Ethos

Rev. Brian Weinberger

RCL Year C • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Luke 2:41–52

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When I was a little kid my parents took my brothers and I to SeaWorld one year. Now I didn’t know this when I was a kid but Bekkah told me that SeaWorld has walkways that go in interlocking circles or are always rounded in some way so that you never can see too far in front of you or around you, as far as walkways are concerned, so that you don’t realize how crowded the park is.

“Ethos”

December 30, 2012

by Pastor Brian Weinberger

So my family and I were walking around SeaWorld and besides the rounded walkways there are lots of animals and sights to see all over the place, and if you want to see everything you really need to take your time by stopping and looking at everything.

Well that is exactly what I did. I stopped and decided to look at the Flamingo exhibit. I am always fascinated by the fact that they stand on one leg and that they are pink because of their diet, and they really are fun to watch as they interact with one another. As I was watching the flamingos I soon realized that my family had already moved on and they either neglected to grab me, or I didn’t hear them calling as they walked away for another exhibit.

Instead of panicking about the situation I made my way to the nearest souvenir shop and found one of the workers there and she asked me where my parents were. I told her I didn’t know and so she asked me if I was lost. I informed her, “I’m not lost my family is. I know exactly where I am.” The very helpful SeaWorld worker proceeded to take me to the front of the park where they apparently look for all lost parents and families. On the way to the front of the park, though, my mom saw me with the worker and ran over to her and let her know that I was her child. We were once again reunited together and we enjoyed the rest of our day at SeaWorld. Besides being scolded for wandering off in the first place.

As I was reminiscing about this is story it forced me to begin to think when and where will be the the first time I lose my child. I decided not to delve into that topic too deeply.

If you look at the front of your bulletin cover you will see a young Jesus distracted by a butterfly which isn’t the real reason why he was missing from his parents and relatives as they were traveling home, but it does help us to imagine what Mary and Joseph must have felt like as they soon began to realize that their son, the one they knew to be the Messiah, was now missing.

Since many of you are parents maybe you know the panic and the horror in your gut and in your heart when you realize that your child has disappeared from your care. Can you imagine that fear on top of that fact that the child you just lost is also the savior of the world?

I think it’s at these times when parents begin to negotiate with their minds to help them cope with the panic. Parents tell themselves that everything is going to be fine and that they had the conversation with their child already about what to do when you get separated or lost from the group. You hope that those reminders and talks with your child stuck with them. You also begin to think about how you taught your child better than to walk off or wander from the group in the first place. You taught them to be responsible and to listen to you.

Well Jesus stayed in the temple that day he was never with them in the first place. Technically he never wandered off because he was exactly where his parents last left him. So as his family and kin begin to travel from the Passover festival to their hometowns, 12 year-old Jesus is still in the temple. Mary and Joseph soon realize Jesus isn’t with them and search for him for a long time. Can you imagine, though, not being able to find Jesus for 3 days? They searched the town that whole time and he was just in the temple teaching all who would listen to him, and listening to all the elders and priests that he could.

Now after walking a days journey back to Jerusalem and after searching for your child for 3 days I doubt that I would have been so nice as to say what Mary said to him which was, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” I think I would have lost it a little more than that if it were my child. I would have used a few more choice words than the ones Mary used.

Jesus replies with an answer that probably didn’t score him any points with his parents but made perfect sense. Not only does it make sense because it is Jesus the Messiah, but it also makes sense because every year they went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. It was their custom or their habit of going there every year and the main point of it was for religious purposes. Of course he was in the temple.

In fact if you take a look at you will see that at the end of the sentence it says that they went up as usual for the festival. The word for “as usual” literally means as was their “habit” or “custom”. So it was their habit or their tradition to go to the Passover festival each year. Just like it is the tradition or habit of many Christians to come to church on major holidays like Christmas which we celebrated just a few days ago.

The word habit or custom in the Greek is “ethos”. Can you guess what English word we get from ethos? We get the word “ethics” from it. So for Mary and Joseph and young Jesus it was ethical or a tradition or a habit for them to go each year to the festival of the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus also tells his parents that it was also a habit or a tradition for him to be in his Father’s house. Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?

In fact every time you see the word ethos in the New Testament you will find that it refers to following your faith and more specifically it is tied to worshipping and going to church. For Jesus and for his parents, and for Paul and other Christians, ethics wasn’t solely about doing what was right in the eyes of people or keeping the traditions of the people, instead it was about doing what was right in the eyes of God and keeping the traditions that God wants us to keep.

For us then, ethics are the habits that we have that keep us connected with God and the most important one that we have is worshipping with one another each week. What Christian ethics or habits did your parents pass down to you? What do you still do that your parents taught you when you were a child? What habits are you passing along to your children or to the next generation of Christ followers? And more importantly, how do we pass along those habits? We all live busy and time consuming lives, but what are the habits the ethos that we are setting for others to follow?

We all know that Jesus was the Messiah but his parents still passed on great habits to him. They went to Passover each year. They had him circumcised on the 8th day and they gave him the name Jesus as was told to them by the angel of the Lord. They also brought him to the temple to be given to God as was each firstborn in every family. Jesus’ parents followed all the traditions and did everything that was required of them under the law of God. His parents set a great example for Jesus.

May our traditions, our habits, our ethics be focused on God. In just a few days we end 2018 and begin 2019, and something I read recently said that we should begin our year right by worshipping regularly. I think that would be a great ethos to follow or habit to make this year. What other habits do you want to make in the coming year?

But more importantly than any habit, tradition. or ethic we could possibly have is the habit that God has set and made for all of us. The habit that God has is, is saving this world from itself, from the beginning of creation all the way to today. That tradition that God started is made complete in the birth and raising of a child named Jesus who was brought up by ethos parents. Mary and Joseph had good habits and passed them on to Jesus. As Jesus grew up he made worshipping, praying, loving, and healing an everyday part of his life while he was here on earth and even into and through his death and resurrection. The tradition he started of eternal life for all people is one that is for each and every one of us. May we give God thanks for the traditions of our parents and family, but more importantly for the great tradition of everlasting life and love given through the Christ child born to us this Christmas season.