January 13, 2019 Jesus in the Temple at 12 Luke 2:41-52

The first question I have every time I look at our gospel reading for today is why does Jesus stay behind in Jerusalem?  He does it without asking or informing his parents.  If Jesus is the sinless one, then hasn’t he just broken the commandment to honor is father and mother? 

That problem with Jesus’ actions take us right to the heart of the matter.  And let’s just dive right in, because simple as this Bible story is, it points to something deeply profound, a teaching for all that ages and probably why it’s in the gospel at all.  The gospel writer Luke was unlikely to include a story about Jesus’ childhood simply because it was cute.

Let’s be sure t remember something about the story so far.   Jesus’ parents are good Jews.  Parenting?  Well, that’s another story.  At least in the movie Home Alone the parents recognize they’d left their kid within a couple hours; while it took Jesus’ parents all day.  But, that aside, were good Jews!  They follow all the religious laws: Jesus is named and circumcised when he is eight days old.  They’ve also offered the proper sacrifices for him and dedicated him the way first born Jewish males are supposed to be.  In today’s reading we learn that like all good Jews, they travel to Jerusalem for Passover.  They practice all the expected pieties.  But somehow they and their son start to diverge.  If going to Jerusalem for Passover is all that God wanted from his people then why does Jesus stay behind?

This is really a story about piety.  At first faith the way Joseph and Mary practice their faith is very appealing.  You simply do the right things and God blesses you for it.  I’d argue that is the basis of faith for many people who call themselves Christian in American today.  They want to live in a way that pleases God, and as a reward for pleasing God they can expect to live a good and prosperous life.  Sure, bad things may happen but God will be there to help you through the difficulties.  Even if it feels like everything is falling apart it is believed that God will give the emotional strength to endure.  We have a name for faith such as this.  It’s called the “prosperity gospel.” 

Ultimately it is horrible!

Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem is in no way criticizing his parents’ piety, but he is pointing to something deeper.

I’m currently reading Kate Bowler’s book, Everything Happens for a Reason, And Other Lies I’ve Loved.  She started her career studying the prosperity gospel in America.  She was a 35 year old woman, brilliant professor and theologian, was married and had a little boy, and in 2017 was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer that started in her intestines and spread throughout her body.  She’s still alive.  Her cancer appears to respond to treatments somewhat, but of course she’ll never beat it and she’ll never live to be old.  The book’s title pretty much says it all, but she goes into something much deeper and more profound.  Because the prosperity gospel, good religious piety, and the way we understand ourselves as citizens of America all link. 

She writes, “Fairness is one of the most compelling claims of the American Dream, a vision of success propelled by hard work, determination, and maybe the occasional pair of bootstraps.  Wherever I have lived in North America, I have been told a story about an unlimited horizon and the personal characteristics that are required to waltz towards it.  It is the language of entitlements.  It is the careful math of deserving, meted out as painstakingly as my sister and I used to inventory and trade our Halloween candy.  In this world, I deserve what I get.  I earn my keep and keep my share.  In a world of faith, nothing clung to can ever slip away. (Pg. 8)

“There is something so American about the ‘show-and-tell’ of our daily lives.  A big house means you work hard.  A pretty wife means you must be rich.  A subscription to The New York Times shows you must be smart.  And when you’re not sure, there will always be bumper stickers to point out who has the honor roll student and who finished a marathon.  America likes is shopping malls big and its churches even bigger, and every Starbucks in every lobby proves that Jesus cares about brewing the best. (Pg. 20)”

Isn’t that really living a life of piety?  It may not be exclusively religious piety, but it is American piety!  Work hard, make healthy choices, stay out of trouble – and all will go well in your life.  But if your life is falling apart, you must have done something wrong.  If your child is addicted to heroin or ends up in jail you must have failed as a parent.  If your house is foreclosed upon you must not have done your homework before you bought it, or you over-reached financially.  If you’re overweight, or you’re addicted to smoking or alcohol you must have a moral defect and lack will-power and self-control.  No, we don’t dare to say such stuff, but we believe it.

Aren’t all these things subtle and not-so-subtle messages from our society that you aren’t doing your American piety properly?

Now don’t mishear me.  I am not denying that actions have consequences.  I am not saying we should blame other people or the government or social systems for our ills.  There still needs to be accountability and responsibility.  But, the message is that if you do it right, life will be good.

Hear Kate Bowler one more time, “What would it mean for Christians to give up that little piece of the American Dream that says, “You are limitless”?  Everything is not possible.  The mighty Kingdom of God is not yet here.  What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed?  What if being people of “the gospel” meant that we are simply people with good news?  God is here.  We are loved.  It is enough.” (Pg. 21)

Those are truth-filled words that free us.  Those are words that go underneath the piety of following the Jewish rituals of Jesus’ day or the piety of Americanism today.  We call ourselves the land of the free and then we live lives that are completely enslaved!

In our gospel reading we see Jesus at age twelve focusing his life on something beyond religious piety and on what God was doing.  That became his singular purpose.  It did not negate the good piety of his parents, but it did point to something deeper. 

Here is what was true then and what is true now.  It is the message Jesus embodied and taught:

God is in charge; always has been, always will be.  And God is drawing creation forward into the fullness that God has always had for it.  You are part of that fullness.  You are known to God, you are loved by God, and you are wanted by God.  But life is not all about you.  It is about what God is doing.  And God invites you to participate in his work, his plans.  That’s how God gives you value.

There is nothing in God’s work that is going to trap you into feeling like a failure because: you got cancer, or your life is short and full of pain, or because your child dies from a drug overdose.  And God’s not going to exhaust you in the pointless societal rat-race called success.

What’s the point of being a Christian if it doesn’t lead to a healthy, easy, prosperous life?  That’s the question many people will ask.  The problem is that it’s the wrong question, the wrong way of thinking.  Ask it and you’re guaranteed to get a bad answer.

The point of Christian faith is to be freed from the dead-end tortuous stupidity most people devote their lives to.  Instead it invites you to see your value as secure in God and offers you true freedom.  It gives you confidence because the future does not rest in your hands, or your goodness, or your piety in whatever form it takes.  The future rests securely in God.  That is an eternal truth God invites you into.  It is the good news we proclaim and how we live.