Scripture Reading
Sermon Text
Jesus’ Youth
Today’s story is a very interesting story. It is the story of Jesus when he was 12 years old. Only the Gospel of Luke contains this particular story. And today’s story is the only story about Jesus, who was in his youth, in the whole Bible. Imagine that. Here and there, different gospels contain stories of Jesus, like the birth narrative, him as an adult, public life and all that. But only the Gospel of Luke has Jesus in his youth. We may wonder why the author of Luke put this particular story, the only story of Jesus being a youth in this place. You must be curious, right? I am too. Before we explore further about this, we should investigate the passage more and clarify a few things first. First of all, today’s passage begins with the statement that: Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem every year.
Back then, if you are a Jewish man, you are summoned to go up to Jerusalem three times a year, and present yourself before God. Those are three festivals: Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the third one is the Festival of Booths. By keeping these festivals, the Israel people commemorate how faithful God has been to them. They remember and realize how God has been faithful to them. If you happen to live far away from Jerusalem, you are allowed to take the pilgrimage only for Passover, not all three but only once. Just like today’s passage, it talks about pilgrimage on Passover. It was Jesus’ first time to go on this pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his family. When Jesus was a baby, he did go to Jerusalem with his parents. But this time it’s like he’s an independent person.
He claimed that he presented himself to God. Even today, if you’re practicing Judaism, every 13 years old boy or girl becomes a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah through a ceremony. Bar means son, bat means girl, and mitzvah means commandment or law. So once you become bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, you are given full membership of a synagogue and are able to participate in all areas of Jewish community life. So it is like a coming of age ceremony. Jesus went up to Jerusalem when he was 12, and it means he must have had the ceremony of bar mitzvah. According to the documents I read, Orthodox Judaism practiced bar mitzvah when a boy reaches 12 years old, not 13 like the reformed Judaism practices nowadays. So it means Jesus was born to Judaism, and he was raised properly receiving all the rights, rituals and education, according to Orthodox Judaism.
Increasing Wisdom
From today’s text, the second item I want you to look at is this: Jesus’ parents did not know Jesus was missing until almost one full day of trip was made. How could that happen? We may ask, right? How could that happen? The children’s aid society will visit you in integrity. I know who’s laughing right now, eh. But there’s a sufficient reason behind this. When they go on a pilgrimage, they gather up a caravan with their relatives and friends who live close by. So it is not just Jesus’ direct family members, much larger than that. And it was a custom that mothers and small children would go ahead of the team, and the men would follow with the bigger boys carrying stuff, animals, things like that. So Mary and Joseph may each have thought that Jesus was with the other. Only when they wanted to settle down for the night did they realize that, “Oops, Jesus is missing.” The third and last point that I want to explore with you is this: verse 52. Let me read it for you. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and years and in divine and human favour.” Because of this particular verse, the early fathers had serious controversies over Jesus’ divinity. You know what I’m saying? How could a son of God, the logos, the eternal wisdom, have to increase his wisdom. In other words, Arius, one of the key figures of this controversy, who used this verse and argued, “How could Jesus be the son of God, and at the same time so human, as to require to learn things such as increasing in wisdom.” In other words, Arius denied the divinity of Jesus.
However, Athanasius, the counterpart, took up the argument for the Orthodox position and set things straight. Because of Athanasius, the Christian churches were able to uphold the Trinitarian understanding of Christology at Nicaea Council in 325AD. This will just go over your head, right? But it is so important. And thank God, I thank up personally, for Athanasius. He fought against that controversy and he said this important statement. He said, “Jesus took kenosis, which means emptying himself.” We learned this from Philippians, right? Chapter 2, verses 5-11. Jesus took kenosis, which means voluntarily emptying himself, and constraining upon his deity. And because of that, Jesus had to grow in wisdom like a human. If Jesus did not empty himself, the incarnation could not have occurred. And there would not have been salvation for humanity.
Emptying Ourselves
So my friends, Jesus had to increase in wisdom, not because he was inferior or lacking anything, but because he emptied himself to become like us. John Calvin, one of the leaders of reformation, talked about Jesus’ kenosis in this way, “Growing up gradually as part of what the Lord took on himself in condescending to our human condition. Jesus, the son of God, became an infant, frail and weak. And he grew up to manhood and acquired wisdom in such ways the same as we humans learn.” I wonder how happy and grateful Jesus must have been when he actually entered the courtyard of the temple. This is my father’s house. He must have leaped with joy. This is my father’s house. He was able to ask questions to the rabbis of the temple, and to listen to what they had to say. All the learning he had from his younger days in Nazareth was finally coming to maturity. Jesus was in a totally different time zone while studying the word of God, and discerning God’s will for him in that temple. Giotto, a 14th century painter, drew this painting on the walls of a chapel in Italy. Look at Jesus. For Giotto, Jesus was young, but he’s assuming the role of a teacher, teaching the other teachers of the law. And as you can see, Mary and Joseph were at the outer circle. It looks like Mary’s asking a question expecting the answer from Jesus.
But the answer from Jesus is all the more intriguing and he makes us ponder. What did he say? He said in verse 49, “Why were you searching for him? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?” Why did Jesus say this, and what did he mean? Jesus said, “I must be in my father’s house.” Right? But when I look at this phrase in the original language, I found that it should have been translated differently like, “I must be in my father’s business or father’s affairs.” Jesus was in his father’s house and that is not the wrong interpretation. But what was going on in Jesus’ heart was that Jesus was searching for the heavenly father’s concern, his will. And that is very important to Jesus. We can see how much Jesus desired to know his father’s will. And now we understand why Jesus answered in such a way to Mary, and why Jesus had to be in that situation. For Jesus, knowing God’s will became his priority.
Journey to Fullness
When I look back at this year, and when I ponder upon the theme of this year, ‘Journey to Fullness,’ I realized that we have tried so many things that we have never done before. And those programs and activities were designed to lead us into the spiritual journey where the study of the word of God becomes our priority. For example, the New Year’s Prayer Retreat in January, we had about 40+ adults attending this prayer retreat. Over 40 adults came to learn how to pray from ESM history. We learned what prayer is all about, and we prayed together.
And right after that, we began for our first time ever, Friday Gatherings. That was a historic moment also. Do you remember that the first night we had more than 80 people, including the children and youth gather up. KSM Paul group served us dinner for a few weeks, and we are grateful for their service. We walked the journey together from the beginning of this year, and that journey is just a beginning. It must continue in the coming years. My friends, it is so important to know the word of God. So make time to pray and study the word of God. That is the priority in life. I have witnessed so many cases and so many people who just wasted away their life, their time. Our Lord Jesus showed the spiritual principle today in learning the word of God. Because of his humility, Jesus all the more searched for God’s will and studied the word of God. Yes, humility will give us passion for God’s words and God’s will. Without humility, we cannot draw ourselves to God, God’s presence, the Word of God. If we do not have passion for God’s words, let us ask ourselves and pray to God, “Oh God, help us. Give us this humility to know you more and have the passion to search for you.”
Let Us Be Humble
What is the reason people do not search for God’s words? People may say that, “I’m so busy with my life,” or, “I just don’t have time.” But the true reason behind this is that we are not humble. We are not humble in a sense that we think we can live this life without knowing the word of God. The humility I’m talking about is not the humility before people, among people, but the humility before God. Our Lord Jesus emptied himself and became like one of us. And because of his emptying grace, he had to go through this process and it gives us hope and direction for our spiritual life. My friends, do not be deceived by the culture of this world. The world is driving us away from the word of God. What we do is work and play, work and play, just like the Romans 2000 years ago. Their concerns were bread and the circus games; the same pattern continues, work and play. You know to have enough bread, we work so hard. And as soon as we have enough money, we indulge ourselves to the category of play. But without knowing God’s will and God’s words, I’m not sure how we can survive a day. To me, it’s a miracle, and to me, it’s God’s grace that we can survive a day. To me, it’s like a person without their driver’s license, driving a car on the street. From humility we will have passion for God’s words. What sustains you, my friends? What sustains your soul?
When we have passion for God’s words, we’ll become more aware of the things, events, and people around us. We’ll have a clearer understanding of what’s going on around us. We’ll have a greater, genuine desire and appreciation for the things we have, towards the people around us. The truth will set us free and make us see things clearly. If your life becomes still and mundane, please understand it is not because you do not make enough money or it is not because you can’t afford to go on all-inclusive vacations. It is because of our heart’s condition. Again, the state of not being humble before God, not needing God’s grace and truth. A couple of days ago, I happened to listen to the Pope Francis’ Christmas message. He said that we become more and more narcissistic, loving only oneself. He asked the world to let go of our possessiveness.
Let Us Do God’s Will
And that is the same message from Rev. Kim on Christmas Day service. He talked about our life as a journey to give and share. My friends, we have walked the journey to fullness this year, and we know that the journey to fullness can only be achieved when we take the journey to emptiness. When we study the word of God with humility, God will make us grow and our lives will be filled with truth and grace. Right after today’s text, Jesus, the adult Jesus, was able to begin his public life, the called life, to do God’s will. Let us devote ourselves to the study of the word of God, so that God may use us for God’s will for this world. Just like Jesus, who gave the world the light and the warmth, let us carry out the ministry of Jesus for this world. What are you searching for this life? And what sustains you and upholds you? May your hearts be filled with that fat passion for the word of God, and may God make you humble so that we can be used by God and for God’s glory.
Let us pray that he will give us passion, true passion, to know more about the word of God. Oh God, make us humble, as we repent before you. Only through that way, will we receive passion from you Lord. With that passion, help us to grow every moment, grow to you Lord, and be filled with your truth and grace, so that we can be used by you for your glory. We want to follow Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, who emptied himself to become like us. Oh God, give us strength and understanding to empty ourselves every moment so that you can be our God, and your presence will be with us in our emptying. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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