Our Sunday Message

Anticipating the New Year: Luke 2:41-52
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
December 31, 2006
First Sunday After Chirstmas

   The trip to Jerusalem for the Passover was an annual tradition for this family. But this year was different. This year, Jesus would be old enough to participate in the temple rituals. It was hard to tell who was more excited—the boy or his parents.
  Joseph and Mary knelt over Jesus to kiss him good night. “Get to sleep,” Joseph said. “Tomorrow is the big day.” He tousled the boy’s hair and Jesus gave a big smile.
  Mary lingered a little longer by the bedside. She didn’t say anything for a while. She knew that he didn’t want her to get mushy. But in her heart, she thought, “My little boy is becoming a man.”
  At some point in all of our lives, we begin to think seriously about what we want to do with our lives. It is a question that we return to at different times: adolescence; mid-life; retirement. These are some of the times that we examine our lives and ask what meaning there is to the life that we are living. Is this the life that I want to live? Why did I choose this particular path? How different would my life be if I had chosen a different path? Whose life am I living anyway?
  When did Jesus realize God’s special and unique plan for his life? At least by this trip to Jerusalem at the age of twelve, he had some sense of a unique call upon his life.
  This is the only childhood story of Jesus and it is really NOT a childhood story. Rather, it is a life transition story. The story makes it clear that Jesus is no longer a child, but now a man with a growing sense of calling, purpose, and destiny.
  It was the family tradition to go to Jerusalem every year for the Passover festival. It must have been a fun time, something for the family to look forward to. We cannot underestimate the importance of family traditions. It is the repetition of events over the years that give them value. More than any sermon that you will hear, or seminar that you will attend, or book that you will read, or program that you will buy, the traditions that we establish will shape our lives.
  I think that it is significant that it was in this family tradition and ritual that Jesus’ sense of identity emerged. For better or worse, we are shaped by the family traditions and community values in which we are raised.
  As you anticipate the new year, think about the traditions that are important to you; think about the traditions that have shaped you; think about the traditions that you would like to add.
READ v. 43
  The days in Jerusalem always went by quickly. There was so much to do, so much to see. The sights and smells and experiences in Jerusalem were so different from their routine lives in Nazareth. There was nothing like the excitement of being in Jerusalem at Passover.
  But it felt different this year for Mary. She was used to having Jesus with her at the Passover. This year, he spent his time in the temple with Joseph and the other men. She missed him, but didn’t say anything because she knew that this time with the men was important. Still, she felt a little sad. It was just not the same. Her little boy was growing up too fast.
  There is very little in the biblical tradition about what happened in Jerusalem that year. We can only imagine. Luke simply says, “They went up as usual . . . . When it was ended, they started to return.” Last week, our family left after Christmas Day service and drove to Alabama to spend time with my family. We returned to Memphis on Friday night. The week went by too quickly. It felt like only two days. I imagine that is the way it was in Jerusalem for the Passover. It was over too quickly and they were on the way home.
  But that is the way life is. It goes by quickly. “What is your life? It is but a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes away.” We have very little time to make our contribution. “Therefore, count your days,” the psalmist says. Make each day count.
  As we think about the coming new year, how can we make our days count? What changes do we need to make in order to give priority to the things that are important?
READ vs. 44-46
  The return trip to Jerusalem was the longest trip of their lives. Joseph kept reassuring Mary that the boy was okay. “He can handle himself,” Joseph insisted. “He’s a young man now,” he said. Mary wanted to believe it, but Joseph’s words did not calm her fears. He was not a young man, she told herself. He was still her little boy and he needed her.
  Was he frightened? Was he tired? Was he searching the crowds looking for them? What if they couldn’t find him? What if he had been kidnapped? Mary tried not to allow herself to think the worst. But as hard as she tried, she could not silence the fears. She prayed over and over, “Oh God, watch over my little boy. You gave this special child to me. Protect him.”
  She was angry at Joseph for not watching after him. She was angry with herself for letting him act like a man. In spite of what everyone else thought, she should have kept him with her.
  Finally the long trip was over and after searching Jerusalem from top to bottom, there he was—asking questions of the rabbis like he owned the place, safe and sound without a care in the world. After hugging him so tightly that she nearly squeezed the air out of him, Mary was so angry that she wanted to pinch his head off.
  The Scripture says, “When they saw him, they were astonished.” The word “astonished” means literally, “struck by a blow.” A good translation might be, “They were bowled over.” They could not believe where they found him. It was the last place they expected him to be. Does that surprise you? It surprises me. I would think this would be the first place they would expect Jesus to be. Maybe Jesus was not as heavenly minded as we like to think. Maybe Jesus was just a normal twelve year boy who sometimes wanted to skip church. Maybe this interest in theological questions was a new interest. Maybe his divine calling was not something anyone predicted, especially the ones who knew him the best.
  Mary’s anxiety quickly gave way to anger. She said, “Son, why have you treated us this way?” The word, “son” is the Greek word for “child.” Notice that she does not address him as “young man,” but “child.” As far as Mary was concerned, he was still her little boy.
“Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” The word for “anxiety” is the root word for “childbirth.” Sometimes it is just as painful to let the children go as it is to birth them. This was the hard lesson that Mary was having to learn.
READ vs. 49-51
  It had been a terrible three days, but now they were on their way home and Mary made sure that Jesus was near her the whole way. She reflected on the experience for a long time, “treasuring these things in her heart,” turning them over in her mind, contemplating what it all meant. The question that Jesus asked was more troubling than the anxiety that she had felt. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” She admitted that she did not know. What did it mean? What would it mean? What was stirring in his young heart? But they should understand. How could they help him if they did not understand? Maybe if she had spent more time with him, she would know him better. Maybe if Joseph had not been so busy in the carpenter shop, he would know him better. Mary understood that something had now shifted and the family would never be the same. As much as she wanted to deny it, her little boy was a young man now.
  Jesus had a miraculous birth. Angelic promises were made about his life. But it is clear from this story that his parents were at a loss as to how to guide him in interpreting the unique call of God. Maybe Mary was in a kind of emotional or even spiritual denial about the life that he was to live. Maybe Mary knew too much and did not want this life for her baby boy. Maybe Mary knew that if he grew up, he would have to suffer. But the truth is, we all have to find our own unique calling. There are pressures from family, friends, peers, and co-workers, to live the life that they want for us. But we each have to live the life that we are called to live. What is that calling for you? What is God guiding you to do and be in this coming year?
READ v. 50
  Regardless where you are in your spiritual journey, we all need times of renewal and recommitment. John Wesley, the Anglican reformer and founder of the Methodist church, understood that. Wesley believed that New Year’s was a good time for recommitment.