Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - First Sunday after Christmas - 12/27/15 Sermon - “Left behind!"

Sunday 12/27/15 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Left Behind!”

                            

Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 148

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17

Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52

          Friends, brothers and sisters, welcome again on this the First Sunday after Christmas. On this day, we are still in this season of joy, love, peace, and hope. We will remain in this Season of Christmas or “Christmastide” through next Tuesday, January 5^th. This season is twelve days long, or as we often call it the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. In fact in some Christian traditions the night of January 5^th, which will be next Tuesday, is called the “Twelfth Night”. It is called the “Twelfth Night,” because it is the last and final night of the Christmas Season.

          This Christmas Season, or “Christmastide,” or “Christmas Time”, or “Twelvetide,” is a fast season. It is less than two weeks! Yet it is a season that many find so much love, joy, peace, and hope. For many of us we gain so much in this season. Unfortunately for many of us though, some of what we gain is in places like our waste lines, and credit card debt. New Year’s Eve is this Thursday night, so we have four more days of naughty eating, before we make a New Year’s Resolution to join the gym, and lose weight. Don’t worry though, it is likely that our New Year’s Resolutions will last just about as long as the days of the Christmas Season.

          Many of us gain so much in this Christmas Season. We may receive gifts, and hopefully some loving time with family and friends. Yet, what do we lose during this season?

          For some of us we lose sleep in the busyness of it all. For some of us we lose the excitement that led up to Christmas. What was a few days ago wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, became what looked like shrapnel from a wrapping paper bomb. That neat pile of gifts, all nicely sealed with bows, might now look like that wilds animal tore the wrapping paper off. Bows are hear, paper is there, and many of us have that famous trash bag full of paper, card board, and etc. 

          What else have we lost in this Christmas Season though? I know that for some people, they mourn the loss of loved ones even more during this time of the year. I also know that some people are saddened when the full house becomes an empty house. So many people were excited to have their kids, grand kids, and even great grandkids visit. It was flurry of activity, laughter, food, and fellowship. So many were so happy to see people that they might not get to see that often. Then after all that planning, all that wrapping, we are right back to where we were before Christmas began. It is hard to have actually lost or to feel like that you have lost your family after Christmas.

          Imagine if you lost a child? Whether this is a child who died, or a child who had gotten lost. A couple of months ago I was in Wal-Mart in Cortland, and I needed to use the restroom. When I came out, I noticed a bulletin board that was on the wall with missing children. I then thought of those poor worried families, and the sense of loss that they must have over there lost child.

          In this same way, this morning we have the story of a young twelve year old Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus’s family and many others from Nazareth in the north of Israel came for the annual holiday of the Passover. From Nazareth, it is about 60-miles to Jerusalem, depending on the path you take. Bethlehem is about 65-miles from Nazareth. So Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, is about 5-miles from Jerusalem, where King Herod lived.

          So about 60-miles or so from Nazareth to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover. This Jewish holiday, where the Jewish people in Egypt took the blood of a pure and spotless lamb, and smeared it on their door posts. In doing so, the Jewish people were spared the death of their firstborn child. This was the “tenth plague” that Moses told Pharaoh would befall his people, if Pharaoh did not let the Jewish people go. After this “tenth plague,” Pharaoh let the Jewish people go, Moses led the Jews through the divided Red Sea. This very significant set of miracles and events in Jewish history is what the holiday of Passover is all about.

          Like any good Jewish holiday it involves a ton of food, wine, and laughter. This holiday drew in Jews from all over the Roman Empire. People from Africa, people from all through the Middle East, and etc. On the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which was during the Passover, the reason that many people understood all the different languages that the Holy Spirit gave to the disciples to shout out in the upper room, was because Jews from all different countries came to the Passover holiday. As result, they spoke all different languages.

          This Passover holiday was generally a seven-day celebration, similar to the Wedding at Cana, when Jesus turned water to wine. So a week long party and celebration. Since Nazareth, where Jesus and his parents lived, was a Jewish town, probably a great number of people came from Nazareth every year for the Passover. Since Jerusalem is about 60-miles from Nazareth though, it is about a 5-day walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem. When I say a 5-day walk, I mean getting up very early, and walking all day.

          Similar to the Christmas Season then, all of these people are coming to Jerusalem, for just a week, the way we might have visitors this time of the year. Passover was quite the holiday, and I would imagine that Mary, Joseph, and 12-year old Jesus were quite excited about going to Jerusalem. Further, of all four of the gospels, this story is only recorded in the gospel of Luke.

          In looking at this reading, we notice pretty quickly that we are not told anything about the week long Passover festival. What the gospel does say, speaking of Mary and Joseph is, “Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to their custom” (Lk. 2:41-42, CEB). In the next verse it then begins by saying, “After the festival was over,” so we don’t know what the festival was like for Mary, Joseph, or Jesus (Lk. 2:43a, CEB). I mean, did they all have a good time? What was it like?

          Another interesting thing in verse 42, is it says, “When he was 12 years old” (Lk. 2:42a, CEB). This is interesting, because some Biblical scholars have interpreted this to mean that Jesus’s parents left him in Nazareth with family each year during the Passover, until he was twelve. The thought here, is that some Biblical scholars think that maybe Mary and Joseph didn’t take Jesus to his first Passover festival until he was twelve, because he was too young before this time. We don’t know this for sure though.

          Much like our Christmas celebrations though, the Passover ended. Now if we had family over from Christmas, through New Year’s, then that would be close to the length of the Passover holiday.

          At this point in the gospel reading, the weeklong Passover holiday is now over. Luke 2:43 then says, “After the festival was over, they were returning home, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know it” (Lk. 2:43, CEB).

          If anyone has ever seen one the “Home Alone” Christmas movies with Macaulay Culkin, we probably remember that famous scene of little Macaulay screaming in the mirror, after slapping on some his father’s aftershave.

          In this movie, Macaulay Culkin’s family, including his parents, sisters and brothers, and many others, are about to leave on a long trip. Well “Kevin,” the character that Macaulay Culkin plays oversleeps going to the airport, and no one wakes him up. There are so many people in the group, as was likely with Joseph and Mary’s group from Nazareth that “Kevin” in this case, like Jesus, was “left behind!”

          In the movie “Home Alone,” the character of “Kevin’s Mother” is sitting on an air plane after Kevin has been “left behind”! As she sits there, she was thinking, was it the coffee maker that I left on? Did I leave house lights on? Did I leave the doors unlocked? Then suddenly in the movie it hits her, and she shouts out “Kevin,” as she realizes that “Kevin” was “left behind!”

          I wonder what Joseph and Mary’s reaction was when they were a full day’s walk back to Nazareth, about 10-12 miles by the way, when they realized Jesus wasn’t with them?

          Now in the movie “Home Alone,” at first “Kevin” is thrilled that his parental overseers have left. He runs around the house, he jumps on his parent’s bed, and then eats a bowl of ice cream the size of Texas, while watching an R-rated movie. During this time “Kevin’s” mother is in complete hysterics, as he is having a grand old time.

          Well what the gospel of Luke goes on to say of Mary and Joseph is, “Supposing that he was among their band of travelers, they journeyed on for a full day while looking for him among their family and friends” (Lk. 2:44, CEB). Like the movie “Home Alone,” Jesus got “left behind!”

          As the gospel of Luke then says, “When they didn’t find Jesus. They returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple” (Lk. 2:45-46, CEB). Now Mary and Joseph had to walk 10-12-miles back to Jerusalem, and then they looked for Jesus for three whole days. I think of the movie “Home Alone” as little “Kevin” is sitting in his father recliner, eating ice cream, and watching an R-rated movie, while his parents are panicking.

          As I said, after a full day’s walk and three days of searching, they did then find Jesus at the temple. Here is what happened when they did, “He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them. Everyone who heard him was amazed by his understanding and his answers” (Lk. 2:46b-47, CEB).

          The gospel of Like then says, “When his parents saw him, they were shocked. His mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Listen! Your father and I have been worried. We’ve been looking for you!” (Lk. 2:48, CEB). I wonder if Joseph and Mary were angry? May be they were scared? Maybe they were fearful? Christmas comes to end, people leave, and this case someone got “left behind!”

          So how does Jesus reply to Mary, “Jesus replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” (Lk. 2:49, CEB). Some experts have said that only Mary came into the temple to get Jesus, as she was the one who spoke to Jesus in the gospel. Maybe as one of my seminary professors told me once, “Joseph was waiting in the car outside the temple.”

          Now the next verse of the gospel of Luke is great to me. It says after Jesus responds, “they didn’t understand what he said to them” (Lk. 2:50, CEB). What I love here, is the combination of emotions that are going here, and we aren’t given them all in the scripture. In this way, we sort of have to fill in the gaps in our minds of how Joseph and Mary felt.

          Yet the next two versus to me are very telling, as it says, “Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. His mother cherished every word in her heart” (Lk. 2:51, CEB). I like how is says that Jesus was “obedient to them,” as if Joseph and Mary told Jesus, “This is the last time that we are taking you to the Passover!” (Lk. 2:51a, CEB).

The gospel reading then ends by saying, “Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people” (Lk. 2:52, CEB). This story then goes to two week from now, when we have the Baptism of the Lord Sunday. After Jesus’s birth story, and after this story about Jesus being twelve at the temple, the next story we have is Jesus is thirty and is being baptized by his cousin John the Baptist in the Jordan River. This will be on Sunday January, 10^th.

Sisters and brothers, the Christmas Season, just like the Passover festival can be a time of gaining and losing. It can be time where we miss people. Hopefully though, we don’t leave anyone behind!

To bring this sermon to a close this morning I want to offer you a quote from St. Teresa of Avila. This is what the quote says, “Let nothing worry you; nothing dismay you; everything passes; God does not change. If you have patience you can do anything. Those who have God want for nothing; God alone is enough”. While this is so true, I wonder what would have happened if someone read this quote to Joseph and Mary, as they were feverishly looking for Jesus. Would they thank them, or do the opposite. For on this day, Jesus was “left behind!” Grace and peace to you in this season of Christmas. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.