Advent Lutheran Church

"A Process with a Promise of Progress (1st Sunday of Christmas)"

Last week Saturday my wife Sophie, Sophie’s aunt Asinni, Yonni our 2 ½  year old son and I were in the Great Mall. We were there to shop and to play with Yonni.  Since Sophie’s aunt is the first close family member that Yonni had gotten to know, we stopped by a studio to take a family picture. We were so excited for Yonni and tried all our best to create a memory with aunty Asinni.

When we were done with taking of pictures in the studio, Yonni ran the whole way.  He does this running and coming back always. We thought he would come back as usual. However, he did not.  All of us were so nervous.

All three of us went in a different direction to search for him. I cannot tell you how many negative ideas were coming in to our minds at that moment. Finally, aunty Asinni found him by the playground. All this took about three to five minutes. But those minutes were like days.

In the past, I had read today’s Bible story many times, but never shared Mary and Joseph’s anxiety in a way I did that day!

For the first-time gospel reader, this passage might make the reader very curious. From his circumcision at eight days old to the beginning of his public ministry in his thirties, we don’t have any other childhood stories about Jesus. This is the only one, and it only appears in Luke’s account.

If we imagine that Luke had interviewed Mary and others who knew Jesus during his childhood, surely they could have told Luke more.  So I wonder why Luke chose only this story. It is clear that as a writer Luke chose this story to tell us about who Jesus was, how Jesus was raised, and what his mission was.

On the other hand, if we read some “legends” that have been circulated from early days on, there are a bunch of fancy stories about Jesus’ childhood time.  For example, one story says, “one day when Jesus and his friends were molding animals out of clay, and Jesus threw his bird up into the air, it flew away.” Or in another story, “when one neighborhood boy tried to pick a fight with Jesus and tried to punch him, the boy’s hand just withered up and fell off.”

If Luke had followed the same line as these legends, he would have made Jesus show up in his home as soon as his parents found out that he was not with them. Jesus would not lead them to search him for three days!  But that is not the point what Luke is trying to tell us in this story. Luke is trying to tell us that Jesus grew normally, like any child whom his parents would search for, if he was missing. Jesus, as human, was like one of us.

If we look up two Scripture passages, I hope we will have some idea of who Jesus is. One is from the prophets and one from the epistles. First, from Isaiah 53:2 ,“for he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look upon him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."

 This is the image of a normal person, Jesus, whose appearance, even as a child, was not attractive.   There was no corona, no specialty. He looked like a normal kid. Those who knew Jesus as child were able to identify him with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The second is from Hebrews 4:15-16  ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  ¹⁶ Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The writer of Hebrews is telling us that Jesus has passed through all human processes just like us, so that he would be able understand what it is to be human. The purpose of passing in this process is not primarily for Jesus. It is for our benefit as well, so that we may have faith in him.

As you know, Luke gives us two baby stories. One is about John the Baptist. And the other is about Jesus. The last word we hear about John is found in Luke 1:80 “The Child grew and become strong in spirit and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel”.

Both babies were born according to the plan of God to bring God’s salvation to the people. One was to pave the road for the coming One and the other One was to live up to his name, Emmanuel: to be with the people, to be with us. 

Jesus did not wait until the day he appeared publicly in Israel to live up to his name “Emmanuel.”  He began to live with the people as an infant and continued to grow in the community. I do not know any God or savior that is able to connect with humanity from birth to death.  Jesus lived the human form in its full sense.

It is true when the writer of Hebrew says   ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  He went through everything that other kids go through. He cried when he was a baby. When he was a teenager, he passed through the teenager process. Today’s passage is a good example to show us that he got into trouble with his parents just like other teenagers! As this story unfolds, perhaps teenagers can understand Jesus better than parents.

At some point, every parent would move past misunderstanding his or her teenager.  Mary and Joseph, like any other parents, did not understand Jesus at this time. They seemed to forget their son’s destiny. They seemed to forget they had a special son who has both divine and human nature. 

In his response to his parents, Jesus reminded them that his call and his purpose is to fulfill his Father’s will.  He explained this from the “divine necessity” perspective. The English translation “I must be” in Greek is (di-e). The Greek word shows that the necessity comes from the divine. It means there is no other option than to obey the divine will. In other words, Jesus is saying “Mama, did you forget how you conceived me? Did you forget what the angel told you?

What was his Father's business any way? To know the scripture, to understand it, to live with the people. And, of course, to be crucified and died.  Christ was building a foundation for his coming public ministry. One of the foundations is to spend time in the temple reading and understanding the scripture. It is to engage in the faith community life.  The remarks like “he taught with authority not as the scribes” came from not only from his divine personality but also from his human progress.

I think it wouldn’t be fair if we only sympathized with Jesus the teenager and forgot the mother of a special child. How would you like to try to raise the Son of God? He is son of God, but he is a kid. He is son of God, but that does not mean that he does not have to be potty trained, because he is also the son of humanity. He is son of God, but that doesn't mean he comes out of the womb already knowing everything because he is also the son of humanity. He is son of God but that doesn't mean he will never get himself into trouble because he is also the son of humanity. I don’t think it was an easy job for Mary to raise Jesus. Of course, as mother, it was not easy to give birth to him to raise him and to see him dying on the cross and to see him raised from the dead and to see him ascending.

And it is not easy to wait for his second coming. Our Lord keeps his promise. As he promised he was born, as he promised he was crucified, died and as he promised he was raised from the dead. Yes, as he promised, he will come again. Amen!!

Brothers and sisters, our life in Christ is always a process with a promise of progress. The reading from Colossians gives us the idea of our progress in Christ - growing in humility, meekness and patience. A progress in forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven us. A progress in clothing ourselves with love. A progress in Christ peace and wisdom. A progress in doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus in giving thanks to God.

Today Peyton’s life in Christ will begin in the Baptism of water and Spirit. Christ, who began his life as an infant and continued to increase in wisdom and in years in Divine and human favor has promised to be with Peyton and help him to grow.  So, trusting in the promise of God, let us all continue to increase in faith, hope, love and wisdom in Divine and human favor.

We have the promise ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  ¹⁶ Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16  

Amen.