In The Father's House
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Our text this morning is taken from Luke 2:41-52:
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
May God bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
These past two weeks, millions of Americans went “home” for the holidays. Have you ever thought of what an odd expression “home for the holidays” is? People leave their house to travel long distances to go to the house where their parents live; but isn’t their own house their home?
When people say they are “going home for the holidays” they are not talking about where their mailing address is, but where their heart is. As the old saying says, “Home is where the heart is.” Our text opens with Jesus, his mother Mary, and his adoptive father Joseph going home.
Going Home
Going Home
Luke goes to great lengths in his Gospel to demonstrate to Theophilus that Jesus and his earthly family were devout Jews. In the previous passage, Luke points out that they were careful to follow the Law in regards to Mary’s purification, and Jesus’ redemption and dedication (Lk 2:22-40). In today’s passage, he goes to great pains to show how faithfully Jesus’ family was in making their yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to celebrate Passover.
The Passover was one of three yearly feasts all Jewish males were required to celebrate Law in Jerusalem. However, because the Jewish people were scattered over the whole known world by first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians allowances were made for those who lived far away—they were only required to return once a year. For a devout Jew, these pilgrimages were like a “home coming”. This is because a temple by definition is “the house of God”. Heaven, of course, is God’s true home, but His dwelling place on earth is the Temple.
The Psalms of Ascent are the psalms the Jews would sing as they journeyed to Jerusalem. Without a doubt, Mary, Joseph and Jesus sang these Psalms as they made their way to Jerusalem each year. Psalm 84 is one of these psalms, and it begins this way:
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
This Psalm reveals to us the hearts of Jesus and His earthly family; and it also reveals our own hearts. Under the New Covenant, the dwelling place of God on earth is no longer the Temple in Jerusalem, but rather it is wherever the people of God are gathered in worship. To the Corinthians, Paul writes:
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
The “you” in this passage is in the second person plural—that is the assembled church. I am so glad that we have our live-stream for those of you who are home-bound, or watching at a great distance; but you have to understand, it is not the same as being here. Right now, those of us who have gathered here in worship are in God’s house. God is here in a way that He is not in other places. I say this not to make you feel bad, but rather to encourage you to personally be a part of the assembly of God’s people if it is possible. I want you to know the joy Jesus felt in being in God’s house.
This brings us to the next point, which I have entitled, Home Alone.
Home Alone
Home Alone
Home Alone is the title of the 1990 movie about a small boy named Kevin who is accidentally left behind as his family travel to Europe for the holidays. Our text today has a similar plot. This story poses two problems:
First, many wonder how Mary and Joseph could have left without their son. Our text provides us with the answer; they were traveling in a caravan of family and friends. Jesus was twelve years old, and young people of this age tend to “hang out” with each other. Mary and Joseph naturally would have assumed that Jesus was with the other young people. Moreover, our text makes it clear that He grew and developed like any other child—with one important distinction—He was sinless. In other words, He had never given His parents any reason to doubt that He was doing exactly what He should be doing.
This brings us to the second problem—how could Jesus have knowingly caused His parents such distress? This problem is highlighted and resolved by the exchange Jesus has with Mary. Let me read it again to refresh your memory:
And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Perhaps because Jesus developed like any other child, Mary and Joseph forgot what the angels and prophets told them about Jesus, or perhaps, they never really understood. Jesus however, was growing in His self-awareness:
We do not know when exactly Jesus understood that He was the Son of God, but we do know that by the time of this story Jesus fully understood who he was. It is no accident that it was in His twelfth year that he chose to remain behind in the Temple. The twelfth year, was a very important year for a Jewish young man. Up until this year, his mother and father were expected to teach and train him in the Law, but at age twelve he entered into a year of intense and formal training in preparation for his thirteenth year. This is because at his thirteenth year he was expected to know and keep the commandments. Later on this year was called the Bar Mitzvah, meaning “son of the commandments”.
When Mary and Joseph found Jesus, they found Him at the feet of the teachers of Israel receiving instruction on the Law. The normal way a rabbi would teach at this time was by asking and answering penetrating questions. As Jesus was answering the rabbi’s questions and asking His own, we are told the people were “amazed” by His understanding and wisdom. It was as if the student was teaching the teachers! By His answers and questions, Jesus was hitting a...
Home Run
Home Run
It is not without significance that all of this took place in the Temple. In Luke’s Gospel, the teaching of Jesus is a major theme, and the most important place Jesus taught was in the Temple. The high-water mark of Jesus teaching is found in chapters 20 and 21. This section begins with these words, “One day, Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple...”.
This makes sense when you think of it, if the Temple is the place that God dwells on earth in a special way, it is the place where God imparts His knowledge in a special way. This does not mean that instruction cannot take place elsewhere; however, there is no other place where instruction comes to us more powerfully. This is one of the reasons Jesus said, “I must be in my Father’s house”. At age twelve, in order to set an example for us, it was necessary that Jesus be in His Father’s house to receive instruction. The incarnation is a mystery, how can the eternal Son of God limit Himself so as to be fully human, save sin? I do not have the answer to that question, no one does; but we must accept it by faith—our text clearly says He grew in “wisdom and stature”.
Why was it so imperative that Jesus set us an example of receiving instruction in the Father’s house? Because just like Jesus, we are call to be lights of revelation. Remember what Zechariah prophesied about the one whom his son John was to prepare the way for:
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Jesus is the “sunrise from on high”, who gives “light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death”! This same Jesus calls us to be be lights:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
However, Jesus warns:
Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”
We live in a time when all of our social institutions are instructing us in darkness. This includes our educational institutions, our news and entertainment media, corporations and our governmental authorities. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns us about the deceptive teaching of the Last Days, then he turns us to being instructed in the Word of God, saying:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
God is calling Greene Valley Presbyterian Church to be a bastion of truth in a world being overrun deceivers. If we don’t know the truth, we can’t shine the truth, and under the New Covenant, God’s truth is revealed most brilliantly in His Church. The author of Hebrews writes:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The “Day of the Lord” is at hand! The time is short! The days of cultural Christianity are over. As it was with the twelve-year-old Jesus, it is an urgent necessity that we be in the Father’s House receiving instruction, order that we might be filled with light, rather than darkness.
As I close, I want to challenge you with a truth I spoke of in my introduction:
Home is Where the Heart Is
Home is Where the Heart Is
Our text ends with Jesus going back to Nazareth with His parents, but twenty years later, He would be back. This time, not as the student, but as the teacher! In those same courts, He would stand accused, and in that same city He would be crucified.
Why such a commitment to God’s house?
It was because it was in His heart. As a boy, Jesus would sing these words as He made His way to Jerusalem with His family:
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
In Jesus’ heart there were highways to Zion.
What about your heart? Luke’s Gospel begins (Lk 1:5) and ends (Lk 24:53) in the Temple. This is no accident. By divine inspiration, Luke is forcing us to consider whether or not the Father’s house is our true home.