First Sunday after Epiphany - Luke 2:41-52 - January 10, 2016
Order
of Service - Pg. 15
Hymn #1 Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty
Hymn #133 Within the Father's House
Hymn #106 The People that in Darkness Sat
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Hymn #1 Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty
Hymn #133 Within the Father's House
Hymn #106 The People that in Darkness Sat
Isaiah 61:1-3
Romans 12:1-5
Luke 2:41-52
Romans 12:1-5
Luke 2:41-52
Collect for the Day
O
Lord, we beseech Thee mercifully to receive the prayers of Thy people who call
upon Thee, and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they
ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same;
through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and
the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Sermon
on the Holy Gospel
1) Mary and Joseph had been given a great gift in being the
parents of God in human flesh. They had done all things well throughout Jesus’
childhood, providing for Him, taking Him to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous
wrath, and even going to Jerusalem every year for the three main feasts
commanded by the Lord. Joseph steadfastly guarded the child and His bride. The
Virgin Mary had nursed the infant Messiah and treasured the entire experience
in her heart. When Jesus is twelve, they go up to Jerusalem for Passover, as
they had done every year, in faithfulness to the Lord’s command. Then they lose
the boy. Mary and Joseph were definitely not the helicopter parents of today.
And it wasn’t entirely their fault. When
they had finished the days of the feast,
as they returned to Nazareth, the
boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph suppose Jesus to be
in the company of their fellow travelers. There must’ve been a great crowd of
people from Nazareth and the surrounding areas that had travelled to Jerusalem
for Passover. After all, all Israel was to attend the Passover in Jerusalem. So
Mary and Joseph depart from Jerusalem assuming that Jesus is part of their
company of fellow travelers heading in the same direction to get home. After an
entire day of travel they seek Jesus among their relative and acquaintances in
the group. It’s then they realize every parent’s worst fear: We’ve lost our
child. To add to their anxiety, their child, whom they’ve misplaced, is also
the Only-Begotten Son of God in human flesh. It’s not just her son that Mary’s
lost. It’s God’s Son. They return to Jerusalem and there they search for the boy
three days and you know they didn’t sleep a wink during those three days. They
had lost Jesus entirely. And with that knowledge came terror, dread, and an
exceedingly great fear.
2) Why they didn’t think to look in the Temple, I don’t know.
Perhaps it was the fog of worry that clouded their thinking. Maybe they didn’t
realize just how well their son, even at the age of twelve, understood His
identity. But there He was, now being there four days, in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both
listening and asking them questions. Jesus, even at the age of twelve,
understood His calling as the Messiah. He is where He would spend most of His
time in Jerusalem years later, in the temple, teaching the people. St. Luke
doesn’t tell us the content of His teaching but you can be sure that it was
about the kingdom of God, His office as the Messiah from sin, death, and the
power of the Devil. You can bet that the young Jesus was asking questions of
the temple teachers about the Holy Scriptures, not to learn but to teach these
aged men what God had foretold about the coming Messiah, how He would be both
true God and true man, and that He must suffer at the hands of the impenitent
for the sins of the world. Sitting in the temple, we can imagine the youth pointing
to the bronze altar for the atoning sacrifices, motioning to the
divinely-ordained duties of the priests, and asking what all these had to do
with the coming Messiah, what all these things taught Israel about God’s coming
redemption in the Christ.
3) Jesus must’ve been full of wisdom and understanding at this
age in order to speak and listen with the temple teachers for four days. Of
course He would be, He is the second person of the Holy Trinity in human flesh.
He is the one who spoke the Law to Moses, since He is the Word of God Himself.
And as he speaks to these hoary headed men and asks them questions to teach
them the Scriptures, he does so with reverence toward them, showing them honor
as His elders, even though He is from eternity. St. Luke shows us quite the
contrast between the franticly searching Mary and the calm teacher of faith,
Jesus. When Mary and Joseph do find Him they
were amazed. They weren’t amazed that he was okay after being out of their
care four days. They weren’t amazed that he had the gall to do this to them.
They were amazed that there he was, twelve years old, listening to the elders
of the Levites and teaching them the Gospel. To them, Christ was lost. But
Christ was exactly where He was supposed to be, about His Father’s business.
What is the Father’s business? Teaching the Gospel of the Messiah and the
forgiveness of sins, pointing to the altar of sacrifice as a picture of what
Messiah would do for the entire world, atone for all its sins, so that all who
believe in Him would possess that atonement and enjoy the forgiveness of all
their sins. Mary and Joseph were frantic and frenetic, imagining they had lost
Christ. They found Him where He was supposed to be: in His Father’s house,
being about His Father’s business, fulfilling His calling.
4) In Mary and Joseph we see a picture of humanity and
ourselves. There are those moments when it seems that we have lost Christ
entirely and that He no longer dwells with us. One such moment is the moment of
temptation to sin. In moments of intense temptation Christ often does not appear to be present with us,
especially as the temptation seems more to grow more powerful in our minds than
does Christ’s Word. Just because you are tempted, however, does not mean that
you have lost Christ. Temptations are bound to come and you will be assailed by
them until your baptism is fulfilled and you put off the Old Adam for the final
time in death. Temptation to sin is a part of life in the flesh. The Lord is
faithful in moments of temptation. St. Peter tells you in 2 Peter 2:9, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations. The
Lord Jesus teaches us to pray, lead us
not into temptation, which doesn’t mean we’re praying to never enter into
temptation, but that we are praying to overcome every temptation by faith in
the promises of Christ. Luther writes in the Large Catechism, This, then, is leading us not into
temptation, to wit, when He gives us power and strength to resist, the
temptation, however, not being taken away or removed. For while we live in the
flesh and have the devil about us, no one can escape temptation and
allurements; and it cannot be otherwise than that we must endure trials, yea,
be engulfed in them; but we pray for this, that we may not fall and be drowned
in them. To feel temptation is
therefore a far different thing from consenting or yielding to it. We must all
feel it, although not all in the same manner. [1][1] In the hour of temptation, you have
not lost Christ, dear saints. Instead, you know that as you feel temptation in
your flesh that is a sign that you belong to Christ, for those that do not
belong to Christ by faith feel no temptation but live their lives always going
along with sin and consenting willfully to it allurements.
5) We must be on our guard against temptation though. Feeling a
temptation is not sin, but willfully walking into sin does endanger our
salvation. As Luther wrote about temptation, to feel temptation is therefore a far
different thing from consenting or yielding to it. If we yield to
temptation and become engulfed in sin, we risk losing Christ by pushing our of
heart to make room for sin. The Christian can fall away from the faith through
unholy living. Jesus teaches in the parable of the sower that there are those
who, when they hear, receive the word
with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away (Luke 8:13). St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5,
Examine yourselves as to whether
you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus
Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you are disqualified. Willful sinning
will drive out the Holy Ghost and Christ from the heart, for Christ cannot
dwell where sin is given free reign, nor with the Holy Ghost remain in the
heart that has set itself to sin against conscience. Solomon writes that the holy spirit of discipline will flee
deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not
abide when unrighteousness cometh in (Wisdom 1:5). The Christian is to be ever vigilant against
temptation and situations in which we know we will be tempted. St. Peter
writes, beware lest you also fall from
your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked (2
Peter 3:17).
6) Another instance in which we may feel as if we have lost
Christ is in times of sadness and despair. People often assume that they are
supposed to feel God’s presence rather than experience if by faith alone, which
implies that it is unseen and unfelt since faith
is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Sadness and melancholy
are a natural part of life in this sinful world. When we lose a loved one to
death it is right to mourn, and in our mourning we sometimes say with Mary, Lord, if You had been here, my love one
would not have died (John 11:21). When confronted with the
news of death, the doctors’ report of disease, or something as simple as the
loss of the ability to do what we once could easily accomplish, there is a
sorrow which is normal. In moments of sorrow we are tempted to mourn and sorrow
as the world mourns, without hope of resurrection from the dead, without hope
of renewed life in the presence of the Lord, and without hope in a restoration
of all things on the Last Day. Sorrow easily turns to despair of life, despair
of our situation, and worst of all, despair of God’s mercy, thinking that He is
distant, far off, and lost to us because we do not feel His presence. In spite
of this He is with you, for His presence is not one that is felt, for we know
that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith (Ephesians 3:17), and Jesus says in
John 14:23, If anyone loves Me, he will
keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our
home
with
him.
No matter what sorrows you, what trouble you, and what has befallen you,
Christ is not lost to you, but it dwells in your hearts by faith in His word of
promise.
7) It was a terrible moment for Mary and Joseph when they lost
their son and God’s Son. But Christ was not truly lost. He was exactly where
the prophets said He would be, in His holy temple. When through temptation,
loss, or sorrow you feel as if Christ is lost to you, He is not. He still right
where He is supposed to be, found in His Word and Gospel. He is still about His
Father’s business, teaching you faith in His atonement for sin, trust in His
teaching, and confidence in all His mercies, which are new every morning. He
can only be lost from you if you cast Him from your heart by willfully sinning and
yielding to temptation. You can leave Him, but He shall never leave you, for He
has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. It is as the Church sings in Song of Solomon 6:3, I am
my beloved's, and my beloved is
mine. Take comfort in these words, dear saints, for they are words
for you. Amen.
--
Rev. Josh Sullivan
(ELDONA)
Holy Cross Lutheran
Church (UAC)
Kerrville, TX 78028
facebook.com/holycrosskerrville
facebook.com/holycrosskerrville