A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley, Sunday, December 27, 2009
Jesus’ story takes him to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. The author of the Gospel of Luke tells us specifically, he was twelve years old. Why, when there is very little mention of Jesus as a little boy.
It was true in the first century, just as it is now, Jewish historians tell us, Hebrew boys become morally and religiously accountable at the age of thirteen. Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah actually means that the boy or girl has reached an age where she or he is responsible for his or her moral and religious decisions. Until then, their parents are responsible. With or without a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah celebration, the young person is considered responsible for following the laws of their tradition. [“Ask Rabbi Simmons” Rabbi Shraga Simmons, about.com]
Perhaps that is the reason many young teens quit coming to church with their parents. They have heard from their Jewish friends that once they become teenagers, they have the right to decide whether to go to services, or not!
So, Jesus at twelve “loses his parents,” or “slips away from them,” and goes to the part of the great Temple where the religious leaders are debating. We can picture this in our mind’s eye, because we have read about the scholars who studied the Talmud and the Torah. He stays, even when he knows his parents are leaving, or have left already.
But he must learn from these wise leaders of the Temple, these men who know the Law. Luke tells us Jesus’ questions and his understanding of the conversations was exceptional. To be twelve, to be younger than the age of accountability means something here. To Luke, Jesus had wisdom beyond his years. One scholar tells us this story of Jesus was added to the birth narrative to prepare the reader for the coming ministry of Jesus. Luke, more than Mark or Matthew writes of Jesus’ “Wisdom of God.” [R. Alan Culpepper, The New Interpreters Bible] We need to remember that Jesus’ followers after Easter had only the oral tradition of Jesus’ ministry. All the authors of the Gospels had their own understanding and their own purpose for their written accounting.
For us, though, Luke can have another purpose. We can see this story as Jesus’ preparation for the changes that will take place in his life and for his coming ministry. This is part of his preparation for the transitions of his life. He tells his parents that he must be about “his Father’s” house, but they don’t understand what he means. Nevertheless, Jesus returns to Nazareth with his parents, knowing somehow it is not yet time.
This is a “coming of age” story. Like every coming of age story we have ever read, or our own “coming of age,” there is
a moving away from our parents guidance,
an increased desire to understand ourselves as an individual, and
a greater curiosity for the broader world.
We all prepare for the transitions of our lives. At least as much as we are able. At some point, we recognize the value of education, friendship, and family. We begin to understand that change continually happens whether we want it to or not.
Transitions occur as individual phenomenon and as cultural phenomenon. Ric Masten wrote a poem which about cultural transitions that always makes me smile. I think because my nephew is a stay-at-home dad and he and his wife learned to fold a cloth diaper from instructions on the internet.
“Changing Directions”
as goal-oriented as a spear
the male has always given
travel instructions
in tenth-of-a-mile increments
complete
with an accurate stoplight count…
landmarks carefully indicated
along with the exact location
of every interstate
county road street and alley
wit in five hundred miles
explaining
that a man likes to know precisely where he is
and precisely how much farther
he has to go
more organic
a female will tell you
“to turn right
where a tall rawboned woman
is hanging the wash out
if it is raining however
continue on to the place where your chewing gum loses its flavor
double back there…
in a drainage ditch on your right
you will see a sweet-faced cat
take the first left after that
proceeding south
until the sound of the pavement
changes pitch under the car
go right here
and right again at the first smell of wisteria
we’re the second house after the third speed bump
if you come to the ocean
you will know you have gone too far”
of course this was before
the advent of consciousness raising
and assertiveness training…
nowadays
when a guest is late to arrive
it’s the female standing at the gate
anxiously inquiring
if the directions were all right
while the house husband
comes bumping
backward through the kitchen door
all smiles
hoping you enjoyed the drive
We cannot always prepare for the transitions of our lives.
Have you ever read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly?
It is a book by Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was at one time the editor of the French magazine Elle. As many of you know, and for those of us who are clueless, Elle is one of the world’s most successful fashion magazines. In the prime of his career, at 43-years-old, Bauby suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed with “locked-in syndrome.” There are very few people who live after such a massive stroke, and they are usually unable to communicate in any way. Bauby, however, could blink one eye. He wrote The Diving Bell and the Butterfly after he had such a stroke—one letter at a time. In it he said he felt as though he were physically encased in a diving bell, yet his mind was as free as a butterfly.
It is amazing how truthful and free-spirited one can be about their lives and the changes of their lives when they are completely free of their material world. Bauby, who died six months after the book was published, wrote a book with the pain of physical debilitation and the joy of complete freedom of his mind. There are no great truths here, and there are great truths! He wrote at the end,
“Does the cosmos contain keys for opening up my diving bell? A subway line with no … [end]? A currency strong enough to buy my freedom back? We must keep looking. I’ll be off now”
We are fragile, physically vulnerable human beings, and we never know, nor can we control everything about our bodies.
We cannot always prepare for the transitions of our lives.
Paulo Coelho author of the international bestseller The Alchemist wrote another book. It is about his spiritual and religious journey The Pilgrimage. He worked many, many years in a religious order to become a magus. At the end of the ceremony which would recognize him as one of the magi his teacher abruptly ended the ordination saying, “… just as I feared, at the supreme moment you stumbled and fell. … you will now have to seek…” further.
We cannot always prepare for the transitions of our lives that occur regardless of our own personal desires.
I am sure you have a favorite “coming of age” story;
a novel,
a biography,
a cousin who had an adventure of which you always tell at family gatherings,
your own son or daughter who once thought of you as “just this side of intelligent,” but who is now, years later, a friend.
My favorite is Janie in Zora Neal Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. It is one of Hurston’s best works. A young black woman in the 1930s in Florida runs away from home. She grows from a subjugated and oppressed wife to a woman who makes her own decisions and determines her own life. Yet, a hurricane blows through and she along with her friends, must “watch God,” wait for God, to know whether they will live or die.
We cannot always prepare for the transitions of our lives.
We can set goals, plan our lives; but for every one, and there is no exception, sometimes the transitions are forced on us by fate or natural disasters or our God.
Jesus must have known early that YHWH had special plans for him. The scribe of Luke certainly thought so. Not only did Jesus know the Law early, Jesus knew that he had to prepare. “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
His learning, his friends, and his family influenced him, helped him prepare. But eventually, all the transitions took him to a place where God had to be central. His human desires, our human desires are often in conflict with the Eternal. That One that existed before the primordial soup.
What happened when Moses wanted to continue his life as he saw it
3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.
3:2 The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3:3 Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
3:4 When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."
...
3:6 Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
3:7 Yahweh said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, ...
3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
3:11 Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
3:12 He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
3:13 Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"
3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: "I AM has sent me to you."
Was this the same God of whom we seek relationship?
We cannot always prepare for the transitions of our lives, BUT KNOW THIS, IN THE FACE OF TRANSITIONS, WHATEVER THEY ARE, when we
“turn away” from God,
God is still in the burning,
God is at the top of the mountain,
God is in the closet
God is in our hearts,
God is everywhere.
And God is calling us
Reading I
Colossians 3:12-17 (New International Version)
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Reading II
Luke 2:41-52 (New International Version)
The Boy Jesus at the Temple
41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Reading II
Luke 2:41-52 (New International Version)
The Boy Jesus at the Temple
41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.