Jesus The Disrupter

JESUS THE DISRUPTER Given First Sunday after Christmas DEC 26, 2021 Have you ever experienced having a loved one bring you gifts or goodies that remind you of the warmth of home? * Comparably, the prophet Samuel was often visited by his loving mother, bringing him a new robe throughout the years while working in God's temple. * Just like our loving moms, let us be reminded to take care of and love one another unconditionally that others may see the love of Christ through our actions. Our sermon is from Luke 2 which tells us about our savior experiencing that most human of interludes: Being a teenager. Let's look at our reading for today: LK 2:41-52 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching 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 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." 49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (ESV) Disruptor is a fairly new term that has become part of daily use, especially in business. * A disruptor is someone who brings an innovation that upsets a whole industry. * This person invents something or tightens a process that means that the old system is broken for good. * In developed nations, the farming industry was changed forever by the invention of the combine. * The transportation industry was forever disrupted by a young American named Henry Ford. * The retail industry was irreparably disrupted by Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com. Disruption is everywhere in the internet age. * There are times we wish we had more warning signs like this before disruption hit. * Processes and technology go obsolete almost overnight. * Young adults become billionaires in a matter of months while millions are lost in investments in products that suddenly go stale. * These are volatile times. * A person working in IT with TECHNOLOGY must continually retrain in order not to be OBSOLETE. * Those in the working world today wish know this so well, failing to upgrade our skills soon makes us obsolete in the work world. * Technology is disruptive, I have felt it and many of you have, * Computers and phones Ipads are wonderful until they don't do what they are supposed to dol * Video streaming has disrupted the TV industry * Around 1450 AD the Gutenburg printing press disrupted the world * * Online books & digital encyclopedias have now greatly disrupted the book and printing industry * What was once the disrupter is now the disrupted. * Personal computers have disrupted corporation structures, and especially after Covid-19 people want to work from home * Covid-19 has shook the world. For many their health has been shattered as well as their wealth. * We have seen world economies affected by the past 2 years of Covid. * Some of those economies will never recover. * It seems the new normal are changing almost daily, to normal unheard of. * We are beginning to see new normal in our weather patterns, head domes, atmospheric rivers, typhoons, hurricanes, tornados etc. * Digital photography has disrupted the old camera and film industry. * The automotive industry disrupted the world at the beginning of 20th century * Electric cars are about to disrupt the automotive industry * Smart phones have disrupted the communication industry, which boast instant communication, face time, texting around the world in seconds. * Social media has taken the world by storm, Billions of people now communicate via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many others we have not heard of. * Amazon has disrupted the retail world * Netflix has disrupted the movie industry * Spotify has disrupted the music world * Uber has disrupted the taxi industry. * For us a believers and followers of Christ we have seen our ability to assemble disrupted, we have seen Covid strain or spiritual families the church. * About 4000 churches in North America have shut down this past year Today I want to talk about how Jesus was the greatest disruptor. * Every system and process that tries to completely encapsulate him falls apart. * He broke the systems of religion that came before him. * He broke the laws of physics and science as they were known or perceived. * He walked through locked doors and walls and moved from visible to invisible. * * He broke the ancient code of offense and revenge. * His coming changed everything, and turned the world upside down * His coming fulfilled ALL SCRIPTURE, and replaced the old covenant with the new covenant. Today's story of Jesus in the temple is the first story of Jesus' disruption. * His birth was disruptive, no doubt, but here he is doing that disruption himself as a young man making his own choices. * He was 12 YEARS OLD when He confounded the teachers of the law in the temple. Today I want to look at three ways Jesus disrupts, and what that means to us in our world todaty: * 1. Jesus disrupts expectations * 2. Jesus disrupts the universe * 3. Jesus disrupts us JESUS DISRUPTS EXPECTATIONS The odd thing about the start of this disruptive scene is that the curtain opens on a routine: LK 2:41-42 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. (ESV) * This is a usual thing for them, to travel to the feast as the law commanded. * Some of Jesus' earthly memories were probably being jostled on the back of a donkey as they headed south to Jerusalem. * One of the important details here is that Jesus' entire family went, and they went for the entire feast. * The command specified that only men needed to go to the festivals, and there's indication that they only had to go for the first couple of days rather than the whole week. * Jesus' whole family went for the whole time, indicating they were observant, faith-centered people. * Coming to the temple would have been a thrilling moment for the young Jesus. At the end of the feast, Jesus stayed behind when his family left. * The situation was probably a caravan of some kind, perhaps with some of the kids walking in one large group and younger kids with their parents in the other group. * Mary and Joseph could only surmise that Jesus was with other family members. * Another plausible explanation is that men and women traveled in different groups. Children traveled with their mothers until age 12, with their fathers after age 12. * Since Jesus was in between, they each assumed he was with the other. * There's no reason here to twist this story a bit and say that Jesus' parents were somehow ignorant or careless, or that Jesus needed to "teach" them something different, hapless as they were. * They were very ordinary parents in that situation and time. It's hard to know what was on Mary's mind. * She knew Jesus' destiny was like no one else, but she had an unclear picture on what that would be. * She did not have the New Testament to look up what would happen next-she was living the story. * She knew that her boy, who had just reached twelve-the threshold of manhood in that culture-was Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. She and Joseph looked in every doorway and back alley for two agonizing days. * They finally found Jesus in the place they had been, the temple, the most prominent landmark in the city. * Think about the context here. * Though Jesus is on the threshold of manhood, he is also still a child, yet he's talking with the teachers of Israel. * This isn't just a MATURE kid sitting at the big kids' table. * This is a seventh-grader walking onto the senate floor; * This is a tween standing in the House of Lords; * A cracking voice addressing the United Nations. * The stress of Luke at this point is the surprising knowledge of Jesus. * His knowledge and understanding were phenomenal. * Jesus was found in the midst of the "doctors" There were some very prominent DOCTORS OF RELIGION in that day, men who were very capable theologically. There was... * Gimaliel, the great teacher of Paul or Saul of Tarsus * Hillel, one of the most revered liberal teachers with a large school of followers. * Simeon who was later to succeed Hillel. * Nicodemus, who was so revered by his peers that the was sent to interview Jesus alone. * In that culture at that time, Jesus was hanging out in the nerve center talking with the proverbial "smartest guys in the room." LK 2:46-47 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. * Notice Jesus was hearing what the teachers were saying with rapt attention. He was listening closely and attentively * He was asking them questions, He wanted answers more understanding. He thirsted for truth and sought it. * He answered their questions. * His questions and answers revealed phenomenal knowledge and understanding, so much so that everyone was astonished even the doctors. * The word astonished means that all were amazed, overwhelmed, bewildered and wondered at his understanding. * Mary addresses him like a mother: LK 2:48 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." (ESV) The word she uses to address him as Luke writes it-"teknon" in Greek-can convey either affection or accusation. * My guess is a little of both of these meanings were in play at the time! * She may have said "I'm so relieved you're safe! What were you thinking?! * You wonder, too, if Mary is reminding herself and him that he is still a child, that she wants him to be a child, perhaps to hold back for a moment Simeon's prophesy: LK 2:34-35 34 ..."Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." (ESV) NOTICE JESUS' RESPONSE TO BACK TO MARY & JOSEPH: LK 2 49 49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (ESV) * Jesus responds as an adult. * He said, "I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, you should have known where I would be. (My Father's House) * In the culture at that time, * he didn't just mean that he was in God's house, like in church. * Twelve as the age a boy was considered a man. * He means that he is under his Father's house, meaning that he is under God's authority-specifically that he is no longer under theirs. * This is the first time that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God * He called God his Father, At age 12 He was conscious of the unique relationship he had with His heavenly Father. * Jesus was saying to His mother that His Father (God) had been looking after Him. He had been about his Father's business doing what his Father wanted him to do. * Jesus was also saying He had work to do for His Father (God) even if that work was not understood. He could not go home with them until he had finished his Father's work * Here the sword begins to pierce Mary's heart; her son has, in some senses, left her home. JESUS SECONDLY DISRUPTS THE UNIVERSE LK 24:26-27 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. This is a verse from a different part of Luke that ties back into today's text. * In this verse, two friends are walking on a dusty road away from Jerusalem where Jesus was killed three days previously. * They are joined by a stranger, whose face they don't recognize, and they tell him what's on their minds. * The joke is that the "stranger" is Jesus himself walking with them and listening as they lament what has happened to their hoped-for Savior. This had all happened three days ago. (THREE DAYS) * Here's the pattern that Luke uses to tie these two episodes together. * Jesus "lost" in Jerusalem for three days; * Jesus "lost" after his death for three days. * Luke draws the parallel tighter by using the same key word: Notice again: LK 24:26 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer... (ESV) LK 2:49 46 After three days they found...49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" * Jesus disrupts his family system by walking away from one father's house to his Father's house for three days; * Jesus disrupts the universe-the ancient laws of decay and death-by walking away from death itself three days later. * He has disrupted not just cultural expectations, but all of what we know of reality. * He is under his Father's authority, not ours, which means he answers to different laws, even the laws of time and space. Early American president Thomas Jefferson famously revised the Gospels into what is often called the "Jefferson Bible." * Using what he believed to be the enlightened thinking of the modern age, he removed the miracles, and all mentions of the supernatural out of the Gospels and cut-and-pasted the leftovers back together. * The result is a story that makes no sense. Jesus becomes famous for almost no reason. * He garners followers and attention out of nowhere. * He becomes yet another folk hero who dies at the hands of an occupying government. * The Christian movement, then, becomes very difficult to explain. * In that society, these "messiahs" came and went-political leaders with fiery language and big promises disappeared from history right away. * But Jesus is the Messiah who still has followers centuries later. The Jefferson Bible-or any story that excludes the miraculous from Jesus' life-becomes like an audiobook set on "shuffle" mode. * The transitions and arch of the story make no sense; the scenes jump in and out of each other for no reason. * The narrative of Jesus as we have it doesn't fit together without the FACT that he DISRUPTED THE UNIVERSE. Back to the Three days. * Three days Jesus was lost to Mary. * Three days Jesus was lost to the world. * Although it might be more palatable and perhaps easier to hold onto in the modern world that Jesus was nothing more than a great teacher, it makes confetti of that view and leaves us with vague nonsense. * To hold onto Jesus the disruptor means to hold onto the complicated fact that he disrupted everything, even life and death. THE THIRD POINT OF JESUS BEING A DISRUPTER IS HE DISRUPTS US * Jesus disrupted expectations-he disrupted his family system and broke all the rules walking into the center of the temple as a teenager. * Jesus disrupted the universe-breaking the ancient laws of sin and death. * And now, JESUS DISRUPTS US. Jesus has a way of leading us into situations and relationships where we're outstripped by our challenges. The old saying goes that God never gives you more than you can handle. * But the more accurate version is that God won't give you anything you and he can't handle together. * Right when we get too comfortable, maybe a little full of ourselves or we start depending on ourselves, Jesus reminds us that we need him. * The writer John Eldredge says it well in his book "The Sacred Romance" "Being in partnership with God, though, often feels much more like being Mel Gibson's sidekick in the movie Lethal Weapon. In his determination to deal with the bad guy, he leaps from seventh-story balconies into swimming pools, surprised that we would have any hesitation in following after him...we find ourselves caught up in an adventure of heroic proportions with a God who both seduces us with his boldness and energy, and repels us with his willingness to place us in mortal danger" * The Lord we follow is the same one who left his family caravan to address the most important teachers in his culture as a near-teenager. * He's also the one who rearranged the furniture at the temple one memorable morning. * He's also the one who made Pontius Pilate wait in silence for an answer. * He will stretch you further than you think you can go. * He will give your love more depth than you can fathom. * He will focus your eyes on beauty you've never seen, and give you strength you've never felt. * He will disrupt you. LK 2:51 51... And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. (ESV) * This is the second time we hear this sentence, the first was in verse 19. * "His mother treasured all these things in her heart" * This is both a beautiful and striking picture. * Jesus was subject to his parents, He obeyed them. * As the Son of God, he set the perfect example of what a child should be to his parents. * He obeyed his parents despite the fact... * That Joseph was not his father * That He was stronger in spirit. * That He was filled with wisdom * The God was his Father. * Notice in Lk 2:19 LK 2:19 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. * Just after the shepherds come to worship at the manger. * Mary was plenty disrupted at that time and was able to sit down and contemplate these things in gratitude. But now twelve years have passed. * Here we find Jesus as a kid raised at his earthly father's knee. * This time Jesus himself disrupts the picture, breaks the frame right off it. * Even after this stress, even after realizing that everything about Jesus is indeed true and frightening, * Mary still sits down to treasure these things in gratitude. * Mary kept all these things in her heart * In humble faith she said nothing, not talking to relatives or neighbors, not boasting in her Son and His uniqueness. * She is quiet, humbly waiting upon God to use Jesus as He so willed. * In due time she knew God would reveal Him and His salvation to the world. * She is disrupted and she is thankful. We follow Christ * not because he is safe, * not because he's predictable, * but because his dangerous path leads to life! * It leads to the joy that we can treasure in our hearts. * It leads to the heart of reality itself. A QUESTION WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES? * Is Jesus disrupting you today? * In the middle of the lak He calls you to step our of the boat and TRUST HIM? * Is he calling you out of your comfort zone? * Is he calling you out to the edge? * Meet him there; he will light the way. CLOSING PRAYER