Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

Christmas has come and gone - it’s like a whirlwind, isn’t it.

It’s mayhem and busyness and then it’s gone with a wake of destruction.

At least, that’s what it’s like in our house.

But even though Christmas is over, up to the New Year we still have Christmas movies on TV.

As a child, I waited with eager anticipation for the double edition of the Radio Times and I carefully went through each page circling which films to watch and to tape.

And it wasn’t just films about Christmas that I liked.

There were many blockbusters that were shown at Christmas too, like Star Wars, Back to the Future and so on.

One of Kate’s favourite Christmas films is Home Alone.

Do you remember that film?

Where a boy called Kevin is somehow left at home while his parents fly to France for Christmas, and he has to fend for himself and deal with burglars until they get back.

And then there was the sequel - Home Alone 2, lost in New York, when he gets left in New York.

There have been others in the franchise too.

But, since Christmas is over and yet the blockbusters are still on TV, today, since we’re in between Christmas and New Year, we’re going to look at another ‘Home Alone’ story.

I’m calling it Home Alone 3 - lost in Jerusalem.

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Cos we’re at that limbo period between Christmas day and New Year’s day.

And we’ve been going through our advent series, as we always do, but now Christmas has come and gone but the New Year hasn’t started yet, so what do I speak on?

That’s why I’ve picked Home Alone 3 - the story of Jesus as a child being left behind in Jerusalem - cos this is the only story between Jesus as a baby and Jesus as an adult.

And it’s good to spend some time on this, because when Jesus was a baby he couldn’t walk or talk or think like an adult.

And when Jesus was an adult, which is 95% of the gospel story, he can think beyond any human and he knows who he is and why he’s here...

So there must have been a point in Jesus’ life, between baby and adult when he REALISES who he is and why he is here… There must be a point when the penny drops for him.

And while we don’t know when that point is exactly, in our passage today he’s come to that point of realisation…but his parents haven’t.

So let’s dive in and see what the passage says to us today.

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Now, to go from Nazareth to Jerusalem was about a 3-day journey.

Jewish men were required to go by Jewish law, but women didn’t have to, although they often did go.

Now Jesus was 12 years old at this point and he goes with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover.

But, as you can see from the text, he stays behind when his parents are returning home - another 3-day journey.

Luke 2:44-47

And you’ve gotta wonder how did his parents not know he stayed.

In fact, as verse 44 says, HOW does it take them a whole day to realise?

I mean, you’re looking after the Son of God, you’d think you’d take a bit more care.

Well, commentators have suggested that children sometimes go with a different group or if Mary thinks Jesus is with Joseph and Joseph thinks he with Mary then you might not realise that he’s missing until night.

Cos the women were sent on first cos they were slower.

The men packed up and left later and they caught up with the women at night when they set up camp to sleep.

So it would have taken a day to realise that Jesus wasn’t there.

What astounds me is that they searched for him for 3 days before going to the temple to look for him.

Now, what this is telling us is that Mary and Joseph have somehow perhaps lost sight who Jesus is.

And verse 50 backs that up when they don’t understand Jesus’ response to them.

Cos think about it - Mary was told by an angel that she would bear God’s Son.

Joseph was told the same about Mary.

Mary is his birth mother but it’s not a normal conception and Joseph isn’t even his father.

HOWEVER, that was 12 years ago.

And the Son of God, who can’t walk or talk or crawl is probably just like any other baby and probably just like any other child.

So after 12 years of taking care of this boy, you might kinda lose sight of the words of the angel that this is the Son of God.

It MIGHT NOT be foremost in your mind - cos he’s possibly just like any other boy.

But he’s NOT just any other boy - he’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

And Mary and Joseph are going to be reminded of this.

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Cos look at the number of times the word ‘parent’s occurs - 3 times...

Now, before we move on to the next verse, in this passage, the word ‘parent’s occurs 3 times....

V41 - his parents went to Jerusalem.

V43 - his parents didn’t know he stayed behind.

V48 - his parents saw him...

And notice what Mary says - your FATHER AND I have been searching for you in great distress.

And notice what Mary says - your FATHER AND I have been searching for you in great distress.

And the emphasis from the text is that Mary and Joseph are Jesus’ PARENTS, and Joseph is is FATHER.

Now, Jesus wasn’t a bad boy, he was doing what he came to earth to do.

But HIS PARENTS had possibly lost sight of his mission - why else would it take 3 days before looking in the temple.

And the word, ‘distress’ is from the Greek word that signifies betrayal - to Joseph, Jesus had betrayed the calling that was his as a son of Joseph.

And so Mary and Joseph were felt betrayed by Jesus because they are his PARENTS.

And to make matters worse, Jesus responds with something that would have felt like a bucket of iced water on their face…

If they HADN’T lost sight of this then they

In other words, ‘you’re NOT really my parents, and Joseph, you’re NOT my father.’

Jesus essentially replies in true Star Wars fashion… ‘you’re NOT my father.’

Now that must have hurt.

That must have cut Joseph to the core…You’d think he’d remember, ‘oh yea, my boy is the Son of God - he’s not really mine’, but no...

But, in time, he would... and so would Mary, cos she treasured these things up in her heart.

So I can only imagine that Joseph was hurt by this.

And Jesus’ words, “I must be in my Father’s House” can also be translated as.... ‘I must be about my Father’s business’.

All of which means that Jesus NOW knows WHO he is and WHY he is here.

And while his parents might be shocked with the realisation or the reminder that Jesus isn’t ‘their boy’ - that’s the reality of the situation....Joseph, you’re NOT my father and I’m NOT going to be doing your business.

I have a heavenly Father and I must be about HIS business.

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Luke 2:

What’s nice about this passage is that Jesus submits to them - despite his self-awareness and the fact that they have been reminded of their place, Jesus still obeys the 5th commandment and submits to his parents.

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See, Jesus has realised who he is and why he is here.

He is the Son of God and he has a mission to do.

But I really do think his parents had lost sight of that - 12 years of nothing miraculous that we know of - probably just another ordinary boy, and so they EXPECTED Jesus to be a certain way or to ACT a certain way.

But this is a stark reminder to them that...

Jesus is God’s Son and he is here to do God’s work.

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What struck me about this passage is how this almost parallels the church today - and we can learn a lot from this, both the leaders of the church and the members.

If were were to recast the roles in this story then the congregation would be Mary and Joseph and the Church itself would be Jesus - cos the church IS the Body of Christ on earth.

And ‘tradition’ or ‘traditionalism’ are the 12 years from Jesus’ as a baby to a child.

And what’s happened is that traditionalism - doing things cos that’s how they’ve always been done, or doing things for the sake of doing them has served to make the congregation kinda lose sight of the purpose of the church.

We’ve forgotten WHO the church is and WHY the church is here.

And so we’ve kinda forgotten that the church is the body of Christ and it has a mission.

And we, the congregations come to the church, like Mary and Joseph, expecting the church to be a certain way or to do things a certain way, and when it doesn’t we get annoyed or angry, POSSIBLY because we’ve lost sight of who the church is and why the church is here.

And so we can be a bit like Mary and Joseph saying, ‘why are you doing this, or why are you doing it like that’.

But the leaders of our churches need to grasp the mission and the purpose of the church in order to reply like Jesus did - ‘Why are you so annoyed?

Did you not know that we must be about God’s business?’

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What I fear has happened is that perhaps, in some ways, the church has lost its identity - that it’s become a place of programmes and social activities, and none of these are bad things in and of themselves.

However, if that’s all that the church is about, then it’s lost its identity.

It’s not aware of who it is and why it is here.