1/2/21 2nd Sunday of Christmas Luke 2:40-52

 Last week I said that I often make a mistake when I think about the baby Jesus.  And I believe most people make the same mistake.  We don’t really think about it carefully, but we just assume that somehow the baby born in a manger is aware of his divinity – or that he somehow has full knowledge that he is God incarnate.

Of course it makes no sense.  How could the brain of a newborn possess such extraordinary self-awareness.  But let’s not be too hard on ourselves.  The whole thing is based on an impossibility.  Mary’s pregnancy is an impossibility, or more properly, something miraculous.   So why can’t we have another miracle here?  And that makes a lot of sense.

Of the four gospel writers Luke alone tells us anything about Jesus as a child.  Mark says nothing.  John says nothing.  Matthew has Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee to Egypt for several years.  So there is something of his childhood there.  But then Jesus appears before John the Baptist fully grown and ready to go.  But with just a couple scenes Luke fills us in on a lot.

The final verse that we read last week in worship was 2:40, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”  I had us repeat that verse this week too because it is a bookend to the verse which ends the scene, 2:52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”

That is an immensely revealing verse for how Luke understands Jesus.  Especially, “increased… in divine… favor.”

Increased in divine favor?  What does that mean?  Isn’t he the sinless one?  Isn’t he God, part of the Trinity?  Isn’t he the Son of God?  Isn’t he born with the fullness of God’s favor?  How can he increase in it?

Let’s look at the verses in between to get some answers.

We are told at the beginning that Jesus’ parents go to the temple for the Passover festival every year.  We are not told whether Jesus went with them every year or not, but that really isn’t important.   What is important is that we see that Jesus is being raised in a devout Jewish family.  They live by the letter and the spirit of the religious law.

Then when Jesus is 12 years old something happens.  It is difficult to say for certain that 12 years old was the age for adulthood for a man in those days.  Current Jewish practices were created centuries later.  Whatever the case, at age 12 a boy was considered to be getting on toward maturity and having the ability to think and do more for himself.  That is where we start to see a problem.

Now Luke doesn’t tell us anything about what might be an obvious thought for ourselves.  Why didn’t the twelve year old Jesus just tell his parents that he wanted to stay?  Well, again, he is of an age to start expressing more independence.  Also, remember his mother’s rather bold trip to Elizabeth when she was probably of a similar age!

There we start to get some clues.  Jesus is running up against a problem.  As a good Jewish boy he would be expected to live by the 10 Commandments.  You’ll remember that commandment number 4 is, “Honor your father and mother.”  And remember, that commandment isn’t just for when you’re a kid.  It goes for your whole life.  Children of any age were expected to honor their parents.  “Honor” does not mean that you have to submit to, or always obey.  No, but it does mean to be respect and love them always.

So, on one hand Jesus needs to honor his parents.  And yet as Luke tells it, by age 12 Jesus is showing that he has a deepening sense of who he is.  He recognizes that God is his Father.  He recognizes that his Father’s house is the temple in Jerusalem.  And he recognizes that he wants to learn and grow from the religious experts who are there.

In these verses Jesus speaks for the first time.  His first words are, “Why were you searching for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  We can see a divide forming here.  Jesus assumed that his parents knew what his priorities had to be.  It is almost as if he expects them to know of his divine identity and help to shape it.  But apparently they did not.

A major turning point happens in this scene.  That is probably the main point that Luke is trying to make with it.  Jesus is starting to think and act for himself.

Jesus was given no say as to the circumstances of his birth.  In fact his parents had no say either.  It was quite clear that they were travelling by the command of the government.  And that crowding meant they didn’t get much choice as to the birth setting.  But then as we read last week, at 8 days old we are told that Jesus’ parents brought him up to Jerusalem.  So they were doing the acting.  Jesus was passive.  This week we see that the text starts with his parents making their annual Passover trip to Jerusalem.  They took Jesus with them.  But once there Jesus’ growing independence starts to show.  He stays behind.  Then notice verse 51 at the end of the text, “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them.” 

In other words, Jesus is indeed being obedient.  He is following his parents’ will.  But now he is doing so because he chooses to do so.  They are not taking him places anymore.  He is obedient by his own conscious decision.

One of the developmental tasks of childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood is to develop, discover, and affirm one’s identity.  When we say that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, we cannot shortchange the fullness of Jesus’ humanity.  So, as this story from Luke brings up, like any full human, Jesus is developing, discovering, and affirming his identity.  He did not arrive as an infant complete and whole.  He arrived as an infant who was fully an infant.  By the guidance of the Spirit he grew into his identity just like any other person.  He had no shortcuts.  He had no predetermined path.  It was a true journey of developing a self-identity.

The words we heard in the second reading, which was from Hebrews 5, remind us of an important thing, “Therefore [Jesus] had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God…”

“…in every respect,” includes growing and learning.  It includes the normal path of developing a self-identity.

It is easy to pray to Jesus as if he were somehow a superhuman, as if he was God striving across the earth in human form; but ultimately unfazed by the gritty reality of life.  But that is a mistake.  When we say Jesus was fully human we mean he was fully human.  As Hebrews says Jesus was like us in every respect.

That is God’s love for us.  God did not come just to show us the way.  God did not come to give us a lecture on how to be holy.  God came both to be an example of righteousness, but also -if such a thing is possible- to know what it is to be a human by becoming one.  In other words, God’s own knowledge increased in the incarnation; although again, that is an impossibility.  But God wanted to know what it truly felt like to be limited, to have questions, to have struggles, to have doubts, and to develop an identity.

Jesus knows and understands all; deeply well.  You can truly pray to him as a friend – an equal.  Absolutely completely totally real and relatable.  Jesus was not too holy to be touched.

This passage rounds out the birth stories of Jesus and John the Baptist.  Next week we meet John the Baptist as an adult.  The next week we’ll meet Jesus as an adult and realize that the fullness of his identity and ministry do not come to shape until his baptism.  Then and only then is he ready for the ministry ahead.  And as you know the story well, it will be a complex ministry.  There will be many joyous times and many conflicts too.

For today realize just how merciful and completely understanding God is of our humanness through Jesus.  We do indeed have a Savior who is one of us.  Someone who knows and understands completely, and is therefore deeply merciful and forgiving.