Christmas is a wonderful time to go back and remember Christmases past; (PowerPoint slides) sometimes we only have one picture to remember a whole generation by.

I) We Only Get One Childhood Story of Jesus

Our Gospel lesson today is the only childhood story we have in any of the Gospels. Matthew tells us that they lived in Egypt for a time, but there are no stories. Luke tells the story of Jesus' birth and circumcision, and from there until John the Baptist- this story of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple is the only story we have.

We look at the story, and it's pretty straight-forward. The boy Jesus goes up to Jerusalem with his parents for the Passover. They must have traveled with a sizable group of friends and relatives, to make it all the way down the length of Israel to Jerusalem. [By the way, the word Luke uses here to describe the group is sunodia ("synodia") which is the word those zany Lutherans get their word "synod," meaning group.] It would have meant about two to three days of walking. They may have stayed in inns, or possibly even camped out. They traveled in large groups because robbers were common, and among the worst was the bullying of Roman soldiers out to make a fast shekel. The group on the way to Jerusalem would be carrying some money for their offerings and needs. A larger group would be harder to rob.

We know a lot about the keeping of the Passover, due to the stories later in Jesus' life, so I won't repeat that. The feast is celebrated, sacrifices made, probably some shopping and sight-seeing was done, and they headed for home. The whole North Galilee-Nazareth gang were probably together, maybe in a procession that stretched out for a few hundred yards. Maybe in fact, the road would be filled for miles with returning folks, and it would make sense that kids would play back and forth with each other as they walked. Which kid on the way to the little league game wants to ride with their own parents? I'm sure 12-year-old kids then probably ditched their parents to do stuff that all 12-year-olds do, if their parents aren't around. Of course Jesus was sinless, so instead he cuts out entirely and stays in Jerusalem!

II) Parents Need to Discern God's Will Carefully

One tiny piece of this that piques my interest is that here we have sinless Jesus, and even he drives his parents crazy. Remember the next time your child or grandchild does something that you don't want them to do. Jesus was doing what he was supposed to be doing, he was squarely in the center of God's will, but it was inconvenient to his parents. So much for the Christian teachers who say that whatever a parent tells a child, that the child must blindly do; that parents' wills are always the same as God's will. No, in this case Jesus did something which to most parents would be seen as wrong, from their point of view. It seems inconsiderate, thoughtless and it must have been very troubling for Mary and Joseph- plus they had to walk many miles out of their way. Not funny, young man.

But it was God's will. I think that has something to say to us parents when pondering the actions of our children, even when they're not convenient to us, nor make sense, nor are what we would have done. Yes, children are to obey their parents, but even more so, obey God.

The text makes clear later on that Jesus did carefully obey his parents- 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. Jesus couldn't willingly disobey his parents and remain sinless. You can't break a commandment and remain sinless. But what Jesus did in remaining in the temple, even though it scared his parents, was not sin.

Dobson makes a big distinction between willful rebellion and childhood thoughtlessness or carelessness. I think that's one of Dobson's greatest strengths. You don't punish a child because you're angry. You don't punish a child because they think like a child. The only time a child is punished is for willful disobedience.

Children leave tools in the rain and drop special dishes. That's not cured by punishment but by teaching and consequences. Looking at this text, maybe Jesus even left Joseph's saw or hammer out in the rain.

(And just as an aside, no child should ever suffer abuse or hurt and have it covered up with 'honor your father and mother.' Most sex offenders abuse just that kind of trust.)

So, perfect, sinless Jesus was an adolescent. He was beginning to make choices and shape his life by them. And what does he do when he's all alone in the city? He hangs out in the Temple! He sits with the great teachers, listening politely and asking hard questions. Perhaps he was even teaching them by asking them the kind of leading questions he would use later to get his point across.

III) Jesus the Child Prodigy

We love stories about child prodigies. For generations we pass on stories about people like Mozart, who was writing symphonies by the age of six. When we read the stories of famous people, often there will be a childhood story supporting it, like Washington who couldn't tell a lie after he chopped down the cherry tree or Lincoln who walked many miles to return return a borrowed book. The ancients told stories the same way. Luke is writing his story like a Greek or Roman historian; it would be appropriate to write the story of Jesus in the style of a famous biography, which would contain an 'amazing childhood story.' Interestingly, when Luke announces Jesus' birth, it echoes the birth announcement of a Caesar!

But the fact is that amazingly gifted people do amazing things in childhood. The kids I grew up with who went on to be doctors or other very successful people were doing things that set them apart from the other kids by the time they were twelve. Why would we expect less from Jesus? Luke is laying out his orderly form, he's telling the story like a Roman historian, and he's helping us to see a side of Jesus' humanity the other Gospel writers don't give us.

IV) Glimpses Into Jesus' Development

The end of this story is not what I'd expect. I think I would have grounded Jesus for about five years. He would be so grounded. But listen to the text again:

49 And he said to them, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.

Jesus seems absolutely clueless as to why they're upset. "How is it that you sought me? Even then he understands something of his call. Did Jesus comprehend everything in the Universe at that time? Did he understand all the intricacies of how the Universe was created when he was 12? Did he comprehend his full Divinity at that age? Or when he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, did he somehow grow up like a normal child, but sinless? We cannot know.

The last phrase of this passage is very interesting. You can't pick up a central nuance in English- let me read it again from the Greek- it literally says And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature (or years) , and in the grace of God and man. This is interesting- Jesus grew in grace! Maybe this is a glimpse into what was going on in Jesus' mind as he grew up and about 18 years later begin his public ministry.

And that's all we know across almost 30 years. The lack of information is tantalizing. If you read the DaVinci Code, a popular novel right now, it mentions that there were other later Gospels. In the second through fourth centuries, many imaginative books were written, claiming to be Gospels or letters of the Apostles, many of them with a heretical agenda. The Gospel of Thomas, a late, Gnostic book, tells a childhood story of Jesus getting angry with his little playmates until Mary scolds him and makes him turn them back into children. Hard to remain sinless if you do things like that to your playmates! That's why the church rejected such silly books. But making outrageous claims about these mostly-forgotten books does sell novels!

Conclusion

What a great thing that we've got a God who knows what it's like to grow up! What a great thing that we've got a God who knows what it's like to be a part of a family! What a great thing that God loves us so much that he came and met us right in the center of where we live- with kids and bills and challenges. Maybe we don't have to flee to Egypt to escape being killed, but we may have the worry of unemployment or big bills, or health problems. Maybe our growing kids drive us crazy. Or our parents. Isn't great that we've got a Lord who's been there?

At these holiday times, sometimes the family stuff gets out of whack. Sometimes we get overwhelmed and the great memories get overwhelmed by the emotional load of 'gottas' and 'shouldas.'

Maybe we need a bit of forgiveness. Maybe like Mary and Joseph we have to reflect a bit on doing our Father's business. Like Jesus, we can hear this call to study Scripture and be about our Father's business.

We've just got this one family snapshot. It must have been a story they told over and over again-the time they left Jesus behind. This is a time of year for old family stories. This is one of our family stories too. I think it has a few lessons to teach us, Amen.