Bible Passage: Luke 2:41-52
Pastor: Michael Willitz
Sermon Date: December 26, 2021

Bulletin December 26, 2021

Luke 2:41–52

⁴¹Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. ⁴²When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Festival. ⁴³When the days had ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. ⁴⁴Since they thought he was in their group, they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸When 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.”

⁴⁹He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” ⁵⁰They did not understand what he was telling them.

⁵¹He went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. ⁵²Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Youth Redeemed

Dear fellow redeemed in Jesus Christ, our Lord,

When I was growing up, my dad had some words of economic wisdom that he shared with my siblings and me. He would say, “You can spend a dollar once.” That’s a pretty good principle of fiscal responsibility. But the principle holds true not only with money. It’s a principle that also applies when it comes to time, isn’t it. You can only spend an hour once. You can only spend a day once. You can only spend your youth once.

On this Sunday when we hear about twelve-year-old Jesus, it is a natural time for us to consider that stage of life called “youth.” One lesson that we all finally learn about youth is that it doesn’t last long. It is fleeting. For only a little while is the body at peak strength. For only a little while is the mind at peak power. For only a little while are we able to chart the course for our lives before we start facing the consequences of the decisions we have made.

Do you have any regrets about your formative years? Are there behaviors and priorities in your past that you would go back and change if you had the opportunity? Do you ever find yourself praying the prayer of David in Psalm 25, “Do not remember the sins of my youth,” [7]? If your answer to these questions is “Yes,” then look with me at our Gospel text and at the record of our Savior’s youth. Here we find a past that we can truly be proud of. Here we find formative years that are not being squandered. In our Savior’s youth, we find him leading the perfect life that every one of us has failed to lead. No one gets a mulligan to go back and live through youth a second time, but in twelve-year-old Jesus, we find something far better. In twelve-year-old Jesus, we find Youth Redeemed.

Look at the boy Jesus, and you will see an adolescent who is on the right course. He is on the right course in terms of his relationship with God. Look at Jesus, as he goes to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for the Passover Festival. We certainly commend Joseph and Mary for doing the right thing as parents and teaching their Son to observe the holy days of the Lord. But notice that Jesus is not the pre-teen who has to be dragged by his parents to church. In Jerusalem, Jesus gives keen attention to the temple and everything that occurs there. He recognizes his Father’s house, and he delights in his Father’s business. Look at the boy Jesus sitting in temple courts in like a sponge, soaking in all the teaching of the rabbis. This is not the youth overwhelmed by distraction, daydreaming and wondering when the last “Amen” will sound. No, his mind and his soul hunger for the Scriptures, so much so that he is pleased to return day after day to hear more.

How many of us spent vast amounts of time in our youth filling our minds with vulgar jokes or with vanities broadcast to us on a screen. In contrast, Jesus is filling his mind with the wisdom of the Scriptures, and this wisdom will serve him well for all the rest of his life to come. It will serve him well when he finds himself in disputes with the scribes and Pharisees. It will serve him well when he finds himself under assault by the devil’s temptations. On occasion after occasion, Jesus will draw forth from his mind the right Word of God to apply to the situation. And he will have a very deep reservoir to draw from as a result of this devotion in his youth.

Can you imagine sitting there in the temple courts as an adult, and listening with shock, as you hear this twelve-year-old boy who has a better grasp on the Scriptures than you do? Can you imagine being Mary and looking on your Son with confusion, after he corrects you: yes, it was necessary for him to remain there in the temple? Look at Jesus, and see the youth who faithfully prioritizes the business of his Father. In comparison, how inadequate our efforts have been. In comparison, how lacking is our devotion when compared with the devotion of twelve-year-old Jesus. But while this youthful portrait of Jesus makes our faults glaringly evident, we rejoice to see this portrait of Jesus. It is a portrait of perfection that Jesus credits to us, since he has lived his life, including his youth, to serve as our substitute.

Look at the boy Jesus, and see that he is on the right course with his God. Look at the boy Jesus, and see that he is also on the right course with his earthly parents. Even when he must correct them, he does so with gentleness. And do not miss the detail toward the end of the text, that when he went down with his parents from Jerusalem to Nazareth, “he was always obedient to them,” [51]. Even though the perfect Savior lived with imperfect earthly parents, he did not dishonor them, he did not object to their authority, and he did not step out of his place as their Son. Of course, he honored his heavenly Father above all, but he also recognized his parents as a gift from his heavenly Father.

Now, for those of you who are children and teenagers, I know that your parents aren’t perfect. And I also know that your parents are the very first gift that God gave you for your life in this world. You may know a few shortcomings in your parents, but don’t let that blind you to all the blessings God is setting before you in them. Just consider how enriched the life of our Savior must have been, because in his youth he truly valued and obeyed his parents. Here, too, we see our shortcomings, and here, too, Jesus credits his perfection to us. He fulfilled the Fourth Commandment perfectly, just as he kept all the other commandments, and the merit for all of this perfect living is received through faith in Jesus Christ.

Yes, our Savior was on the right course from his youth, and he continued on the right course all the days of his life. He perfectly honored his father and mother. Remember how he provided for his mother in those last hours before his death. He gave her John to be her son, and to care for her in his place. And all the days of his life, Jesus was taking care of his heavenly Father’s business. At the temple as a boy, Jesus listened to the teachers, but Jesus also would have certainly been aware of the sacrifices taking place in that temple. Blood had to be shed for the sins of the people. “Without the shedding of blood, there is not forgiveness” of sins [Hebrews 9:22].

The business of Jesus’ Father was for him to be the sacrifice, the sacrifice to which all of the animal sacrifices pointed, that sacrifice which would win forgiveness for the sins of the whole world. So twenty-one years after the episode of Jesus in the temple as a twelve-year-old boy, Jesus went up to Jerusalem as a man. He went up to Jerusalem for another Passover Festival. He went up to Jerusalem to take care of his Father’s business. There was a transaction which God the Father desired for his Son to make, and Jesus made it. He made this transaction on a cross. He poured out from his veins the ransom payment to redeem us from all of our sins.

You can’t get your youth back once it’s spent, but in Jesus you receive something better. You receive the credit for his entire life of perfection, and you receive the forgiveness that he bought with the price of his own blood. You may have squandered your youth, and you may have misused the Father’s gifts much like the prodigal son in the parable that Jesus told. But remember how the father in that parable received his son back, when the son returned home in repentance. “Bring out the best robe and put it on him,” the father said. “Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate,” [Luke 15:22,23]. With such generosity and with such richness, God the Father bestows on repentant sinners the gifts of his grace in Jesus Christ his Son.

Amen

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