Growing in Wisdom/Knowing the Time

Biblical Text: Luke 2:40-52

It comes from stanza 3 of Once in Royal David’s City. “For He is our childhood’s pattern.” That hymn applies it in the more common way that Jesus experienced everything we did. Which is meaningful for what the Athanasian creed would call “the assumption of the humanity into God.” That is Christ the new Adam who saves all humanity. But I think our Gospel lesson today asks us to think about that pattern in another way. How is this story of the late childhood of Jesus a pattern for our spiritual life?

I don’t think it is a shocking statement to say that spiritual maturity doesn’t move at the same rate as physical maturity. We can’t do anything about aging. But spiritual maturity comes about through trial. It comes about through learning to recognize the time. But also learning that unlike in mortal life which “flies forgotten as a dream” no time is ever really lost in Christ. Twelve year old Jesus is presented with a time. A Passover in Jerusalem leading to a highly flattering role as prodigy guru. Or a return to nowhere Nazareth in submission to parents. And in submission to a very different Passover in Jerusalem.

This sermon attempts to meditate on this pattern for maturity in the Spiritual life. The role of submission. Learning to know the time. Developing the heart to will the walk toward the cross. It is a very different sermon. It isn’t doctrinal, at least not in a typical dogmatic way. It isn’t straight proclamation of Christ, although that is present. It isn’t a sermon without it. It inhabits that space of practical theology. How does one grow in wisdom and stature and favor? You have to attempt to write something like this occasionally. But you are left with an awfully mystical feeling after. Because you don’t exactly know the reason why. They are mere containers for the Holy Spirit to do what He does.

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Consolation Under the Cross

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Biblical Text: Luke 2:40-52

This sermon is a reworking of one given by Luther in 1523. I took from that one its main points and the general outline. But the flesh of it I had to rework for 2022. I did this because I felt the main point was both one that we rarely hear in churches today and that it needs to be heard. That main point is the reality of testing in the life of the believer and why God brings that into our lives. The biblical basis is Mary’s losing the young Jesus. The second point is where our consolation is found in the midst of testing. Mary searches for Jesus: in the group, among relatives and acquaintances, around Jerusalem before finally coming to the temple. They say that Luther was against allegory, but he could use it well while preaching. This sermon updates his examples for all the places we look for God before going to where he has promised to be.

Recording note: I’m not sure of the complete quality. You might occasionally hear a dropped first syllable, especially after a pause. I think it’s time to replace the mic batteries. That is what tends to happen when they are starting to go. It takes a syllable to recognize line volume again. I only heard a couple, so it doesn’t ruin the recording.

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Ponder in your Heart

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Biblical Text: Luke 2:40-52

I am always surprised at how multivalent (fancy word for many valid levels) the scriptures are. A Protestant temptation, and a temptation of “smart” people, is to think that there is only one interpretation or reading that is best. For this text, Jesus in the temple, that “best” reading usually focuses on the distinction between the boy Jesus and the “teachers of the law”. And that is not an invalid way of thinking about the text. But I owe a big debt to Luther for this view, and I think it is a perfect example of the pastoral Luther. Luther put aside the immediately obvious Law and Gospel distinction, to focus on the situation of Mary. Mary who for three days has lost God. The core question is where do we find consolation, where do we find God?

This sermon ponders a bit why God would put his “most highly favored” in such suffering situations. And it then puts forward how we find consolation in such times, and how we should prepare for the crosses of life.

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