Sunday 12/30/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “The wisdom of children”
Scripture Lesson: 1 Samuel
2:18-20, 26
Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52
Good morning
brothers and sisters! It is a great joy to be here with you on this the first
Sunday after Christmas Day. We now begin to move away from the birth of Christ,
to Christ being presented at the Jewish temple, and visiting the temple as a
young man to speak with the priests of the Jewish temple.
Next week I am
going to be starting a series called the “Natures of Christ” series. In this
series we will be looking at the different ways that Christ was experienced in
this world that he entered into as a baby. Christ comes to us in many ways,
from being the King of Kings, to being the Messiah, to being a teacher, and
etc. While I will be starting this series next week, Arnold Stevens from the RW
Johnsburg UMC will preach the next Sunday, on January 13th.
This Sunday
however, we still celebrate this little baby called Jesus. A little baby that
has come to change and re-orient all that we know to be true, and who came to
give us hope of a better tomorrow. As is Jewish tradition and belief, on the
eighth day after his birth, Jesus was presented to the Lord in front of the priests
and high priest at the Jewish temple. His parents, Joseph and Mary offered an
animal sacrifice to God, and then Jesus was circumcised, in the Jewish way. The
bulletin picture from this morning portrays a painting of this presentation of
the Lord at the Jewish temple.
What has
baffled many scholars and Christians over the centuries though is why exactly
do we know so little of Christ’s life before he was baptized by John the
Baptist. I mean when Jesus was baptized and was filled with the Holy Spirit he
was 30-years old, which is only a year younger than I am. Jesus was no doubt
young at this point of his baptism, and his ministry would then ensue for three
years until his crucifixion at age 33. So we have the presentation of Jesus to
the Lord at the temple, and then we have the scripture of John the Baptist, where
he is speaks one coming that is greater than he, that is the Lord of all. Scripture
does however give us one and only one other piece of Jesus’ early life.
In fact, the scripture reading from 1
Samuel from the Old Testament this morning speaks of Samuel teaching as a young
Child in the Jewish temple, and the Gospel of Luke scripture from this morning speaks
of Jesus teaching as 12-year old child in the Jewish temple. This account of
Jesus as a boy, as I said, is the only other account we have other than his
birth, his presentation and circumcision at the Jewish temple, and his baptism
to his death and resurrection. The debate as to why this is far and wide, yet
we simply just don’t know much about the life of Christ in his early years. As
the scripture reading from 1 Samuel said this morning, “Samuel was ministering before
the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. His mother used to make for him a little
robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer
the yearly sacrifice.” This scripture concludes by the young Samuel finishing
his ministering, as it said, “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in
stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.”
Let us now
look at what the gospel of Luke reading from this morning said about young Jesus.
The gospel of Luke reading from this morning says, “Now every year his parents
went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve
years old, they went up as usual for the festival.” So Jesus’ parents Joseph
and Mary, just like Samuel’s parents went to Jerusalem every year to celebrate
the Passover. The gospel of Luke reading goes on to say that, “When the
festival ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in
Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.” I can imagine losing him would be
distressing for Mary and Joseph. Has anyone here ever lost a child in the mall,
at a theme park, or etc.? I have seen it happen many times, with panic stricken
parents, who are desperately trying to find there lost child. The gospel of
Luke reading from this morning went on to say, “Assuming that he was in the
group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for
him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found
him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking
them questions.” The gospel went on to say, “And all who heard him were amazed
at his understandings and his answers. 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.” I
wonder if Mary and Joseph were also very angry with Jesus, as I am sure many of
you here can related this story of the “boy Jesus.” Jesus then replied to his
parents Mary and Joseph as only the Messiah could. “He said to them, “Why were
you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Jesus then returned to Nazareth with his parents Joseph and Mary, was obedient
to them. Then in a very similar way to the scripture from 1 Samuel, this gospel
reading ended with, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine
and human favor,” just like Samuel did.
While it is neat
to see yet another parallel to the Old Testament foretelling of Jesus, and the
fulfillment of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the New
Testament, why would pick this scripture for this morning? What’s the point? Here
is why, I think that while Jesus did in fact feel the need to be as he said, “In
my Father’s house,” I think he was teaching his parents Joseph and Mary, and
all of us today, “the wisdom of children.” I think so often in our society that
youngsters are overlooked, and that there thoughts are unheard. Now don’t get
me wrong I am not advocating that youngsters have the status or authority of
the elders, but I am simply saying that sometimes our youngsters really surprise
us with what they know. With how God has gifted them and with how wise they
sometimes can be. Considering these scriptures from this morning then, when is
the last time that we took time to hear “the wisdom of children?” When is the
last time one of your children or your grandchildren said something that was
just profound, wise, and smart? How did you respond to this statement? Did you
say, “Shut your mouth young man!?” Or did you say, “That was really great and
insightful? Now go do the dishes.”
Maybe though, maybe though, just on occasion,
us youngsters can say something profound and wise. Perhaps Joseph and Mary left
Jerusalem with their son after that Passover festival, realizing “the wisdom of
children.” Maybe they realized that even the youngest of folks have gifts and
graces from Lord, and can have wisdom. May we all aspire to hear “the wisdom of
children.”
After an
Advent season that included school shootings, hurricanes, calamities, and at
the same time joy and peace, I would like to close with a funny story. I believe that I originally got this story
from Hilda. Here it is: A child was asked to
write a book report on the entire Bible. Here is what he wrote: In the
beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness
and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be
a lot older than that. Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. Then God made the world. He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve
were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented
yet. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven
from the Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they
didn't have cars.
Adam and Eve had a
son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel. Pretty soon all of the
early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or
something. One of the next important
people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham.
Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked
some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain
check.
After Noah came
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau,
because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named
Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. Another
important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led
the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent
ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice,
bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then
he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke,
dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more:
Humor thy father and thy mother. One of
Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua
fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town. After Joshua came David. He got to be king
by killing a giant with a slingshot. He
had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher
says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me. After Solomon there were a bunch of major
league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and
then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I
guess we don't have to worry about them.
After the Old
Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in
Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is
always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be
nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.') During
His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.
Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so
evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He
healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. But the Democrats
and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't
stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead. Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came
back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the
Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.
So brothers and sisters, as we can see from this story, we
must listen for “the wisdom of children.” Sometimes children surprise us with what they
say, as Jesus surprised his parents Joseph and Mary at 12-years old in that Jewish
temple, so long ago. Amen, and bless our young people, for they are the future
of building the kingdom of God here on earth.
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