Sermon

Baptism by Fire

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

January 13, 2019

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Luke 3:15–17 (NRSV)

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

The season of Epiphany is one of revelation. Last week we saw how God revealed the gospel in the stars to the magi, what that star was remains a mystery even after 2000 years although some have some convincing research. That revelation to the magi, showed us that God revealed the gospel to the gentiles, that God’s ultimate includes all people. It does not matter who you are, where you were born, what your social standing, or personal wealth is God loves you to such a degree that Jesus left heaven to be born. He grew up in a common family in a community of friends and family. He worked within his family business and was known in his home town as the carpenter’s son. And after thirty years he actively begins the mission he was born to fulfill.

I want each of us to consider this timeline before we proceed. Thirty years to us does not seem like much time. In our culture, people are not even considered actual adults until about that time. The age of thirty in our culture is often the beginning of many things. It’s when we start families, it is when we become set in a career that we hope to remain. It is when we start families. It is when we finally begin to feel as if we know who we are. Thirty for many of us is not that old, and when we consider the age of Jesus, we often think of him through the lens of our culture. Jesus was a young man when he entered his ministry.

This is not exactly the case. In the first century thirty was different. The boys would begin in their family business at around the age of thirteen, and they would work with the family their entire lives. If your father worked with ceramics, you would work in ceramics or most likely marry a man who worked with ceramics. If your father was a priest, you became a priest or married a priest. If you father was a laborer the same career path was set before you. The only way out was if you happened to be very intelligent and you parents were able to afford extended education with the rabbis or you entered the service of the government.

Jesus worked from the age of thirteen to thirty with the family, as a carpenter. He worked alongside Joseph, and the other members of the family for seventeen years, cutting stone and timber to build and repair houses and other buildings in and around Nazareth. Seventeen years, in today’s culture if you work twenty-five years with in one company your pension is matured, and you can retire, so if Jesus was in our culture today, he would be less than ten years away from this.

In many ways Jesus would not be what we would consider a young man, but an established man, if not an elder. There were very few careers where he would not be a master of his trade at this time. In his culture there would be only one area he would have been particularly young and that would be the priesthood, because a priest would begin their service in the temple at the age of twenty-five and continue to serve until, they were fifty.

Jesus would have been at an age that he would be considered established, he had made it over one very huge milestone, he lived to the age of thirty. Life expectancy in the first century was not what it is today. The average life expectancy during the first century and really till the 20^th century was around thirty-five to forty years old. Today because of the advancements in medical sciences we live much longer, about twice as long. We often think of Jesus being young, but the event we read about today in scripture, Jesus would be like many of us here today, middle-aged at best. After already living a full life, Jesus then began something different.

Today we meet again on the banks of the Jordan river, we meet this enigmatic man John. We spoke about John a few weeks ago, so I will not go much deeper into who he is. He is Jesus’s cousin, and is a son of a priest. Yet John did not follow his father into this career instead he went out into the wilderness and began a different sort of ministry. He challenged the established religious industry, and from the testimony of his teaching we might be led to believe that he was disgusted with what religion had become. He would yell at the religious leaders and called them a brood of vipers. Personally, I do not know of many insults that would be worse.

John is preaching on the banks of the Jordan, and the people of Israel are going out to meet him. They go out because they have this expectancy, a holy anxiety that something is going on. Something deep within their spirit is telling them that they are missing something profound in faith. And they cannot find. They listen to the teachers and they are telling them the messiah is coming and that is what you are sensing. And as they teach them about this messiah, they are telling them what to expect. A king, a military leader, a man that will lead them from the heel of Rome into independence and prosperity. Could John be this man, clearly, he is charismatic enough to challenge the establishment but is he the one?

If we were to read all of John the Baptist’s message, we would find that most of what he taught was based on turning from the ways of the world and living a different lifestyle. This lifestyle he explained as, “bearing fruit worthy of repentance.” Which leads us to a significant question, what is repentance? When I look this word up it speaks of a changing of one’s mind, a change of heart, or direction. John is on the Jordan shouting at people telling them that they are going the wrong direction and need to turn around. But I want us to keep in mind, these people are not grave sinners they are the child of Abraham, God’s chosen people. These are the people who eat, drink, breath, and sleep religion. These are the most righteous of all people, their temple is the greatest temple ever built to facilitate worship. He is yelling at the righteous to turn around.

These people filled with expectation are going out to listen, they hear the message and they realize that there are areas in their life that they do need to turn. Then they wonder is John the one they have been looking for? Is he the messiah? He is out there screaming and dunking people under the water as a sign that they have been cleansed from their unrighteous past and can stand clean before God, yet when they consider him John rejects their thoughts. Saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

This great charismatic teacher that has all of Israel leaving the towns and villages, to be immersed in the Jordan tells them, “You think I’m great. You just wait, there is someone else coming and I am not even worthy of being his slave.” John is not even worthy to perform the lowest task of the lowest slave within a house. He is not worthy to untie and wash the feet of the one who will come.

Think of all the people you respect and why. Consider all the value you place on their character or their accomplishments. John was the greatest preacher of his day, crowds were coming out to meet him, to listen to his message, enduring the ridicule he might bring them. Not just simple common people, but even the scribes, the teachers of the law. Each listening and many moved to the point that they walked out into the water to plunge beneath the waters. Yet John says, “Nope, I’m not the one you are looking for. I’m not even worthy to be his lowest slave.” John uses water to draw attention to a changed life, but the one that John is looking for will use the Holy Spirit and fire.

Jesus at this point is there among those people. He this established carpenter is standing with the rest of Israel listening to this crazy preacher, rant on religion and telling the righteous that they need to turn around because they are going the wrong way. Jesus was there and entered the water. According to the other gospel accounts John knew who Jesus was, and even told Jesus that he should not baptize Jesus, but Jesus should baptize him. John knew Jesus, yet there is a reason Jesus was baptized. Up to this point his life was established, he was the carpenter, everyone else knew him as a carpenter. For seventeen years that had been his life, now in the twilight years his life will turn and go a different direction.

Jesus was baptized to show the people of Judea that the carpenter they knew is no longer the man before them. The course they expected him to follow is now turning a different direction. And according to Luke, the first thing Jesus does after this baptism is that he prays. It is in his prayers at that moment that heaven opens, and the Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove and a voice speaks. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

For seventeen years, Jesus has lived the obedient life. He had lived the life expected of him. The life that his culture dictated to him. He was according to them, the son of a carpenter and that is what he would remain. But after the baptism Jesus turned from the ways of the world and pursued the life and lifestyle he was meant to live. The life of the Beloved son of God. The lamb who takes away the sin of the world. From that moment on Jesus turned from the life of a carpenter and pursued the mighty life John and all of Israel anticipated.

Often, we get caught up in the baptism of Jesus. We as Christians often mimic the activities because Jesus did them. But what was it that Jesus did? He was baptized because it was a sign, a religious and symbolic way of telling the people of Israel that Jesus’s life from that moment on would take a turn. The reality of it is that Jesus did not need to be baptized, nor does anyone else, because that is all it is a sign a symbol of the reality of what is and has already occurred. When John speaks of the one to come who will baptize not with water but the Holy Spirit and fire, he is speaking of something far greater than anything else, because water does not change anyone. Water may clean the outside of a body but something more must occur.

I spent some time looking up the significance of the words John used in his proclamation, and to be honest there is not any single understanding as to what he fully means. There are various perspectives that each work in some way. When we look at fire, it could mean judgement and punishment, or it can mean the purification of metals. I might also be referring to the disposal of unwanted chaff. From the statement about the winnowing fork being in hand to clear the threshing floor I tend to think John probably means getting rid of the unwanted chaff. But all these perspectives are good.

The fire is getting rid of the things that lack value. When a farmer is gathering grain, the kernels are encased in m material that has little or no use. When the plant was growing there was membranes that surrounded the seed protecting it from harm, but this membrane is inedible. Even if it is fed to animals it has the potential to cause harm. The beards of wheat have a Velcro like quality that can become lodged in the gums of livestock and cause infection. And as humans our bodies cannot digest the cellulose, so it provides no nutritional value for us. When the heads of the wheat are taken to the threshing floor the kernels are knocked out of these membranes and when they are scooped up and thrown into the air the wind will carry the chaff, the unwanted and worthless plant material, away and the kernels will fall back down. Eventually, the chaff will form piles on the edges of the floor and this would be removed and burned, leaving the kernel or the fruit.

The picture created by John’s words resemble his message, “bear fruit worthy of repentance.” The fruit is what is wanted not the chaff. The fruit has value, the chaff is simply residue, a byproduct, worthless. But what if we look at the words as refiner’s fire? Most metals are not found in a pure state in nature, but in an ore. The ore is the elemental metal crystalized with other elements forming a rock. When the ore is placed into fire the various elements melt at different temperatures. As the temperatures rise and cool these elements can be separated and you are left with a desirable and pure metal which can then be used to form various things like the vehicles we drove to get here or a ring to a marriage. Again, the fire removes the things that have little value so that the things with value can be obtained.

Now what about the Spirit? This also can mean a couple of different things. Some would say that it is God initiated, which means we repent or turn, because God does it within us. While others believe that maybe John is speaking of the wind which will blow the chaff away from the kernel and which intensifies the heat of the fire. No matter how we look at it, either God or wind, what is happening is outside ourselves. Our repentance or turning, the fruit we bear is a cooperation between ourselves and something that only Christ can provide. We cannot do it on our own.

John’s baptism is man initiated. Where the baptism of the one that comes after John is divinely initiated. When we work in our own strength, we do not always have the desired results but when we allow God to work within us it intensifies. When we repent, when we turn from the ways of our worldly systems and walk toward God in Jesus, the things lacking value blow away to be burned, and what is left is pure fruit.

All of Israel came to John to listen. They came because they were filled with expectation. The Spirit of God was working within them, but they did not know it. John spoke words of truth and they began to wonder even more. John then said I am not the one you seek but there is another and what I symbolize with water, he will actualize and intensify. But will we listen?

Jesus spent seventeen years of his adult life, living the life of a carpenter and one day he turned and went a different direction. He spent nearly his entire life, which was not necessarily a short or young life, being obedient to his culture and then he turned to follow the paths set before him even before time began. Time is not an obstacle to God, age is not a complication to God, our resources, our careers or lack thereof are not problems for God. Our genders, our education, our heritage, or nationality do not matter to God. All of that is mere chaff, it is worthless material encasing something much more important, the essence of your life.

The fact that each person is here today, means that like Israel before us we have some deep yearning and expectation we hope to meet. This is God urging us to that life. What will we do from here? The most charismatic man of that day, John said you are looking for the messiah, but I’m not it. I am not even worthy of untying his shoes. Yet he still said turn, repent. Turn from a life focused on the values of men, and pursue the pathways of God, now today. God has a life that he created you to fill in this community, a life where you will find hope, peace and joy. A life where you can be yourself and others will accept you. A life that is available to you and you can have when you turn.

As we enter this time of open worship, and holy expectancy I pray that each of us in this moment will consider the life of Jesus, as well as the life and testimony of John. I pray that we will consider the community around us and the community we hope to see. And I pray that we will repent, that we will turn and walk not according to the ways of the world, but in the ways of Christ, so our hope will become sight.

Revealed

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

January 6, 2019

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Matthew 2:1–12 (NRSV)

The Visit of the Wise Men

2 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ² asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” ³ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸ Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” ⁹ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Have you ever experienced a time where everything around you seemed to be confusing? Maybe it was a math class in high school, or in my case chemistry class in college. Everything the teachers or whoever was in charge was saying just caused greater confusion to the point you could barely listen anymore. I often feel this way. I like to see myself as an intelligent person but there are some things I just do not understand. I am comfortable enough with who I am now, so I do not mind admitting it. It is alright to exist in our world and not know something. In fact, one of the funniest scenes in Sir Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is where Sherlock is in total confusion when his friend Watson explains the concepts of Copernican heliocentrism. Holmes this genius of a man could not grasp the idea of the earth revolving around the sun, for the simple fact that it did not attract his attention. No matter how much he listened, he could not make sense of it and the scene closes with Holmes still ignorant of the concept. We do not have need to know everything, nor do we have to have an opinion about everything. And if something does not really matter, we should not really get ourselves worked up over or preferences.

At times no matter how much, we would like to understand we just cannot, but at times something in our minds click and suddenly things just begin to make sense. I have said a few times over the course of my ministry that my oldest son James is one of the people in my life that lead me to Christ. Yes, I had knowledge before, and if anyone would have asked me if I was a Christian between from the time, I was five to nineteen I would have answered with an affirmation of faith. But there was much about my faith that I did not understand. I had read the bible completely at a young age, there was even one time we had a bible quiz at our local meeting where everyone, children and adults competed with one another, and I won. I had knowledge, but it was not until I held my son for the first time, that the knowledge I had between my ears made sense. James, a minutes old child, lead me to the knowledge of my salvation. That infant, my infant, my son became the conduit of grace for a broken and struggling young man. And in my quest to be the best dad I could be, God revealed to me who I truly was and who I was created to be.

I am a pastor. It is not because this Meeting has asked me to share words of wisdom every week, it is because it is who I am. I cannot do anything else but teach the gospel. Even when I work outside the church there are times I am teaching. Even when I stepped away from pastoral ministry for a couple of years, I was still ministering on a voluntary basis, because that is who I am. At times I wish God would have called me to something else, but I honestly cannot see my life in any other role. Through my son, God provided an epiphany, he revealed myself to me.

I reflect often on that day. A day that will be twenty years ago next week. On that day I began a journey of discovery that was filled with struggle. Every day I continue to struggle, because I know who I am. I know what I have done, I know how flawed I am. Yet I see not other life for me, because on that day I began a journey, not in religious duty but in love and grace. I saw a metaphorical light reflecting in the eyes of a child, and my life was no longer my own.

Everyone has moments like these. They may be life altering events that change the course of our personal history, or they might be simple recalculations within our spiritual GPS systems. But in every life, both for those of faith and those without faith there are moments that become revelations of truth to them. Moments where they become who they are to be, or in some cases they reject who they were meant to be. Those moments if we look back on our lives were days the ancient Quakers would call days of visitation. Days where the divine light spoke into their lives and they made a choice to walk toward or away. Today we interact with one of those days of visitation that occurred among some men from the regions east of Israel.

Last week I mentioned that each of the gospel writers focused on different aspects of the life of Jesus. I mentioned that the Gospel according to Mark did not speak much at all about anything prior to Jesus’s ministry, and it begins when Jesus is approximately thirty years old. The Gospel of John is one that begins with abstract theology of the preexistence of Jesus before the foundations of the world were even created, then again, we see Jesus as an adult at his baptism. Luke and Matthew give us a glimpse of the early life of Jesus. Both give a genealogy, and both speak of his conception and early childhood, but both give us different perspectives. Luke seems to look through the eyes of Mary, while Matthew speaks from Joseph’s point of view. But what is interesting about all the gospels is that it speaks of the same thing, the revelation of God, the good news of God’s kingdom, the incarnate word made flesh to dwell among us.

Luke gave us a glimpse into the later childhood of Jesus when Mary and Joseph lost track of their child and left him to fend for himself for three day at the temple. Matthew give us something different. Only in Matthew do we hear about the early struggles of the Holy Family. Struggles they did not ask for, struggles they probably wished they did not have to endure, yet struggles they embraced because of their faith in God.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.”^[1] It is important that Matthew included this verse, because it gives us a frame of reference to the actual historical events. This event happened after Jesus was born, during the time of King Herod. We can look up information about this person outside of biblical sources and see that there was an actual king Herod who reigned in Jerusalem during an era of history, from 37 BC to either 4 or 1 BC. This means that these events happened some time during this period. Also included in this verse is a strange word we do not see often in scripture, Magi. The word is associated with the word we know as magic, because that is what these men were thought to have practiced. So, of the approximately eight times a form of this word is mentioned it is referring to sorcery. Most of the uses those are in this chapter of Matthew. When we attach the word magic to it, we automatically connect everything about the word with evil, but these are not evil men, even one of the most revered prophets of the Old Testament would have held this title, the prophet Daniel. The Magi were the priestly class of the Persian empire. They were scholars of that culture. Their careful studies on various topics provide a foundation to many of the scientific studies and discoveries we enjoy today. Without the magi, we would know very little about mathematics, chemistry, and astronomy. The magi were the priests of the religion we know as Zoroastrianism, and without this religion no one would own a Mazda vehicle because we would not have that word.

The magi were priest, they studied many things and they used interpretations of these things to encourage and advise their rulers. The prophet Daniel was one of the chief magi, even though he practiced a different faith. He worshiped the Hebrew God, yet the people of Persia recognized that his wisdom was true. And if you were to investigate the faith of the magi you would find that there are many similarities between the faiths.

If we continue to read, these magi traveled to Jerusalem for a reason. They saw a star, and they determined that this star announced the birth of a Jewish king. I mentioned that the magi gave us foundations to the modern science of astronomy, or the study of stars. These scholars studied the stars, they knew what the exact position of stars would be at a given time and could tell when things like an eclipse would happen. They are not the only ancient people that could do this. Ancient Egyptians, Gaelic Druids, and even Native Americans studied the stars, and many of these star gazers were leaders of their various religions. The difference between astronomy and astrology is what people do with the knowledge they gain from observing the stars. One is a observes starry skies and records and predicts what might happen with those bodies in the future, the other is the belief that those stars can dictate and predict what events will happen in someone’s life.

The interesting thing is that these magi saw something, and they knew that this even spoke of the birth of a Jewish king. They saw a light, God revealed something to these gentiles and they responded to the light that they were given. These magi may or may not have had true salvation, but God used them to reveal something to us.

I recently watched a documentary about on man’s research on this subject. The man’s name is Rick Larson. This man is not an astronomer, but he uses the tools of astronomy to find what he calls answers. In his research he finds what he would say is Bethlehem’s star which was the convergence or conjunction of Jupiter and Regulus. Regulus is one of the brightest stars and part of the constellation Leo the lion. And in the cosmology of the Zoroastrians Regulus is the dominate of the four royal stars and Jupiter is often seen as the king of the planets. When Mr. Larson used star gazing software and traced it back to ancient Babylon in 3 BC and he found what he thought was what they saw. Jupiter wrapped around Regulus three times, and then Jupiter and Venus came together nine months later. He goes on to observe that Jupiter appears to stop in the night sky over Bethlehem on December 25, 2 BC. All these things in the cosmology or the understanding of the world of the magi say Jewish king. And I understand his point.

But there is more to the word star. The magi said that they observed his star rising. Rising can mean birth or beginning. But from the understanding of many ancient cultures the stars represent deities or messengers of the gods. With this understanding we could also conclude that these scholars might have seen something other than a star in the night sky, maybe they like Joseph were visited by an angel. Maybe this angel in some way revealed to them what the movement of the stars might mean, and they responded. I mention this because Joseph was visited by an angel in a dream and revealed to him the origin of Mary’s child, and Joseph responded. Angels visited the Shepherds in the fields of Judea and told them about the child’s birth in the Gospel of Luke, and it is possible that maybe God revealed the light also to the Gentiles of Persia.

I do not know what the Magi saw. I am intrigued by all the interpretations and research that people have made in this area. What I do know is that people saw a light and they responded. A king was born to the people of Israel, a child of Abraham from the tribe of Judah, through the line of David. And this nation, to whom this king was born, was to be the light to all nations. God is not only for the Jews, they were simply the people that God chose to make the revelation through, God is for all the nations. And we see this epiphany occurring when scholars from Persia see a light and respond by bringing this king gifts of Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

This story takes me back to my own journey through life. At one point I wrote a spiritual autobiography of my life. This is a discipline where you prayerfully reflect on your life and consider where God was and what your response to God was during every stage of your life. You consider who was with you along the way and how they influenced the choices you made at that moment. During this discipline I saw that God was working in my life all along the way. Working through my great grandparents, grandparents, parents, school teachers, and Sunday school teachers. I saw that God was present during the death of my sister, and even during the poor choices I made in my time of deep grief, he was revealing love and grace. The bright light that shown in the darkness was reflected brightest through the eyes of my son. And at that moment I chose to follow a path revealed by God.

We have knowledge, and we have opinion. We have confusion and we have ignorance. At times nothing makes sense and at other times everything makes sense around us. There was a time where God wrote the gospel in the starry skies and that bright light told scholars from the east to go and worship a king in a country not of their own, from a faith not of their own and they followed the light. It might not have made sense, but they responded. The child that they honored with their royal gifts, grew in grace and wisdom, and he marveled the teachers when he was only twelve. He obeyed his parents and worked along side his family until he was thirty. At that time, ancient middle aged, he made a career change and entered ministry, where he showed us what life with God should look like. He called people to follow him, to take on his lifestyle and he taught and showed us a holy rhythm of worship, prayer and service to others. This teaching threatened the leaders of his day and like in the days of Herod all of Jerusalem trembled because the teachings of Jesus challenged the commonly held beliefs, so they judged him, convicted him, and executed him. He lived to bring God to man, he died to take man to God, and on the third day he rose from the grave to prove that he had the power over our greatest fear death. This was all revealed for all to see, Jew and Gentile, man and women, children and adult, slaves and free. This life is available to all people, and all we must do is respond. Who is that child, who is that man, who is Jesus?

In this time of open worship and communion in the manner of Friends, let us reflect on the light that revealed to those Persian priests, let us reflect on our own journeys through life and see where the light might be in our own lives. Let us then make a choice, do we respond to the revelation before us and follow Him or do we stay trusting our own opinions? Who is Jesus to you?

^[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Mt 2:1). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Family Expectations

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

December 30, 2018

Luke 2:41–52 (NRSV)

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended, and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” ⁴⁹ He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

The Christmas season is one that reminds us of many things. We gather together with friends and family, we share meals, and often we share gifts. It is important to remember that Christmas is not only a day but a season.  I say this is important to remember the season, because when we celebrate a mere day, it is too easy to get caught up in the commercialism of our culture. When it is a season it spreads the thoughts out over the course of several days and it allows us to reflect on the meaning of Christmas more deeply.

Last week during our lessons and carols we closed out the season of Advent, or anticipation. We read scripture that spoke of the anticipated coming of Christ which was promised to our first parents, Abraham, and through the linage of King David. The last of our lessons was the first chapter of John, “And the word became flesh and dwelled among us.”

The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. This verse is one that causes me to pause every time I hear it. God, who created all things, joined creation where they are. God came to live with us.

When we consider Jesus, we know him in basically two stages, an infant and an adult. When was the last time we considered the time in between? This is why today’s passage is so important, it is the only time in scripture that we see a moment of Jesus’s life between the stable and the ministry. It reminds us that Jesus lived those years between, it allows us to consider that timeframe between.

This week I needed to know the incarnation. I needed to know that God understands, because it was one of those weeks where nothing worked out as planned. Gifts did not come on time. I had to argue with my insurance company multiple times. And as I was getting my car ready to travel to see my side of our family, the work I paid to have done caused more problems than I had before. Does God really understand what it is like to face the unexpected? Does God really know what it is like to have to deal with relational dynamics?

Today we get a glimpse into the family life of Jesus. Only Luke’s gospel account gives us this perspective and I am grateful for it. In Mark, we only see Jesus’s ministry because it begins when Jesus is an adult. In John, we get an abstract beginning that speaks of the eternal existence of Jesus. In Matthew, we see that Jesus’s family is visited by the Magi and then they flee from the threat of death and seek refuge in Egypt. In Luke, we see a glimpse of the family.

“Now every year,” Luke states, “his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover.” This does not seem to say a great deal, but it shows us the devotion of Joseph and Mary. Two thousand years after the initial events we tend to forget certain dynamics of the story. During Mary’s pregnancy they were not yet married, but only engaged. It was the custom of their culture that the engagement would last a year. There could be several reasons for this, but one of the main reasons would be to determine if the wedding was an emergency or not. If they were engaged for a year during that time if a pregnancy occurred, they would know it happened prior to the wedding, at that time proper actions could be taken. Mary was with child prior to this event. Everyone knew that Mary was with child, and since Joseph did not negate the engagement, everyone would assume that Joseph was the father and that Mary and Joseph were living in sin.

In the eyes of that culture, sin ushered in the wrath of God. Every negative event was a direct result of your sin. If you got sick, you must have sinned. If the crops failed, you sinned and need to repent. If someone died, sin. If a child was born with a disability, the parents were sinful and that was judgement. It did not matter if you sinned or not if something happened it was your fault. There is something else about this culture we need to remember as well, they were community based.

Extended families lived and worked together. It was not uncommon for several generations to live within the same household. Adult siblings and their parents and at times in-laws, all living in the same housing complex. If they had a decent income, each family unit might have their own room, but most shared a room or courtyard used for cooking and eating. The men would wake up each morning and go together to work, and the wives would work together within the housing complex. If you did not get along with your brother, you would just have to deal with it because you would probably be living with them your entire life. The family business, and living accommodations were community based, so the sin of one family member would often be felt by the extended family as well.

Consider for a moment, Joseph’s family were construction workers. We commonly call them carpenters, but the word could also mean stone masons, so the idea is that they built and repaired structures. Joseph’s future wife is pregnant before the official wedding, and Joseph accepts the child and marries her anyway. He says that he is not the father, yet he does not make any attempt at seek justice. The family may accept Joseph’s decision, but he carries the weight of every hardship on his shoulders, and if their family is like any of ours, he was probably reminded of it often.

They lived with a social stigma surrounding them, yet they remained steadfast and devoted to their faith. Every year they would make the festival journeys, every year they offered sacrifices, and participated in the religious aspects of their lives. Every year they were faithful, and every year they were reminded of the unique circumstances of their family.

This instance occurred when Jesus was twelve. There is a reason that we are told his age, Jesus at this point is still a child. At the age of thirteen the boys would become men, they would begin their lives within the family business and would be adults. When they were twelve, anything and everything that happened was the parent’s responsibility. If a child stole an item from a vendor, the parents would take the punishment. Twelve would have been a transitionary period, we would call it adolescence today. They are a child, yet they are nearly an adult. They can do somethings on their own, yet they have not yet developed to the point they can fully reason on their own.

We can tell that Mary and Joseph have given Jesus some personal responsibility because they allow him to walk by himself within their traveling party. This is like parents today allowing their high school students drive themselves to a school event. They can drive themselves yet if anything happens to the vehicle it is the parent’s responsibility. Mary and Joseph were good parents allowing some freedom and teaching their children to be devoted to their faith.

They gave him the responsibility, and Jesus did not meet their expectations. They assumed he was traveling along side one of the other people within their group. And after a day they realized he was not there. Then they frantically traveled back to the city to look for him.

Consider for a moment this situation. Many of us have turned around in a department store and a child or a parent was not where we expected them to be. This happened to me not too long ago. I turned my back to look at some socks and turned around again and Albert was nowhere to be seen. For several moments that seem like minutes, we frantically searched for him. When I was about to go to the desk to have them announce a missing child, I heard a giggle. He had simply stepped back into the rack a bit and was standing among clothing that matched what he was wearing. I thought he walked away but he was right with us. My reaction after the initial relief was to scold the child as if he ran off to the toy section without telling me, but the scolding which he endured was really me scolding myself for not paying close enough attention to him. That was a manner of seconds, this was three days. In their mind, Jesus could be anywhere. Jerusalem had thousands of visitors during a festival, how likely would it be to find one child among them.

This is a difficult passage to consider because it challenges our concepts of theology and sin. Scripture states Jesus was without sin, yet we would consider this situation to have been sinful if it was any other child. We, like Mary and Joseph, would have scolded the child and probably punished him. Did Jesus sin, or could we possibly be mistaken in our concept of sin? Did Jesus fail to come along with the family, or did Mary and Joseph fail to communicate with Jesus what time they were leaving?

This passage gives us great insights into interpersonal and parental relationships. The first thing we see is that Jesus is a fully human child. His mind was attracted to something interesting and every aspect of his attention was directed to it. Is it sinful for a child to be in a state of wonder? Absolutely not. Children need the freedom to explore and imagine. They need to be able to ask questions and learn. We should encourage our children to learn as much as possible. This is why we provide for their education. This is why we encourage them to graduate and pursue secondary education in a trade school or university. Jesus was a completely human child, who was fascinated by the interactions and interpretations of scripture among the teachers of their faith. He heard them talking and he walked to them, Joseph might have initially even gone over to them along with Jesus. They were teaching, and Jesus asked a question and then one thing led to another and suddenly this child and the teachers were having this discussion among themselves and the child’s parents had lost track of him. Jesus stayed while they walked away, assuming he followed with them or one of the relatives.

The second thing we see is that Mary and Joseph are typical parents. They are just as human as the rest of us. They do their best to integrate and enculturate their children, but sometimes they fail. They left their child alone in a city. They made assumptions when they should have double checked and something terrible could have happened. They were sick with worry, and they scolded the child when they were really the ones to blame, because emotions are hard to handle sometimes.

The third thing I learn from this is that we should be mindful of those around us, especially our children. The teacher in Proverbs tells us to train up our children in the way they should go. Often, we interpret this as being encourage them to pursue careers that will have an income that will allow them to survive, but that is not at all what this means. We should train them in the way they should go. This means we need to be mindful of their personality and their temperament. My brother and I are very different from one another. This could be do to the fact we have different fathers, but it is more than just that. My brother tinkers and I study. My brother learns with his hands and I learn with my eyes. My mind works in abstract where his is temporal. We think differently, we have different skills and get excited about different concepts. My dad bought me a microscope, and my brother a magnifying glass. I study and my brother tinkers. I observe and my brother experiments. I plan, and he tries it out. My dad taught my brother how to rebuild a small engine and he discussed life cycles and crop rotation to me. My dad was an excellent parent, because he understood us. He knew I was never going to become a tinkerer, so he did not train me to be a mechanic. He knew my brother liked to get his hands into things, so he taught him how to fix things and gave him the tools to do it with mainly because if he didn’t my brother would use his tools. We both learned from the same parent, we both went different direction, yet the same parent encouraged us both.

We need to be mindful of others. There is a reason I allow the kids to play on the drums during worship. It gives them an outlet to participate. Do they have to play them, no but I want them to know that their worship and participation is just as important as everyone else’s. Am I aware that they are not skilled, and they are loud, yes? But if we do not allow them to experiment with their worship how will they learn? And if you notice they are starting to hear the music a little, and they are starting to get some rhythm.

Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, they allowed him to interact with the teachers and Jesus was caught up in the moment, like every child. When they left, they made an incorrect assumption and then they reacted according to their emotions. They scolded Jesus, their child for doing something they were encouraging him to do, because they were scared. And he asks them, “why were you searching? Did you not know I would be in my father’s house?”

As a parent I get this passage. As a person that experienced childhood, I understand this passage. I can relate to it all, I have been in he parent’s shoes and I have been the child as well. What I learn from this passage this week, is that God gets it. I have expectations that are often unrealized, and I get angry. Every aspect of this past week can be found in this passage. But most of all I find myself lacking in the mindfulness area. “Didn’t you know?” Jesus asks his parents. Of course, I knew, but how could I know all in the same breath. I did not realize but I should have. This is why we need more than a day to celebrate Christmas. To more fully explore the incarnation, to more thoroughly interact with Emanuel. God with us. God knows us, because he is with us. He knew us before we were fully formed in our mother’s womb and he knows how we think. He is aware of our weaknesses and where we need grace. He is God with us. But are we aware of God with them? Are we aware of how God is working in and through the lives of others while at the same time interacting with us? And are we aware of how God might be using us to illuminate God with them?

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus was born as an infant, experienced childhood to the fullest extent, and grew in wisdom, years and favor. He was obedient to his parents as they became more mindful of him. As we reflect on the Jesus God with us, during this time of open worship and communion in the manner of Friends, let us also grow with him.