Sermon Tone Analysis

I love New Years.

I love it because the beauty of a new year is that it brings hope to us, usually.

Usually a new year means that there is hope for change - a change in outlook, a change in appearance, a change in circumstances or maybe even a change in our spiritual state.

We are afforded an opportunity to let go of the previous year with all the frustrations, the problems and the pain that we experienced in it and embrace the possibilities of the new year.

This new year though feels a little different.

Instead of the natural shift that beginning a new year brings, it feels like 2022 is dragging 2021 behind it like a piece of toilet paper attached to a shoe.

The COVID restrictions recently re-introduced have brought forth a frustration and weariness in many of us.

It feels like more of the same, but not in a good way.

Which is why we will have to be people who choose hope this year; people who choose to change and grow.

We will have to decide to let go of last year and do what it takes in order to become who God wants us to be.

Some of you have tried this before.

You decided to lose weight and get in shape in 2021 but by Christmas you chose to just "embrace who you are.”

Some of you chose to read through the Bible in a year but the bookmark is still at Leviticus.

Some of you decided that 2021 was going to be the year you were going to slow down at work and spend more time with family or friends but your google calendar shows a different story.

So what’s going to make this year any different?

Well, today, as we start this new teaching series called Fresh Air: How the Gospel Renews and Revives, I am going to challenge you to change your approach and your mindset when it comes to growth.

As many of you know by now, I have a history in martial arts.

I took Karate as a child, and as a young adult, I trained in Taekwondo.

Before experiencing a call to be a pastor, my dream was to teach Taekwondo as a career.

Well, since moving to Ontario, I have taken it up again.

Starting all over as white belt, and progressing slowly from there, I am again enjoying this sport.

But in the first few weeks of my return, I made a horrifying discovery.

I am no longer 20 years old.

When I went back, for the first few classes, I started exercising and working like I was still a 160 pound 20 year old.

That led to more than one quick trip to the bathroom to throw up or sit on the floor hyperventilating because I was so out of shape and I was trying to go too hard too soon.

In my mind, I could still do all this amazing martial arts stuff that I used to when I was 20, but my reality was different.

I had to learn, and I’m still learning, to allow myself the slow journey of growth.

One thing that I take comfort in, is that Jesus grew as well.

When we think of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s life, we tend to focus on his birth, death, and resurrection.

What we don’t often look at is the process and preparation he went through on his journey to the cross.

God did not send his Son to earth to save the world in a single day.

Instead, Jesus spent thirty-three years growing and preparing to complete the Father’s work by being mindful of what was most important to God and being fully present in each of his interactions with others.

The same is true for us.

None of us are fully equipped for everything we are called to do right away.

It takes years of preparation and growth in order to be able to fulfill what God has called us to and as the calling shifts, the need for more growth increases.

When I was a 21 year old volunteer youth leader, I had “this much” knowledge and experience working with youth.

And now, I have more because I have learned a lot in 22 years.

I’ve learned from books, schooling, other leaders, and mostly from failures as well as successes.

But the point is, in order to serve God to the fullness of what I am called to, I had to grow.

I had to grow in knowledge and in maturity and I still need to.

I’m not done yet.

I am not perfectly mature (obviously) and I don’t know everything yet either.

Just as Jesus had to prepare himself for ministry and had to grow, so do we all.

And that’s what we are going to look at today in the scriptures.

So let’s look at today’s passage found in Luke chapter 2.

Pray.

This passage is the only account of Jesus’ life between his birth narrative and his emergence as a 30 year adult in the Bible.

Here, Jesus is 12 years old, which in Jewish culture, meant that he was close to entering a new phase of life - early adulthood.

I know, it’s hard for us to imagine 13 year olds as adults, because I have worked in Jr. High ministry and I’m telling you, I don’t trust some of them with a butter knife, much less the responsibilities of adulthood.

But in Jesus’ time and culture, there was no such thing as “teenager” or “adolescent.”

His entire childhood has been about preparing him for being an adult at age 13 - for taking responsibility for his faith and embracing his role in society, which beautifully we see a glimpse of here in this passage.

Jesus would be known, as an adult, as a rabbi and here we see him embracing that future through his exploration of Jewish faith.

Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem and the reason he is there is that it is Passover.

Last week, as we talked about the Christian ritual of communion, I talked about the passover meal and its historical roots and spiritual meaning to the Jewish people.

Passover was one of the three festivals that all Jewish men were required to celebrate in Jerusalem.

Not everyone went to all three of them, because travelling was expensive and difficult so if people had to choose, they would often choose this one.

And because of the difficulty, the danger, and the cost of travelling, people would do it together as a caravan.

Usually, the women and children led the way and set the pace and the men would follow behind them.

When the celebration was over, everyone started back and the caravan was on its way.

Some people may look at this passage and wonder how parents could lose a child for three days and not notice.

I have two answers to that question: First, have you seen Home Alone?

I mean, it’s entirely possible.

Second, because of the way the caravan worked, it would be easy for Mary to assume Jesus was with Joseph and the men at the back of the caravan while Joseph assume Jesus was with Mary and the children at the front.

Also, because there were lots of families travelling together, it would be easy to think Jesus was with one of the other kids, having a sleepover and playing Mario Kart.

When they realized that Jesus wasn’t there, the immediately went back to Jerusalem and found him at the temple.

Now, I have questions that this passage has no answers for.

Jesus was there for three days.

Did they feed him at the temple?

Did he sleep at the temple?

Did Jesus live as a homeless teen for three days, scrounging out what he could?

I have no idea and the Bible hasn’t seen fit to give me an answer to those questions.

But the passage does answer another question of mine: How do we grow as people?

1.

We grow best when we are in the garden of God’s presence.

Every parent chooses to parent their kids differently.

In this passage, I admit that I am amazed at Mary and Joseph.

They have been frantic with worry looking for their lost child in a large city.

They finally find him and they lovingly admonish him by asking him, “why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”-

Luke 2:28 NLT.

Now, if I did what Jesus did, and hung out at the temple in a major city by myself at 12 years old while my parents left assuming I was with them, then my parents would have acted a bit different.

My mom would have run up to me, hugged me, made sure I was okay, and then beat me senseless and my father would have stood there in solidarity with my mom, shaking his head at my stupidity.

But it’s different for Jesus.

Jesus has this special connection to the temple.

We don’t really know how much Jesus knew at this point about who he is and how he would save humanity through his unjust condemnation and death.

But Jesus knew that the temple was more than just the building where people worshipped God.

He responds to Mary and Josep’s admonishment by saying “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” - Luke 2:49 (NLT).

With this one response, Jesus shows that he knows a couple of things:

Jesus knows that God is his father - although he is God incarnate, conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is also fully human and his statement shows that he has developed a personal, loving connection between himself and the person of the Trinity he calls “Father.”

And right there, there is something for us.

Do you know that one of the ways that God relates to you is as a father?

It is not the only way, for God also acts as a mother to us as well, but there is something about the father image that Jesus has articulated here.

A father should be a person who loves deeply, who is present to their kids, who provides for them, who protects them, who teaches them and who guides them and for some of you, that describes your father very well.

And for others, the very term “father” is traumatic because of what you experienced and as a father myself, all I can say is “I’m sorry.

I’m sorry that the man you call father failed you.”

Even the best fathers on earth are pale imitations that are corrupted by their own sin and haunted by their own demons.

I had a great father on earth.

A man who loved me, who supported me even if he didn’t agree with me, who was generous and always present to me.

And I see how that affected me.

And I have seen in many of the people whom I have pastored over the last 20 years, how having bad experiences and unhealthy relationships with their father has affected them.

It becomes a life-long wound for many people.