“The Father’s House” (Luke 2:40-52)

Luke 2:40-52

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 30, 2018

Jesus grew up with parents who brought him to the Temple in Jerusalem every year. We also know from chapter 4 of Luke’s Gospel that it was their custom to go to synagogue every week. Jesus and his family were faithful worshipers. In today’s Gospel, Jesus and his family are traveling with extended family and friends. The distance between Nazareth and Jerusalem is around 100 miles. They were traveling in a group for safety but all for social reasons. The adults are having their conversations. The children are talking and playing. Jesus, his mother Mary, Joseph, and everyone else arrive in Jerusalem after a long journey and worship at the temple. After spending a few days there, they head back home. As they return home, they probably tell stories and share their experience with one another. They are well into their journey before they realize Jesus is not with them. They assumed that Jesus is with the group all along. But he isn’t.

Jesus is twelve years old. And he is fulfilling one of a parent’s worst fears. Jesus has gone missing. Jesus is lost. They retrace hours of their journey back to Jerusalem. I’m sure in those first few hours, all sorts of disturbing thoughts enter their minds. They search for Jesus for three days. They have at least two sleepless nights to wonder if their worst fears had been realized. The feeling of panic and desperation threaten to overcome these loving parents with despair. There were no Amber Alerts, photos to pass out, television, or internet to get the word out. As a parent, I’d be losing my mind. After three days of combing the city, they find Jesus in the Temple having a theological conversation—amazing them with His insight, knowledge, and intimate relationship with God. How can anyone fault Mary for what she says? “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”

There is some irony that Jesus will grow up to be the Good Shepherd who comes to seek and save the lost—not get lost himself. The boy Jesus responds, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that must be in my Father’s house?” It makes pretty good sense. If they would have retraced their steps, why did they visit Temple last? Wasn’t the Temple the reason for pilgrimage? “They did not understand what he said to them.” It will take Mary years before she understands the significance of Jesus’ words. Jesus was not lost. His parents lost sight of Jesus.

"Jesus Found in the Temple" by James Tissot (1836-1902)

This story is for us—how not to lose sight of Jesus but always fix our eyes on him. It is for us who like Mary and Joseph become distracted even by the world and even a religious experience. Like them we can get so caught up in the latest controversy, breaking news, gossip, and routine of life that we lose sight of Jesus. We let Him to drop into the background of our minds. Jesus does not get lost.  We lose track of Him. We let him escape our minds, our hearts, and our company. In our troubles, trials, and temptations we may ask, “Where is God?” He has not abandoned us. We have slowly let him slip out of our lives by the cares and concerns of this world.

Mary powerfully names it. She said they had been searching for him “in great anxiety.” Jesus will later say, “Do not worry about your life.” St. Paul will echo those words when he says, “Be anxious for nothing but in everything pray and give thanks” (Phil 4). We get lost in our worries and anxieties. We are so overwhelmed by the troubles and demands of this world that we lose sight of Jesus. Jesus says to us, “Don’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” “Don’t you know my Spirit dwells in the midst of my people? Why do you neglect the community of faith?” “Don’t you know I am where the Word of God is read and faithfully preached?” “I am the Word made flesh.” “Don’t you know that I promise to give my true Body and Blood with the Bread and Wine of Communion?” You will find me where I promise to give you my self for forgiveness, life, salvation.

This is more than a story from Jesus’ childhood. It foreshadows a time to come. This is not the last time Jesus will go to Jerusalem for Passover…stay longer in Jerusalem than he was advised…will be missing from those whom he loved…lost for three days. About 20 years later he will be in Jerusalem again for Passover. He will be crucified. He will be missing for three days, hidden away in the tomb. But he is not lost. His mother Mary will go looking for Jesus again. This time at the tomb. The angel will echo Jesus’ words years earlier, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” He is exactly where His Father wants him—dying and rising to rescue us who are lost. We find Jesus on the Cross and rising victoriously from the dead to purchase and secure a place for us in his heavenly home.

In the meantime, he promises never to leave us or forsake us. And we are called to fix our eyes upon him who loves us. He shows up again and again in his Word and Sacraments until we reach that place where he is now, the New Jerusalem—where is no need for a temple. Because Jesus is there and here. He is God’s eternal presence—ready to welcome us to his Father’s House, our heavenly home. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. And we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”