Listen, Learn, and Grow

Luke 2:21-52

January 7, 2007

Scriptures:

Luke 2:21--52 (NRSV)

²¹ After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Jesus Is Presented in the Temple

²² When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), ²⁴ and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

²⁹ “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

      according to your word;

³⁰ for my eyes have seen your salvation,

³¹   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles

      and for glory to your people Israel.”

³³ And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed ³⁵ so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Return to Nazareth

³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search 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 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” ⁴⁹ He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Sermon:

          Much of the scriptures we’ve heard read this morning are often skimmed over as the reader passes from the birth narratives to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  To illustrate how important it is for us to understand these scriptures and why we shouldn’t make assumptions about their importance let me tell you a supposedly true story about making assumptions coming out of Texas.

A drunken cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in a posh Amarillo Theater. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, "Sorry, sir, but you're only allowed one seat." The cowboy groaned but didn't budge. The usher became more impatient: "Sir, if you don't get up from there I'm going to have to call the manager." Once again, the cowboy just groaned.

The usher marched briskly back up the aisle, and in a moment he returned with the manager.  Together the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success.  Finally, they summoned the police. The Texas Ranger surveyed the situation briefly then asked, "All right buddy what's your name?"  "Fred," the cowboy moaned. "Where ya from, Fred?" asked the Ranger. With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Fred replied,

"...the balcony..."

          The crux of this morning’s Scriptures is found in versus forty-nine, when Jesus responds to his mother’s vexed and irritated question, “Child, why have treated us like this?”  Jesus’ responds with the first words we hear him speak in Luke’s Gospel, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Another equally good translation would be … “I must be about my Father’s business.” This response is in stark distinction to Joseph standing there in the Temple with Mary. 

In Jesus’ reply in Luke’s Gospel, we hear a recapitulation of the entire birth story of Jesus as well as the essence of his earthly ministry as the Son of God.  All of this occurs within the institutions, customs, and laws of Judaism.  Therefore, Jesus’ life from before his birth until his death and beyond were all a part of God’s plan to redeem and bless all of humankind from within the context of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendents, the people of Israel.  We will see this universal nature of God’s salvation in Luke’s Gospel in Jesus’ relationship to sinners, Samaritans, tax collectors, women, and outcasts. 

          There is one particular aspect of this story that I want to focus on this morning.  It is an aspect of Jesus’ life that is frequently hurried passed or unstudied but I believe is vital to our Christian lives—more about that later.

          The way people become so focused on the birth narratives and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry with his baptism by John the Baptist reminds me of another one of those supposedly true stories about a woman and her husband from Canton, MS, who went to pick up their new Chevrolet from the dealer.  The woman said:

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver’s side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "its open!" His reply, "I know - I already got that side."

          While he is working on that side let us look at some of the things that reinforce our knowledge of Jesus’ life within the context of Judaism and the law.

          In verse 21, we read that on the eight day, Jesus is accepted into the covenant community and given a name in accordance with Gen. 17:9-14.  Mary’s infant child is given the name the angel Gabriel had decreed—Joshua—“Yehova saves”, or its Greek translation “Jesus”.  Giving a child a name with religious significance was often a dedication of the child to God and a declaration of the child’s heritage and character.

In verse 22-24, Luke conflates two requirements of the Law—the purification of the mother after childbirth and the dedication or redemption of the firstborn son to God. 

First, according to Levitical Law, a woman was considered ceremonial unclean for seven days after childbirth and had to undergo 33 days of purification for a male child and 66 days for a female child.  During this time, women were not allowed to enter the Temple or touch anything holy. Therefore, Mary, according to Lev. 12:1-5, comes to the Temple for the ceremony of ritual purification some 40 days after the birth of Jesus (7+33). 

Secondly, at the time of Jesus’ birth and for some modern Jews, when a Jewish woman gives birth to her first born child and it’s a male by natural child birth that child by decree belongs to God and must be redeemed from a life dedicated to the service of God in accordance with Numbers 18:15-16.  This redemption must take place before a known Cohen—a priest who is a direct descendent of Aaron, Moses’ brother.  This must be done on the 31^st day of the child’s life.  Close attention to our Scriptures wherein they say that Joseph and Mary fulfilled all the requirements of the law will show that Joseph did not redeem Jesus from this obligation. Actually, Joseph couldn’t have redeemed Jesus because he wasn’t his natural father. Nor, did Jesus in his adulthood redeem himself from this obligation, which he could have done. Thus, Jesus by law at birth and later by his adult choice is dedicated to serve God according to Jewish law.

          While in the Temple, Mary and Joseph are confronted by two very devote people of God.  One is an aged man named Simeon, who under the influence of the Holy Spirit sees the infant Jesus as the object of his long, prayed for hope for Israel’s consolation and by an aged, widow, and prophet, Anna, who lived and worked in the Temple. (The fact that Anna was a prophet is in and of itself a very interesting point.)  Anna praises God because in the child, Jesus, she sees God’s redemption of Jerusalem, a euphemism for the hopes of God’s people.

          Although Mary and Joseph knew of Jesus’ divine nature they are often amazed that others under inspiration also know about the baby and his mission in life.

     As scripture says, “³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

          It is this verse 40 and its insights, which are reiterated in verse 52 with its addition that Jesus grew in human favor as well as divine favor that is often over looked or sped past in our reading and understandings of these scriptures.  Let’s look deeper into this one verse.

          Jesus grew or increased in physical stature and years, but he also grew in wisdom and the favor of God was upon him.  Given that universal education for Jewish boys was not established until 63 C.E. by Joshua ben Gimla, Jesus’ early education would most likely have been under the direction of Joseph and the men of his village. As we see from his later years, especially in his dealings with the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, his education was excellent and very comprehensive.  His education in the Torah and the Oral Torah would have been rigorous, requiring memorizing long passages of Scripture. The average Jewish boy would have memorized and knew more scriptures by age 15 than most adult religious leaders of today.  Jesus would have started his studies at around five with the book of Leviticus; at age 10, he would have started studying the Oral Torah; by age 15, he would have taken up theological discussions with a learned teacher or Rabbi in his village.  Whoever this teacher or Rabbi was, he was most likely of the liberal school of Hillel.  At age 20, Jesus would have come into his own vocationally and at about 30, he would have been considered to have entered his full vigor as a man.  In addition, at 30 a Jewish father might publicly declare his son to be his inheritor.  Thus, it is interesting to note that at about 30 when Jesus was baptized in Luke, we hear God declaring Jesus to be His true son.

          Be this as it may, let me ask an obvious question.  What does it mean to grow in wisdom?  Wisdom is one of those nebulous concepts like love.  We cannot really define it but we know it when we see it.  I’ve known many smart and knowledgeable people who were definitely not wise.  Wisdom is more than just knowledge and understanding.  Wisdom is generally associated with the over-plus of some moral, spiritual, and ethical aspects of knowledge and experience.  Wise people assimilate knowledge and life experiences within a moral, spiritual, and ethical framework beyond the ordinary person. Certainly, when Jesus begins his ministry we see him endowed with scriptural and religious knowledge and understanding, as well as that over-plus that constitutes a wise person.  We also see clearly that Jesus was obviously under God’s favor.

          This prompts another question.  What does it mean to grow in or be under the favor of God?  The word from the Greek that is used in our text today is “car’ in” or “charis,” which means “gift.” It is from the word charis that we get the word charisma, meaning divine favor.  Charisma is that rare quality found in some people who are often characterize as being extremely charming and having a magnetic quality of personality or appearance.   The ancient Greeks said that charisma was a divine “gift or favor” or “gift of grace,” implying that this “divine quality” was an inborn trait. Charismatic people seem to have an innate and powerfully, charming, and sophisticated ability to communicate with and persuade others.[1]  Thus, we may say that Jesus grew into his innate charisma as he matured physically and intellectually.  Jesus’ charisma would later attract people to him, people would listen to him, people would believe his words, people would follow him, and people’s lives would be changed by his message of God’s love and salvation.

          We see this idea clearly in this episode of Jesus at twelve.  While most pictures of Jesus in the Temple at age twelve depict him as standing center stage in a pose of teaching or lecturing.  Scripture, however, does not support this idea unless we understand that asking questions is a form of teaching.  What we actually see, I believe, is Jesus amid these learned men of Israel listening, learning, and asking profound questions that demonstrate a sensitivity and insight beyond his years.  What the writer conveys is Jesus’ sensitivity to his divine calling as a part of his physical and intellectual maturation.

          As the story goes, Mary and Joseph don’t miss Jesus’ presence until the evening of the first day of their return journey home.  They assumed he had been traveling with friends.  However, when they can’t find him they began to search for him.  The finally locate Jesus in the Temple having insinuated himself into a group of learned men of Israel listening, learning, and inquiring. 

          Jesus’ response to his mother’s question fixes Jesus awareness of his life’s work clearly within Judaism, to be precise, within the Temple, within the Law, and within Rabbinical Judaism.  Another interesting thing is that after this incident we read, “⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. …”  That is to say, Jesus honored his father and mother, the first law of God with a promise, which is not to say that his being in the Temple was dishonoring his mother and Joseph.

Again, what we see in verse 40 and 52 is Jesus listening, learning, and growing in divine knowledge and understanding.  I believe these Scriptures tell us clearly that when Jesus’ humanly, acquired knowledge meets the innate charisma of God it produces the wisdom that would characterize his life and his teachings that have endured across the ages.

Thus, we can safely say that Jesus had no divine infusion of knowledge or supernatural help in learning his Scriptures.  Jesus, the boy, learned scripture and the nuances of God’s will in scripture just like any other person would have or must learn.  This is not unlike the passages in 2 Timothy 3:15 where we hear that Timothy had known the Scriptures (The Old Testament) from his childhood and which were able to make him wise for salvation (2 Timothy 3:15 NSRV).

My point is this: If Jesus had to apply himself to learning scriptures, discussing, and struggling with scriptures to be true to God’s claim on his life why should we be any different.  It is in reading, studying, and discussing scriptures that the true seeker of God’s truths will meet the same wisdom and power unto salvation that Jesus encountered in Scripture.

I have often been amazed at people trying to defend their faith or to tell others why they are Christians when it is obvious they haven’t read their primary textbook.  It is like another supposedly true story I recently read.  The storyteller says:

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it’s safe to cross the street as I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine.  She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?”  She was a probation officer in Wichita, KS.

Most Christians today will readily admit that the two areas they are most weak in are (1) sharing their faith with others and (2) Biblical knowledge.  The two are opposite sides of the same coin—we can’t share what we don’t know.  If we don’t have biblical knowledge and understanding, it is hard to tap into the power and wisdom of God in scripture. Not having sound biblical knowledge makes us reluctant to engage the world with the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.  In the words of 2 Timothy 2; 15 (NRSV), I paraphrase, We must …”¹⁵ Do your [our] best to present yourself [ourselves] to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.”

What is at issue for us is not our salvation but how effective we are as Christians.  Our effectiveness as Christians is directly related to our knowledge of scripture and our willingness to internalize God’s wisdom as the guiding aspect of our lives.  Therefore as Christians we must study God’s word, and we must struggle to understand God’s word within its context and the context of our modern life.  We must learn to listen to Scripture--hear with the intent of internalizing the moral, ethical, and spiritual truths of scriptures.  In so doing, we will grow in the wisdom and favor of God.  We will be able to communicate the Christian Gospel.  However, most importantly we will become the answer to our weekly prayer for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.