all wisdom, all the wisdom that ever was or ever will be? Isn’t he the
very source of wisdom? Why, yes, yes indeed! The Bible calls him the Logos,
the Word, who was with God in the beginning. It is through this eternal Son
that God upholds the universe. All the fullness of God dwells in him. Thus
the church confesses in the Nicene Creed, “God of God, Light of Light, very God
of very God.” So how can he who is Wisdom “increase” in wisdom?
Here we are confronted with the mystery of the Incarnation, and we must bow in
silence and reverence. This is the mystery of the person of Christ, true God
and true man, in one person. To put it simply: According to his divine
nature, the Son of God possesses all wisdom from eternity. According to his
human nature, the incarnate Christ--Jesus, the son of Mary--can grow in stature
and increase in wisdom. And yet there are not two Christs but one.
The Athanasian Creed speaks of the incarnation in this way: “Our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man. He is God,
begotten from the substance of the Father before all ages; and He is man, born
from the substance of His mother in this age: perfect God and perfect man,
composed of a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father with respect
to His divinity, less than the Father with respect to His humanity. Although
He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ.”
Likewise, our Lutheran Confessions--which many of us are going to begin
studying tomorrow--teach the mystery of the person of Christ, speaking of the
union of the divine and human natures in the one Christ: “On account of this
personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, did
not bear a mere man. But, as the angel Gabriel testifies, she bore a man who
is truly the Son of the most high God. . . . He did all His miracles by the
power of this personal union. He showed His divine majesty, according to His
pleasure, when and as He willed.” The Confessions then cite our text today as
an example of Christ showing his divine majesty: “For example . . . when he
was twelve years old, among the learned. . . .”
You see, that was Christ displaying divine wisdom, not just human wisdom, when
he taught the teachers in the temple and explained the truth of God’s word as
though he came straight from the side of God--because he did! He is God’s
wisdom--he is God himself, the Son of God--come in the flesh!
And the real wisdom of all this, what really shows forth God’s glory and wisdom
beyond anything else, is why the eternal Son of God came in the flesh. Christ
came, to be one of us, to be our brother, born of a woman, born under the law,
to redeem those under the law--and that’s us. Only in this way, according to
God’s eternal wisdom and plan--only in this way could God save us, namely, by
taking our flesh and taking on our sins. The church fathers put it like this:
“That which he did not assume, he did not redeem.” In other words, if Christ
had not assumed, taken on, our human flesh, he could not have redeemed us. But
the fact of the matter is, Christ did assume, take on, our flesh, and thus in
this way he has redeemed us, saved us, set us free!
Think of it! Jesus, your brother, came and lived as a little baby and as a
twelve-year-old tween and as a fully grown adult. He took your sins and the
sins of every baby and tweenager and adult and carried them to the cross, for
you! There the holy Son of God himself died, for you, for your sins. Only as
a man, a human being in the flesh, could he die. Only as the holy Son of God
could his death have saving power to atone for the sins of all humanity, yours
included. That is the great and unutterable and unfathomably wonderful mystery
of the incarnation!
Having defeated sin and death and the devil, now this same God-man Savior Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead, and he saves the forty-day-old baby and the
twelve-year-old tween and the fully grown adult--thirty years old or fifty or
seventy or eighty--all those who trust in him. He saves you for eternity, for
the eternal life that is your sure hope even now. “Oh, the depth of the riches
and wisdom and knowledge of God!”
And so, with the apostle, “we preach Christ crucified . . . Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God.” “Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” “Christ, in whom are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” “In him we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his
grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.”
Dear friends, Christ Jesus is God’s wisdom come in the flesh, from infancy
through childhood, from his baptism in the Jordan to his death on the cross, to
his resurrection, and then to the heavens. He is God’s wisdom precisely in
living and suffering and dying and rising again for you, that you may have life
in him. In looking to him, in seeking and finding him and listening to him,
the amazing thing is that now you too will grow in your own understanding and
increase in wisdom. You will behold the mystery of God in the flesh in the
person of Christ, and, like Mary his mother, you will treasure up all these
things in your heart.
Charles Henrickson
4749 Melissa Jo Ln
St. Louis, MO 63128
(314) 845-8811 (home)
(314) 779-8108 (cell)
henricks...@yahoo.com
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