Christmas 2
Today we near the end of our 12 day celebration of Christmas as today we are at day 10. According to the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” this is the day that the True Love gives 10 Lords-A-Leaping. Understanding this as a “catechism song” to teach the faith, with each of the gifts given has a hidden meaning to help teach and preserve the faith, todays 10 lords are the holy 10 commandments, given us by God, our true Love.
Although we set aside 12 days to celebrate Christmas, that is hardly enough time to ponder and reflect on the great mystery of Christmas—that the one true eternal God took on human flesh and blood and became one of us; hardly enough time to reflect on the great mystery that the virgin Mary—a woman of a certain people, time and place became the Mother of God; hardly enough time to reflect and ponder that the very One who was born and lying in a manger was at the same time filling the universe and holding it all together. We get glimpses of this great mystery as the shepherds see and hear a glimpse of heaven as the holy angels sing their praises to the newborn eternal God [Lk 2.14]: Glory to God in the highest and peace, good will toward men.
Before we leave the Christmas season, our readings today give us one more opportunity to catch a glimpse of the great mystery of Christmas—that God became man to be our Savior. St. Paul writes in our epistle: [God] made known to us the mystery of His will in keeping with His good purpose, which He planned in Christ. This was to be carried out when the time had fully come, in order to bring all things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. The mystery of His will is the salvation of all people in Jesus. And notice how Jesus and His work are described: as bringing things together in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. –Jesus is both true God and true man in one person—that’s the Christmas miracle—and in Jesus humankind and God are reconciled, He is that one Mediator between God and man. And only He can be because He is both God and man.
But the great stumbling block is that when Jesus came that first Christmas to be our Savior, to bring all things together … things in heaven and things on earth, Jesus was definitely obviously true man but did He appear to be very divine? Did He seem to be God? No. That’s why the angels had to tell the shepherds that God was born of Mary and was wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger; that’s why they gave the shepherds a glimpse of the heavenly choirs praising Him.
Today we need to hear this message of who Jesus really is—true man and true God. People may be very willing to accept the fact that there was a historical person named Jesus of Nazareth; they may regard Him as some great moral teacher or even as a great prophet, but as God? Hardly! Jesus really is the great stumbling block and the great question we need to answer is the one Jesus asks [Mt. 16.13]: But who do you say that I am? Having just celebrated and continuing to reflect on the Christmas miracle, may we in all faith answer: True God and true man who is my Savior from sin, death, devil and hell!
Before leaving the Christmas season our Gospel gives us one last opportunity to ponder this great mystery of who Jesus really is—the account of the 12 year old boy Jesus in the temple. It seems a rather innocent/ non-descript account a 12 year old boy lagging behind, getting separated from His parents and being found again by them. But remember Christmas: Jesus is true God! And this gives us a rich OT background—because what we have in today’s Gospel is the exact same scene as our OT reading at the time of the dedication of Solomon’s temple when the Ark of the Covenant was brought there. What do we see there? –God coming to His temple: When the priests came out from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord. The priests were not able to take their positions to minister in the presence of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. And what do we have in our Gospel? Also God coming to His temple—the exact same scene—but a huge difference: here we see Him in all lowliness and humility; here His divine glory is covered with human flesh and blood: After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. The exact same scene—but the appearance was very different. And why? Christmas! –God became man to be our Savior. The Son of God taking on human flesh and blood does not make Him any less God. He is still the one true eternal almighty God. Jesus, the Son, is no less God than the Father and the Holy Spirit.
What is vital for us to remember is that although God is everywhere, we best seek Him where He promised to meet us—in His holy word and Sacrament. In His word and sacrament Jesus, our risen and ascended Savior, gives us all of His gifts and blessings He won for us by His life, suffering and death. Where do we find His word and sacrament? –In His house; in Church. May we follow Mary and Joseph in their search for Jesus and find Him where they did—in the Lord’s house!
How vital it is for us that we stay close to our Lord’s house where He is with and in His holy word and sacrament. This is especially true in times of trouble. That’s what we see in our text, isn’t it? The pains that Mary and Joseph suffered as they thought that they had lost Jesus! The thing is—as Mary and Joseph discovered—is that our Lord’s dear Christians, His faithful, are not spared trial, trouble and sorrow. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” Literally what St. Mary says is that “Your father and I suffer pains looking for You.” They were not spared suffering and anguish, and neither are we! In fact, St. Simeon told St. Mary that she would suffer greatly [Lk. 2.35]: a sword will pierce through your own soul also. Really, Mary’s life was one cross/ trial after another. We should not expect anything different. And in fact think of Mary’s great anguish during Jesus’ suffering and death—especially during those three days that He laid in the tomb. And here, in our text, there is a foreshadow of that great anguish Mary would suffer: After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Notice that?—Three days, just like from Good Friday to Easter morning.
So, too, for us Christians even though we have great heavenly and spiritual blessings in Jesus, it often happens that we think we have lost Him, that it seems that our dear Lord is not with us. We all too often feel that as we go through difficult times, that we are alone, that our dear Lord has abandoned us. When it rains it pours—it also happens that when we think the Lord has left us in difficult times that the devil then comes to us and dredges up all sorts of sin and we feel our guilt and lose hope. Like Mary and Joseph, we think we have lost Jesus.
So what can we learn from them? After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Jesus is there exactly where He should be! He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” When we think we have lost Jesus, that He is not with us—let us run to our church. Let us find our church to be our place of comfort and refuge because Jesus is here in His word and sacrament with His gifts and graces—exactly as He has promised. What a glorious and precious place our church is—Jesus is here! It will not seem like the scene in our OT reading: the cloud filled the house of the Lord. The priests were not able to take their positions to minister in the presence of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. But that is the reality. Jesus our dear Lord is here with His gifts and graces. Let us hear our Lord speaking to us in His holy word; let us see Him offering/ giving us His forgiveness in His holy absolution and Supper.
Think of that scene in our text. Mary and Joseph returning in haste to Jerusalem, certainly retracing their steps and running around the city but then they come to the temple and After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers. Jesus calmly is sitting there all along. What joy and relief when they found Him! That’s a picture also of what we see in the world around us—people running around looking for sense and meaning of their lives and the world around them; people trying to get rid of guilt they are plagued with; people trying all sorts of different ways of thinking; people trying to numb their lives with drugs or alcohol or busyness; people busily pursuing money, pleasure, power, thinking that these things will fill what they sense is missing in life. All of that running around but Jesus is right where He should be—in the Church; in your church! That’s why we go to church—especially in times of trial for us; especially if we don’t “feel” like it. Here is our only place of true comfort—in the Lord’s house where His word and sacrament are because that’s where Jesus is, right where He should be, waiting for us! And here is our hope and our comfort.
Remember we don’t see Jesus like in our OT reading: the cloud filled the house of the Lord. The priests were not able to take their positions to minister in the presence of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord but in the lowliness and humbleness of His church in the word and sacrament: they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers and He went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. Same scene/ same God—but all very different to the eyes; we only see and recognize Jesus in His church in the word and sacrament with the eyes of faith. May our prayer this new year be that the Lord open up our eyes to see Him with the eyes of faith in all His glory and majesty here in church in His holy word and sacrament.
To help us with that, it will do us good once more to return to Bethlehem that first Christmas to hear the angels telling the shepherds [Lk 2.12, 16]: And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And what did the shepherds then do in that faith worked by the Holy Spirit in the word? And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Jesus must be sought and found—and He is found only where He we are told He would be: in His word and sacrament; we won’t find Him where we, in our sin corrupted reason think He should be. Luther once said, “Word and Sacrament are the manger and swaddling cloths into which it has pleased Christ to lay Himself.” Just as the shepherds were told where to find Jesus then, so also we are told where to find Him today. As we come to the end of Christmas season, it is a good reminder to us that Jesus is no longer in the humble manger but by His own promise He is in the humble means of bread and wine with His true body and blood. And that’s how He comes to us today—lowly and humble—to give us great, heavenly divine gifts. Jesus came that first time in all lowliness and humility in order to be our Savior. Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business? All that Jesus did during His earthly life—although He is the same power, glory and eternity with the Father—was in humility for us and our salvation. Christmas teaches us that God humbled Himself and became true man. Although He is now in all His power and glory, we still find Jesus in church in the humble Word and Sacrament. INJ