Intro
How perplexing He was. There Jesus was, a 12-year-old at the Temple. Mary,
His mother, and Joseph, His stepfather, go back to get Him because they realize
He wasn’t traveling back home with them. They are dressing Jesus down,
demanding to know why He didn’t join them in the caravan back to Nazareth.
And how did Jesus answer? He told them that He had stayed behind at the Temple
to be doing the things of the Father. What a weird answer: “to be doing the
things of the Father.”
Main Body
But in that weird answer, Jesus gives us a glimpse of why He took on human
flesh. When Jesus was in the Temple, and even when He was a baby in the
manger, He wasn’t simply some potential savior, or a soon-to-become promised
Messiah. No, when the Word became flesh, that’s when Jesus stepped into His
role as the promised Messiah, the Savior of sinners. Jesus was the Messiah
from the day of His conception.
That’s what Jesus meant when He said that He needed to be about the things of
the Father. To be about this work, to be about the things of the Father, is to
say what the Father has given for Him to say. It’s to do what the Father has
given Him to do.
And when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple, He explains that He is doing
just that. No wonder they’re scratching their heads. They remember having to
feed that boy, of having to change His diapers. And now He’s 12 years old and
saying stuff like that!
And what Jesus said and did should perplex you as well. For what did Jesus do
after Joseph and Mary chewed Him out? He placed Himself, He subjected Himself,
under their authority. Now that would not be weird if He were merely a boy.
But He’s not.
Think about it: the Lord God being subject to His creation. The God whom
principalities and powers obey, whom nature itself must heed, subjects Himself
to His creation. The God who gives rulers their authority, whose permission
must be sought even by the devil, subjects Himself to His creation. The God
who made everything, who holds the stars in place, whose all-seeing eye misses
nothing, who knows all, this almighty God, this Prince of Peace, subjected
Himself to Mary.
But Jesus didn’t just subject Himself to Mary, His true and biological mother.
He also subjected Himself to Joseph, who was not his true father, but was His
guardian and caretaker. To Mary and Joseph, creatures of His creation, our God
and Savior willingly and freely submitted Himself.
Do you now see how low our God was willing to humble Himself to save you? He
didn’t sit on high, barking out orders. No, He humbled Himself, so much that
He even let the people He created tell Him what to do.
But why did Jesus do this? He subjected Himself in such a way to give His life
to you. The life that you received in God’s baptismal waters is our Lord’s
life, given to you through that water and Word. That’s the Life you received,
the Life that pulled you from the snapping jaws of hell.
And that Life, our Lord’s life, now lives in you with the same humility and
lowliness as when He submitted Himself to His Mother. For Mary and for Joseph,
Jesus willingly and freely did all things. And He does the same for
you--without condition, without demanding anything in return, without mandating
that you make the first move.
Yes, Jesus, whom all creatures should obey, subjected Himself in such a way.
And if this same Jesus now lives in you, how can you not then also willingly
and freely submit yourself to Him and to your neighbor?
But oh how hard it is to submit! We like our having freedom on our own terms,
so much that we think we can even have God on our own terms. And so your life
hasn’t been conformed to God’s will, but your own.
You haven’t been transformed by the renewal of your mind. You’ve lost your
temper, you’ve lost your first love, you’ve lost your Christian zeal, and your
life of prayer has been cold. You haven’t loved with a full heart; you haven’t
even given your full mind in this Divine Service. And so we see that, unlike
Jesus, we haven’t been about the things of the Father. No, we’ve been doing
our own thing.
For we think we’re free when we live in freedom as our fallen mind understands
it. We think we are free when we do as we wish. And in such so-called
freedom, we shout at others after losing our temper. We despair of our life
because time and money are not overflowing enough to satisfy the cravings of
our sinful flesh. We fritter away what God has given us, being poor stewards
of what was His to begin with. We don’t like being about the things of the
Father. We wish, instead, to be doing our own thing.
Dear saint of God, flee from that self-made idol of selfishness! It’s a greedy
beast you can never gratify. Can you not see? From Christ, you’ve received
the faith, which sees that all those seemingly important things are as but
wandering chaff in the wind. You’ve received the comfort of the Lord’s love.
You’ve received the communion of the Spirit. You’ve received your heavenly
Father’s affection and mercy. What God gives far outstrips and exceeds
anything this world can even offer!
For only in Christ Jesus do you taste life in its fullness. Only in Him, do
you have all things--so much that you could even give it all away and still
have more to give. For only in Christ can you exhaust all your love on someone
else, and never even to begin to exhaust the love of God that He give to you at
this holy altar.
So don’t run after your own interests like a dog in heat. Seek instead the
interests of others. For the Lord cares for you--so much so that from His
overflowing bounty you can be His care, mercy, and love to others. So let His
mind be in you. He took on human flesh to serve. And He did so freely, not
grudgingly. And not just only at the age of 12, but even to the point of
death, death on the cross.
Jesus didn’t do all this simply to set an example. Jesus isn’t the great
example; He’s the great Savior. Everything He did, He did for your salvation.
That’s what’s at the core of His submission and subjection, even to Mary and
Joseph. It’s all part of doing the things of the Father.
You see, doing the things of the Father isn’t so much about obeying rules.
It’s more about sacrifice. That’s because the things of the Father consist of
the sacrifice of His Son. It consists of the blood of that sacrifice poured
over you in Baptism. It consists of the flesh of that sacrifice fed to you in
His Holy Supper.
But get this: the grace and salvation that God has given you lives on. It
lives in you--and even through you! It’s true, Christ’s sacrifice includes His
sacrifice for you, but it doesn’t stop there. Because Christ is in you, His
sacrifice is also lived through you toward others.
Christ’s sacrifice lives on as you live your life, as you sacrifice your
pleasures and wants, your goals and ambitions, that you can be the living face
of Christ to others. That’s what it means when Scriptures says “to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).
To live life in such a way means to first receive in faith the sacrifice our
Lord has made for you. And only after that does His sacrifice live on in you
as your heart and mind cheerfully sacrifices for others. And you can only live
life in such a way when God’s compassion, kindness, and mercy first come to
you. Then from an overflowing heart do His compassion, kindness, and mercy
flow to others.
Conclusion
Even when Jesus was 12 years old, you can see the beginnings of our Lord’s
self-sacrifice. For He was in the Temple, the place of sacrifice. And later,
Jesus would fully carry out the things of the Father when the Temple veil would
tear from top to bottom, when the sacrifice of the Lamb of God was complete.
Jesus would fully do the things of the Father when He had subjected
Himself--not just to Mary and Joseph--but to the wrath of God. Why? So we
could be exalted with Him at the right hand of the Father.
What a marvelous exchange that we see even in today’s Gospel. Our Lord Jesus
subjected Himself to Mary and Joseph. He did so that we, His subjects, could
reign with Him in communion with our Father by the Holy Spirit. And that’s
what it’s all about. Amen.
--
Rich Futrell, Pastor
Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Kimberling City, MO
Where we are to receive and confess the faith of the Church (in and with the
Augsburg Confession): The faith once delivered to the saints, the faith of
Christ Jesus, His Word of the Gospel, His full forgiveness of sins, His flesh
and blood given and poured out for us, and His gracious gift of life for body,
soul, and spirit.
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