Epiphany 1 (2026)

Good morning my name is Andrew Costa

Quick note about me, I have been in somekind of ministry since 2005, 2 years ago I was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. I had up until this summer been attempting a church plant until it was clear it was time to move on.

This morning I get the joy of visiting with you guys for the first Sunday after Epiphany.

Epiphany is a part of the church calendar that begins January 6, with the celebration of the Magi visiting Jesus Christ and bring him the gifts. And what it signifies is that the nations are now given a revelation of the Messiah, that the message of God’s grace is not for the chosen few Israelites but for all people.

Today’s text we see something of Jesus childhood and we are revealed what it is to have God in the flesh dwell among us. So lets look at today’s text.

Luke 2:41–50 “Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the festival.

Jesus is raised by devout parents: They actually make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. This is on top of the circumsision.

Passover is A yearly holy day set apart for the Israelites to observe the exodus from Egypt, particularly the passing over of the Israelite firstborn males when the firstborn of Egypt were struck down in the last of ten plagues. In Christian tradition, Passover is also associated with the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with his disciples, as described in the New Testament, and is considered a precursor to the Christian holiday of Easter.

But this year Jesus is 12 we saw the begining of his childhood and now we are going to see it end. What kind of Adult will Jesus be?

After those days were over, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming he was in the traveling party, they went a day’s journey.

Now maybe many of us have heard the explanation. Why was Jesus left behind? Was it bad parenting? What porbably is happening…

Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

Sam has disappeared 3 times.

Imagine searching not a house but a city.

After three days, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Midrash style of debating the Torah: So the way the Jewish people thought about passing on the Bible was as such. Their Bible was the first 5 books, then the rest of the OT, The Torah and the Tanak. Most kids got some education in the Torah, the next level of kids learned the Tanak, the next level of kid memorized it. And the best of the best memorized it and a body of commentary around it called the Talmud and they would argue the Torah and Talmud by asking hard hitting questions.

And all those who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.

Jesus was punching way above his weight he knew his Torah, Tanak and Talmud and was answering the hard hitting questions.

What kind of man would he be this Jesus this God in the flesh? He will be the wisdom of God walking about.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

Both Roman Culture and Jewish culture highly valued the family system. The father of the family was high regarded and revered. This was the well behaved Jesus, probably the first time either of them can remember him not doing as he was told. Not because he was being disobedient,…

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked them. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them.”

He is a man now and he now has to live in his highest obedience, to his Father in heaven. Its hard for parents when their parents are grown you want to continue to comment to them, they still feel like your kids. But this is no ordinary man. This is Jesus. God in the flesh come to save us. He is now about his fathers business.

Luke 2:51–52 “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.

Jesus goes home and continues as part of his Josephs household preparing for the beginning of his public ministry

Meanwhile Mary may have been a source for the beginning of Luke’s Gospel.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.”

In the mean time meantime we see the two natures of Jesus in this boy. We are going to stop for a moment and look at Christian Doctrine. One important doctrine is the doctrine of the two natures of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is both God and Man. Neith nature changes the other. His Godness is not diminished by his manness. He is not any less God for being united to a human body. At the same time his manness is not overcome by his Godness. He is born to a woman. He grows up into a man. He is hungry in his fasting, tired after his confrontation with the devil. He sleeps, he eats he dies.

For our sin to be forgiven a perfect man must take the place of all sinful man, that is Jesus. In order for our sin to be forgiven, something eternal must be paid, that is his God side. He had to have both nature if we are to be saved by what happened on the cross.

Saint Paul in the book of Philippians puts it this way

Philippians 2:5–11 “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The early church in their creeds said it this way: at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation

We sang two weeks ago: Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our emmanuel.

Hang with me for one more second on this doctrine because this is important.

The First Adam started in Heaven, Eden, God’s presence and is kicked out. And from then on, men could not come into the presence of God in heaven. We where all the children of the Old Adam and destined for eternity apart from God.

The Second Adam Jesus does what the first Adam could not do, lives in perfect obedience and after his death and resurrection goes back into heaven with his Human body. Because Jesus is both God and Man, his return to heaven is now our return to heaven. Man can be in heaven with God once again. You can go to heaven, why because Jesus has made a way for men to be in the presence of God once again.

Thank you for hangning with me on the deep doctrinal things. lets zoom back out and get some lower hanging and more practical fruit.

Some Applications from the Text

Cut yourself some slack as a parent. This is not the primary application of the text, it is in-fact very secondary. But Mary is the highly favored one, her cousin declares her full of grace, the Lord is with thee. And for 3 days she lost Jesus.

You might also have had some low moments but lets agree to cut ourselves some slack.

We can trust that Jesus is the one who fulfills the law and brings about the wisdom of God for our salvation. He is doing wha the Torah requires, he goes to the passover feasts. He knows and understands the Torah Tannak and Talmud way beyond his years. We can be certain this is the messiah. He will do all that the law requires so that his death on the Cross will be of a perfect man in our place.

Mary does like we ought to do. It says she treasured all this things in her heart. We need to observe Jesus at work and treasure that. That means reading God’s word, especially the Gospels. And we need to treasure Jesus. And when not reading God’s word but abiding in prayer we need to treasure Jesus. again we should do like Mary did and seek Jesus. Seek him for days if we must. She sought Jesus with all the furvor of a worried mother with a lost son. We need to seek Jesus with furvour of a worried sinner with lost salvation. We deserve the punishment of the first Adam, that is separation from God for eternity. We have all sinned we fail to keep the commandments, To love God to love others as ourselves.

The feast of the Passover will be forever changed by Jesus. Passover is the feast where the Jewish people celebrated that if they slaughtered a lamb the blood would protect them from God’s wrath over the Egyptians. So there is Jesus at the celebration of the old festival under the old system, a feast about peoples physical lives being saved. But Jesus is the new passover the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world only his blood will save not just the Hebrews, but all people, not from the tyrant pharoah but the tyrant satan, not just of this life but for everlasting life. Jesus at the temple is a picture of what is about to happen the Law, the temple the rabbis the passover is about to be fulfilled by something better, the Gospel, Jesus Christ.

If Mary was to loose Jesus she would have spent a life time in anguish about it. If we dont find Jesus we will spend forever in anguish.

And if you are having trouble finding Jesus fear not he has been lifted high to where we can see him. For the boy at the temple grows up and becomes a man. He lives a perfect life. He defeats the devil in the dessert and then again in the garden. He goes to the cross, lifted before the eyes of all to see.

If you are seeing today for the first time a need to see Jesus let me put you at ease you need only to pray and receive him.