Wrestling with Christmas

Text: Luke 2:49 “And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?””

Today we begin to wrestle with Christmas.

Christmas certainly opened up a great mystery— the Word becoming flesh; God and man becoming one Christ. But, there at the manger, those questions are still off in the distance in a sense. We may wonder, “Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that, when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?”— and the answer is ”Yes” because the angel told her who her Son was. Still, in that moment, she was very much a mother caring for her baby, just like countless other mothers and babies who had come before and countless mothers and babies after her.

It‘s reasonable to infer that that condition continued for the first 12 years of His life. Granted, she wouldn’t have had to deal with the “terrible twos,” but this was her first child, so she wouldn’t have known the difference. And that’s still within the general range of what’s ’normal’ with children. Some are just more agreeable than others. Perhaps she had even settled into a fairly normal life with her husband and their Son, going through the first century equivalent of baby’s first Christmas, His first steps, His first day of school, preschool graduation, etc. If she hadn’t really noticed that her Son was not an ordinary child, this episode from His youth brought her back to reality.

And, along with her, today you and I begin to wrestle with Christmas.

This passage raises a lot of questions. Some are put to rest fairly easily— like how Mary and Joseph could ‘lose’ Jesus. Many of you remember a time not so long ago when parents didn’t feel the need to hover over their children 24/7. Perhaps you’ve traveled with a large group of extended family and your kids have gone off with their cousins all day. Some of the questions are put to rest fairly easily. But others aren’t.

How is Jesus not breaking the fourth commandment to honor his father and mother? Why should they have known that He had to be in His Father’s house?

[W]hat does it mean for Jesus to have learned? We can go to categories like His “State of Humiliation” [affirming that, at this point, He did not always or fully use His divine power or authority] and [theological terms like] kenosis, [which is the word we use to describe what Paul says in Philippians 2 about Jesus “emptying Himself,”] but [the terms and the doctrines only go so far in helping us] to wrap our minds around reconciling [the 12 year old boy in] Luke 2:40-52 with Colossians 1:15-20, [“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” And, while we’re at it, h]ow does the second Person of the Trinity submit to Mary and Joseph…? How could Jesus, very God of very God, increase in favor with God? (Weber, Dan. “Gospel: Luke 2:40-52 (Christmas 2: Series C).” https://www.1517.org/articles/gospel-luke-240-52-christmas-2-series-c. 25 December A.D. 2021.)

This passage raises question after question. And I’m not here today to give you answers because there are no easy answers. The questions are absolutely worth wrestling with because they lead you to a deeper understanding of who Jesus was and of what He did, but there are no easy answers. In fact, this easily-overlooked moment in Jesus’ life invites you to ask those questions— and all of the other hard questions that you encounter— in the confidence that both the questions and the answers will point you to a man who also happened to be the eternal Son of God who came to seek and to save the lost; who “is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”; “[who] is the very son of Mary who takes on your flesh, takes on your sin, and reconciles you to the Father” (Weber).

He was, in fact, that diligent about His Father’s house, His Father’s work, and His Father’s Word. He was that diligent about them because He and the Father had always been of one will. For millennia they had been united in one work, following the one and only plan of salvation, established “even as he chose [you] in him before the foundation of the world, that [you] should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined [you] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed [you] in the Beloved. In him [you] have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon [you], in all wisdom and insight” (Ephesians 1:4-8).

We don’t know what doctrines they were discussing that day in the temple, which caused even the greatest experts to marvel at His learning. But you know that that is where His questions and answers led to— the riches of His grace which He lavished upon you in all wisdom and insight.

There are a lot of difficult, even unanswerable questions. What God has made explicitly clear, however, is that He chose you. He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose you in Christ as the God-man Jesus suffered and died for you on the cross.

I would love to be able to assure you that, on the Last Day, you’ll finally understand the answers to all the questions. But I’m not sure that you and I will, even then. The reality of God becoming human is just so great a mystery that you may not grasp it, even then. But you will see Him face to face. And His forehead will still bear the scars from the crown of thorns that He bore for you. With your own ears, you will hear Him say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, enter into the inheritance prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). You will see with your own eyes that the Eternal Word of God is not ashamed to call you His brother. In that day, He will present you to His Father, holy and blameless and above reproach (Col. 1:22).

In the meantime, even as you wrestle, at times, with very difficult questions about what it means to live as children of God, in Christ you walk before Him, holy and blameless. Because He has sealed you with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of your inheritance until you acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:13-14).

“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” If she hadn’t really noticed that her Son was not an ordinary child, this episode from His youth brought Mary back to reality. The mystery raised by the angel‘s words was finally starting to come to a head. Don’t be shy about wrestling with Christmas. Because the most incredible part of it is that all of the questions— and the amazing, baffling answers that they point to— point to even more amazing promises that the Father has made to you in Jesus Christ.