Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro to Luke

Luke’s Gospel is the longest of the four Gospels.

It was written by Luke as part one to a two part collection, the first being Luke’s gospel and the second being the book of Acts.

This Gospel was written primarily to a Greek audience but was a collection of first hand eye witness accounts of the life of Jesus.

Luke was writing it to a man named Theophilus, and he does so very carefully and intentionally.

As a doctor, Luke was an educated man with an attention to detail.

This is evident in his style used in writing this gospel.

We also know Luke was an eye witness to the events in Acts and traveled with Paul, accompanying him on a few of his missionary journeys.

Recap the story up to this point

The first two chapters of Luke tell the Christmas story.

John the Baptist predicted and born, Jesus promised to Mary, census enrollment completed, miraculous baby birthed, circumcision performed, name given, purification carried out, firstborn presented and dedicated, blessings and prophecies heard and stored away in amazement—the new family returned home to the obscurity of Nazareth, having done everything required by the Law.

Chapters one and two of Luke show Jesus as a baby and as a young boy.

Chapter two closes with a story of Jesus when He was only 12 years old.

What is the Passover?

The Passover is a celebration and reminder of how God delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt.

It was a time when people would come from all over to the city of Jerusalem to partake in sacrifices and offerings.

And so everything was going according to plan.

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus gathered their things and went to Jerusalem for Passover.

They do their thing, pack their bags, and head back towards Nazareth, only Jesus isn’t with Mary and Joseph.

He is still at the Temple.

I have always found this story funny.

If can for a second imagine you are Mary and Joseph.

The immortal God and creator of the universe has been for a time put in your care.

You are responsible for feeding Him, caring for Him.

You go to a big city, you’re trying to do everything right, and then you lose Him.

The thought of that gives me anxiety.

When I first started doing student ministry I was nineteen years old.

My youth group wasn’t big but on special occasions we would have about twelve to fifteen kids for an event.

One January we went to something called Winter Jam which was a concert that they would have in the St. Louis Blues arena.

We get everything ready, the group is in the church van and we make our way to downtown STL.

You can probably guess where I am going with this story.

So we are at the concert and I turn around to do a head count and I’m missing two students.

One of my girls and her boyfriend had wandered off.

You can imagine how I felt in that moment.

I start to call her and she isn’t picking up her phone.

Finally she texts me and lets me know she had fallen down a couple stairs and was in the nurse’s station in the stadium and that her boyfriend had called his parents and left.

I was happy to have found my missing students but it was not a fun half hour.

Anything could have happened.

STL isn’t the safest city in the world.

There are all kinds of crazy people there.

I’m sure the same was true in Jerusalem.

In a big city anything can happen.

Mary couldn’t text Jesus to see where He had gone.

For all she knew He could have been gone forever.

He could have gotten taken, He could have gotten hurt, He could have even mistakenly joined another group and be half way to Egypt.

Nobody wants to be the person who lost the Son of God.

They, I’m sure were fearful and worried, but I imagine they were motivated by their love for Jesus.

They wanted to protect Him from harm and bring Him home.

They were willing to give anything to get Him back, even if it meant three days searching through the whole city of Jerusalem.

As Mary and Joseph looked for Jesus I can’t help but think that that the feelings they had in those days were similar to those of Jesus’ feelings towards us.

Jesus doesn’t feel worried or anxious or fearful about us since He knows all things.

But Jesus came to earth searching for us just as Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem seeking Jesus.

Like His parents Jesus wants us to be safe and at home with Him.

He cares about our hearts and wants us to stop our wandering, stop living in darkness, and come into the light.

This was His mission on earth, to seek and to save the lost.

He was willing to do whatever it took to make sure we had a way to be restored to Him.

Even if it meant three days in a tomb.

His love for us motivated Him to give everything.

So where is Jesus?

It took Mary and Joseph three days to find Him and when they do He is sitting in the Temple talking to the teachers.

Why does Luke include a story like this?

To ground the narrative in historical fact.

The stories Luke tells in this gospel are not mythology.

These characters are real and human.

Mary isn’t depicted as this perfect mom with a halo behind her head like all the paintings of her would have you think.

She’s flawed.

She doesn’t understand why Jesus does the things He does.

She gets worried and fearful.

She loses her son just like every other mom has probably done.

If I had a dollar for every time my mom lost me at Walmart I’d be able to buy half the things they sell at Walmart.

It is a very real story, and its one that would not be included if the New Testament authors were making up a mythology about Jesus.

Luke’s depiction of Jesus shows us the two aspects of his being.

Jesus Christ is fully God, yet He is also fully human.

He grew up like us.

He understands what it was like to be misunderstood by His parents.

He understands what it is like to grow up and be twelve years old.

He is like us in every way yet unlike us in that He is perfect.

The beautiful thing about this story and what it shows us is the difference between our natures.

We, having a sin nature, wander away from the Father.

Jesus, being without a sin nature, wanders to the Father.

Of all the places to be found Jesus is found in the Temple.

Have you ever wondered why it took Mary and Joseph three days to find Him?

We look at this story and we think, of course that’s where He was.

He’s Jesus.

Jesus tells us that if we seek Him we will find Him when we seek Him with all our heart.

This verse is written to a people who were doing everything they could to avoid seeking God.

They were looking to satisfy themselves with every kind of sin they could.

They were searching and searching for something only God could provide.

They were neck deep in sin and it cost them their homeland.

This verse hits in a time in Judah’s history when they were being ripped out of their homeland and taken to Babylon.

They felt lost.

They felt alone.

But God offers them hope in the form of a promise.

If you seek me, you will find me.

Jesus is never far away from us but too often we are looking for the things He offers in all the wrong places.

Where do you search for Him? Are you looking for peace, happiness, acceptance in places that can’t fulfill it?

Are you looking to the things of this world to fill a hole in your heart all the while ignoring Jesus’ offer to transform it?

The love you need is not in popularity.

The love you need is not in gratifying your flesh.

The love you need is not in your boyfriend or girlfriend.