Christmas 1 (C) December 26. 2021 Panzer Liturgical Service
LUKE 2:41-52, 1 SAMUEL 2:18-20, 26, COLOSSIANS 3:12-17
When I acknowledged my call to full-time ministry, I had a very specific idea about what kind of ministry I wanted to do, and what I didn’t. I wanted to preach. I didn’t want to teach… which 35 years in hindsight was an ignorant distinction, because if preaching isn’t teaching, then there’s something important missing. Anyway, it turns out that the spiritual gifts inventories I took along the way were right, one of my gifts is teaching. But my fear about teaching – that I had to know all of the answers – was also misguided. Teaching others is one of the best ways I know of learning new things for myself. Not knowing the answers to questions allows me to explore new resources. And having students ask questions about theological and practical Christian ideas has been one of the best gifts I have ever gotten.
When I was a new pastor, I asked a group of high school students if anyone had any questions before they left our Sunday evening youth group. I had about 10 minutes to fill, so I was expecting process questions – when do we need to get our permission forms in for camp… that kind of thing. What I got was an inquisitive 11th grader who asked, “What’s your best explanation of the Trinity.” Now, I’ll be honest – for a minute I thought about blowing her off. But instead, I dug into the recesses of my Christian Theology and Church History classes from seminary and tried to put together a coherent answer, using symbols and ideas that related to their experiences as teenagers. It took more than 10 minutes… but they sat on the edge of their chairs, and listened, and answered the questions I asked, and asked a few more questions – and 20 or 30 minutes later, parents were knocking on the door, ready to get home for the night. To end the discussion I reminded them that, in the end, believing in and understanding the Trinity is an act of faith.
I can still see the room – see their faces – hear their brains clicking into what we were talking about. For some of them, this deep theological concept became real. But more real than that was the idea that they were invited to understand faith within their own life experiences. Tackling these theological footballs made their faith their own. And permitted them to ask questions and to test the theology of the church with their own faith experiences. That day changed me, too. That’s when I realized that questions are important. And that sometimes, what we get from those discussions are more questions. But even then, our faith can grow if we trust that God is in it all.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we celebrate Jesus in the birth narrative of Matthew and Luke. On the first Sunday after Epiphany (January 6th), we remember Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, which marks the beginning of his ministry. That means we have very few days to think about what happens in between. One of the miracles of biblical archeology is the discovery of first and second-century writings which allude to a fantastical childhood for Jesus. Apocryphal gospel accounts tell stories of Jesus performing miracles as a small child but were not given the weight of biblical canon or scripture, being outside the bounds of belief by early church fathers. What we are left with is one story.
Today’s gospel lesson gives us the only glimpse of Jesus as a child – actually as a preteen – 12 years old. Here, Jesus has joined his family in the yearly pilgrimage to celebrate the Passover – roughly three days journey for the crowd of people walking from Galilee to Jerusalem. On the way home, Mary and Joseph notice that Jesus is missing – and they retrace their steps back the way they came and search the places they visited, finally finding Jesus in what they must see as the most unlikely place.
Even though Luke’s gospel is written to a primarily Gentile audience, the Temple in Jerusalem plays a big role in many of Jesus’ most important scenes. Jesus is dedicated in the Temple – he speaks here during his ministry, words of encouragement and words of condemnation. It makes perfect sense that the place where Jesus first exerts himself as a young man would be at the Temple… perhaps drawn back there by his Passover experience and questions that this visit might have raised. In Jewish culture, the age of 12 was a turning point. Young men would have studied for their right to take on membership in the synagogue community. They would memorize from the scrolls of the Torah and the Prophets. They would learn to make the faith of their parents their own.
Ironically, one of the first questions that most people have when they read this passage is, “How did Mary and Joseph lose him for so long?” Short answer – this was a group affair – many members of their community would have traveled together – for company and safety. Perhaps it was when they bedded down the first night that they realized that Jesus was missing. The next morning, they would have left to return to Jerusalem – another day gone – and then a day retracing their steps. Three days seems about right – with even what they knew in their hearts about who Jesus was, I imagine the Temple would not have been their first stop.
And when they found him, it was quite the sight. Jesus was sitting among the teachers, not only listening, but “putting questions to them.” This infers that Jesus was not just seeking information, but teaching them. This is the classic teaching method of Socrates – the teacher asks the questions and the students answer… it’s like taking a test in real-time.
This is reflected in the response of those around him – most are amazed… how is this boy so wise? The parents – their response is a little different – they are shocked… despite what they were told about who he was, seeing it come to life in front of them must have been disorienting and life-changing.
Jesus’ response is also not what we expect. It is as if he has grown up in a matter of days. To his parents – a small rebuke – where else would have expected me to go? And here we see perhaps one of the first times Jesus acknowledges the different kind of life he will live. We don’t see Jesus again until his baptism by John, ushering in the formal beginning of his ministry. But this day in the temple, the boy Jesus is stepping into the shoes that were promised to him. Teaching will always be that were not given the weight of biblical canon or scripture a the forefront of his ministry, and he will always answer more questions with a question or a story than he will give straightforward answers.
And before any teenagers get the idea that Jesus is telling them to disobey their parents or make their own decisions, Jesus left with his parents that day, returning to Nazareth and obeying them, as was his responsibility as their son, and “Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people.”
Maybe you came to church today to hear the Christmas story again, but I hope that you will leave understanding that this part of Jesus’ story is just as important, and anything else we know about him. This was a life-changing experience for everyone. Jesus grew into himself in those three days, and while he was still his parents’ son, he wasn’t a child anymore. It is no mistake that Jesus was missing from his parents for three days and then found in an unexpected place. Think about the end of his earthly life… three days dead, and then found in an unexpected place… alive. Here in the shadow of Christmas, we get our first glimpse of Easter.
A lot of people don’t like questions. The “why” question will often get answered with “we always” or “we never…” and it is seldom a satisfactory answer.
There is a lot of turmoil in the world right now, both in the church and in society, over people asking questions about history and biblical interpretation and science and societal norms. When people ask “why,” they are often shunned. When they offer an alternative to an assumed truth, they can be thrown out of the community or sequestered or shamed from outside influence. Banned books, denying history, shutting down inspired inquiry, being unwilling to change – these are the enemies of growing and stable communities of faith and political societies.
Jesus is living proof that God is always ready to do a new thing. Jesus sits with the teachers in the Temple and perhaps without their knowledge, turns the table on them. The baby Jesus that we celebrated with angels and shepherds in a stable is the same one who will save the world from itself and its assumptions about everything.
If there’s anything I’ve learned in all these years, it is this: Questions are good. Questions are our way of integrating new information into the fabric of our lives, like weaving new colors into a piece of fabric, adding shading and dimension to a drawing or painting, or substituting new spice combinations into well-loved family recipes. Asking questions about faith, to me, means that faith is something worship pursuing, worth risking for, something we are willing to hold on to.
Confirmation is the part of the baptismal process where children who were baptized as infants get to learn about the faith of their childhood and decide for themselves whether or not to take those promises on for themselves. I have taught 15 confirmation classes in the last 30 years and 6 of them have been here in Stuttgart. It is an honor to sit with these youth as they learn about this history and traditions of the church, and ask some of the questions which make this faith their own.
I end with a great affirmation on the nature of questions. Three years ago, the 11th grader who asked the Trinity question in my first youth group, a fellow Duke Divinity Aluma, graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary with a Doctorate of Ministry in Christian Education. She was my student, but she is my teacher. And for the willingness of anyone to ask questions and wrestle with the faith, we give thanks.
One last note: Yesterday, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched into orbit. It is the largest telescope ever created by NASA, with a deployed diameter of 21 feet. It will travel 1-million miles to its point of final orbit, past Earth’s moon, with an ongoing mission to look deep into space to see things we have never been able to see before. Webb is so sensitive that it will be able to see 13.5 billion years into our past, to the very beginnings of our universe.
Instead of worrying that the information this telescope gathers will contradict the biblical creation story, I am excited to see how it might fill in the blanks… God said, “Let the be light…” now we may get to see more about what that might have looked like. More information is always good.
I think our epistle reading from Colossians is fitting as a closing prayer today. It is a reminder that whatever do in life, we are doing it in the name of Jesus… and in the name of love.
Let us read this passage again, this time together:
12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Amen.
Peace, Deb
(C) Deb Teagan - December 2021
Exegesis: Pulpit Fiction Podcast Christmas 1 (Year C) 2021 - Robb Mccoy and Erik Fistler https://www.pulpitfiction.com/notes/christmas1c/#Luke2%3A41-52=
James Webb Space Telescope: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/webb/main/index.html https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/assets/documents/WebbFactSheet.pdf
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