First Sunday after the Epiphany, 2014. Jesus in the Temple

Lord God, heavenly Father, who in mercy hast established the Christian home among us: We beseech Thee so to rule and direct our hearts, that we may be good examples to children and servants, and not offend them by word or deed, but faithfully teach them to love Thy Church and hear Thy blessed word. Give them Thy Spirit and grace, that this seed may bring forth good fruit, so that our homelife may conduce to Thy glory, honor and praise, to our own improvement and welfare, and give offense to no one; through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

This is a lost generation. Not every is lost, but in general, the description is valid. 

Few know what truth is or where to find it. Many deny there is such a thing as truth. For them, everything is relative and it depends on perspective. That means the ultimate norm is what someone thinks or feels. The result is confusion.

Feeding this confusion is a general philosophy that there is only one truth - that there is no truth. Since a popular attitude is backed by academic experts and societal specialists, the Old Adam is well fed and constantly ambivalent about all these matters.

One of my students went to a very popular congregation to check out its urban ministry - Andy Stanley's in Buckland. The group of parishes (multi-site) has 23,000 people who are considered members. That is larger than some smaller Lutheran denominations, larger than quite a few small towns.

From a distance, the operation seems impressive. They even train pastors to be just like them. There is no confession of faith. Lots of bright lights and loud music. Everything is casual. But not everyone is fooled. My student collected comments from people who were there. They were appalled by the recorded message flashed on the giant screen. It was nothing more than a self-help message. God is almost entirely absent from the party-like affair.

The story of Jesus in the Temple is an antidote to these notions and practices. An editor would say, "How did they let this story get published?"

Mary and Joseph do not come across very well. They do not keep track of their very special responsibility. In fact, they are like many parents who have left a child somewhere, assuming he is with friends or relatives. It happened in my family, with my sister left at a gas station until I spoke up.

Jesus seems oddly distant, surprised that His parents do not know "I must be about my Father's business." Using our logic, He should have told His parents what He was planning. Divinely aware, He must have know what was about to transpire.

This narrative seems to strike two generations at once. As a child I was in awe of this story. Jesus' mission was so clear already that He stayed in the Temple area for days to display His divine power to the great teachers of the Law, who were astounded at His knowledge and His questions.

I posted a story about a boy who was treated in special education class because he was so out of the norm. He did not even speak for 18 months. Worse than that, he had been speaking, then stopped. Many normal activities were not comfortable for him, so he was judged autistic and put in special classes. He had only a few isolated interests, including astronomy.

No one knew his capabilities, although his mother suspected, until he attended an astronomy lecture so he could look through a telescope. He alone knew why the satellites of Mars were oddly shaped. But this is the odd part. He asked what size they were, then explained from that fact why they were different. It was gravity. The adults were staggered. Soon he was in physics classes for adults and then onto a very special program for genius physics student at the University of Waterloo, where my wife earned her master's degree in German literature. The ability was there and waiting to be revealed.

Thus the true divine nature of Jesus was there and not yet discovered, until He chose to reveal it at the right time and place.

The purpose is clear. Jesus revealed the Gospel to the Temple leaders as the preparation for His public ministry. We can see that in retrospect. God used miraculous revelation to show the Redeemer to the world:

1. Through the angels to the shepherds.

2. Through the Star of Bethlehem to the Wise Men.

3. Through the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

4. Through His visit to the Temple as a boy.

5. Through John the Baptist in preparation for the public ministry of Jesus.

Through these interventions in history, clearly recorded for us, we can see that there is One Truth revealed to all mankind, not simply a truth among many truths.

For that reason the centrality of the Word as the force of the Gospel is essential to realize and emphasize.

Those who taught the Law all their lives and found great reward for their scholarship were staggered at the presence of Jesus. The very figure who should have been dismissed as a curious young boy became the center of attention. Since this event was one involving multiple days and many witnesses, it can be seen in retrospect as one which was remembered. 

The Word is effective when read, heard, and remembered. Those who saw the Word of God and heard Him speak remembered. We do not have records of all that happened, but there was an open door into Judaism because of those various events before His public ministry.

We can tell from the Gospel of John that the Gospel was live among the Jewish leaders, even though He was crucified. Later history also showed, through Paul, a miraculous growth in Christian faith among Jews at that time. It was one reason Paul was so hated, why riots started, and why he was arrested and executed.

If Paul had been ineffective, he would have been dismissed as a madman and ignored. Instead, he was silenced through jail and death - but the Word is not ever silenced. And the Spirit-inspired letters were preserved, carefully copied, and circulate, even in the midst of heresies and persecutions.

Jesus in the Temple shows us why the proclamation of the Word is so important. Everything pales in comparison. Luther called it taking the Word to the opposition, not simply to the friendly and the receptive. Strange how Luther anticipated every excuse of this age. 

The popular approach to missions is to start a new church in the midst of a prosperous suburb and simply invited active church members who have moved into the most attractive new location. These missions offer programs and groups and activities to make the building a social center. Norm Berg, the head of American Missions at one time, thought it was good for the pastors to offer classes in stress management, since that was a felt need of the time. If only Jesus had done that in the Temple. Imagine how stressful it was to be a Jewish leader in Roman occupied Jerusalem. Some useful tips might have been appreciated.

But as many recognize, the purpose of the Gospel is to proclaim what God has done in redeeming us from sin. Wherever the Old Adam stops to doubt, the Gospel overcomes that doubt with the revelation of Christ.

Jesus entered Jerusalem a number of times, knowing in advance that one day it would be His arrest and death. This was so clear to the disciples during the last trip that doubting Thomas assumed they would all die together there (Gospel of John). 

Each verse, each story, each miracle is designed to prompt faith and strengthen faith in Jesus. We can see also that many parts of the Bible are designed especially for the child. 

When a child sees a painting of Jesus as a boy in the Temple, he has to imagine what that would be like. He is a child in church and the elders do not gather around the ordinary church member's child. But these ancient elders, with their flowing beards and exotic robes gathered around Jesus and listened to Him.

That makes us as children and later as adults also want to listen to us. And we are drawn to His gracious Person, His forgiving nature, His desire that we live life in its fullest because of forgiveness and salvation.

Best of all, we get to participate in sharing that complete life with others across the world. Whatever we do in broadcasting the Gospel is a participation in God's work through His powerful Word.