Sermon for the Second Sunday After Christmas A SERMON [NOT ONLY] FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. At the beginning of today’s Gospel, St. Luke states that Jesus was continually growing, increasing in both wisdom and in strength. At the end of today’s Gospel, Luke repeats himself. Luke repeats Himself so that you will notice and be nourished this Word from God: “Jesus [continually] increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Dear teenagers, preteens, and younger children of the Church, CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT YOUR LIFE, RIGHT HERE AND NOW! Many people think of Christmas as being about “the little Lord Jesus, asleep in the hay” (LSB #364.1). Christmas is about much more than the baby Jesus. Christmas is also about the childhood that Jesus experienced. · When Luke states that Jesus increased in wisdom, that means Jesus started His earthly life without much wisdom. Stated another way, Jesus had to learn His Sunday School lessons, just like you have to learn yours. Jesus also heard different messages in His life—not all of them helpful or beneficial—just as you also hear many different messages in your life. Jesus had to sort through and come to understand who He was, just as you must sort through who you are. · When Luke states that Jesus was continually growing in strength and stature, that means Jesus had to go through the same process you now also are going through. His body, like yours, had to transform from the body of a child to the body of an adult. His mind and His thinking, like yours, also had to mature in the same way that yours must mature. This is good news for you, because there were many things in Jesus’ life that He did not always understand simply because He did not yet have the equipment to understand. For example, Jesus seems very surprised in today’s Gospel that Mary and Joseph did not immediately come look for Him in the temple. “Why were you looking for me?” He asked. “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Jesus, in His very young way of thinking, does not yet seem to realize the terror that parents feel when they look around and see their son or daughter is missing. You children probably do not understand that feeling, either, but you will.) Christmas Season is not merely about the Baby Jesus. Christmas Season is about you Lord Jesus must pass through every single stage of life that you also must pass through. Jesus grew through the stages of His life without sin and no one else has ever done that—neither you nor your parents before you. Just because Jesus grew up perfectly, do not assume that growing up was easy for Him. Jesus struggled in every way that you struggle. Jesus was tempted in every way that you are tempted. Jesus experienced every feeling and emotion that you experience. Jesus had to discover who He was, independent of His father and His mother, in the very same way that you also must discover who you are. LEARN YOUR INDEPENDENCE FROM JESUS Today’s Gospel is very important for you because it tells you about one of the steps along the way of Jesus’ eventual independence from His parents—steps that you each are right now in the process of taking. “When the [Passover] feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.” A little separation from mom and dad for a little while must have been sort of nice. As the children of my generation were singing with Cheap Trick thirty years ago, “Mommy’s all right, daddy’s all right, they just seem a little weird” (Cheap Trick, “Surrender”). I know that most of you can chuckle and say that I am an old man. (If you don’t, my sons will do it for you.) Please believe me when I say that I understand very well you growing desire for independence. You and Jesus are not the only two people who ever felt such needs. Your desires for independence are most certainly made worse by some of the music that you are pumping into your ears. You probably are not singing much Cheap Trick these days. Shinedown is likely more your speed: Tell my mother, tell my father, I’ve done the best I can To make them realize this is my life I hope they understand (Shinedown, “Second Chance”) Yes, dear Christian: This IS your life. Make sure that you do not allow the devil, the world, and your own sinfulness to fool you. Do not get fooled into thinking that that you can do whatever you want with your life, just because it is yours. “You are not your own,” says Paul, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Learn your independence from Jesus, my young saints! Jesus did not grow into His independence by running away from the way He was raised or by throwing out the things He was taught to hold dear. Your Lord Jesus grew into His independence voluntarily embracing those who once held Him in their arms. · Jesus grew into His independence from His parents by attending Himself to the preaching of the Word, “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Grow into your independence in the same way. Do not merely regard the Christian faith as your parents’ faith, or the thing that your parents make you do. Attend to the faith yourself. Regard it as your own faith, something that you want to keep even into adulthood. · Jesus also “went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.” Simply stated, Jesus honored His father and His mother. That is a VERY hard thing to do, especially for people who are growing up in a world that continually tells you that you should not need to be submissive to any authority; or that it is your life to do with as you please; or that, if things do not work out the way you want, you can always run away and start over somewhere else. “Jesus [continually] increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” I know this sounds ironic—and you might not want to believe me—but Jesus probably grew into His independence from His parents by honoring and loving His parents. It works the same way for most children, and Jesus was Child just like any other: the more the Child Jesus honored and obeyed His parents, the more they trusted Him with increased independence. JESUS’ PERFECT OBEDIENCE HAS COVERED YOUR SIN AND DISOBEDIENCE! If you think that the sermon so far has been all about 1) listening to God’s Words for yourself and 2) listening to your parents, you are absolutely correct. In today’s Gospel, · Jesus illustrates for children the command, “You shall have no other gods.” Jesus does this by sitting in the temple, listening to the teachers. · Jesus also illustrates here the commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” Jesus does this by going down to Nazareth with His parents and by being submissive to them. But an example is only the first part of what Jesus gives to you in today’s Gospel. The good news for you is that Jesus in today’s Gospel is more than your example of how you should grow into your independence. When you were baptized into Christ Jesus, Jesus gave to you everything you heard in today’s Gospel. Jesus grew through the stages of His life without sin and He gained His independence without sin and no one else has ever done that—neither you nor your parents before you. Knowing that you will not gain your independence without sin, Jesus has given to you His perfect childhood and His perfect growth into adulthood. · Where you feel rebellious and do not want to obey your parents, Jesus obeyed His parents for you—and gives that perfect obedience to you. · Where you feel like you do not always want to go to another church service, Jesus faithfully listened to the teachers for you—and He gives that faithful listening to you, baptizing and sanctifying your listening to the Word of God. · You sometimes feel driven or intoxicated by the thought that this is your life, you can do what you please with it. Jesus never held His own life too tightly, but willingly gave it up for you, for your parents, and for all people. · You feel tempted to think that your childhood and your grown to adulthood all about you. Jesus’ childhood and Jesus’ grown to adulthood WERE all about you. Every moment Jesus lives, He lives for you, in order to redeem you and make you His own dear brother or sister in the family of our heavenly Father. TODAY’S GOSPEL HAS SOME GOOD MEMORY VERSES IN IT I know that not a lot of children like to do memory work. If you could muster the strength for it, it would be a good thing for you to memorize and frequently repeat to yourself a couple of lines from today’s Gospel. Try the first and last verses: · “The child [Jesus] grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon Him.” · “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Everyone needs a good example, and these verses are good examples for how you children should also live your lives. Even more than that, these Words speak the very life that Christ your God lived for you. Far beyond merely a Baby in a Bethlehem cradle, Christmas Season is about you Lord Jesus passing through every single stage of life that you also must pass through—doing it for you, and giving it to you. The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? 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