When the Dust Settles

Let us pray. By the breath of your spirit inspire us, that in the hearing of your Word we may be filled with new understanding and fresh desire to please you in all we do, for the sake of your Son, Jesus. Amen.

Story

Have you ever played hide and seek with a toddler? Seriously if you haven't, you are in for a big surprise. There are three types of toddlers when playing hide and seek. First, is the obvious kid, you know the one that doesn't understand and doesn't pay attention to you when you play. They will either stand there looking at you or go back to their own thing as soon as the game starts. Next is the excited kid who doesn't understand the rules. They go and hide when you start the game, they are in an obvious spot and are giggling the entire time. And they will most likely call out to you when you are searching for them. Lastly is the hide and seek champion. They have figured out how to hide and they do not make any noise no matter how much you call for them or how long it’s been.

My niece Kamiya is the last kid playing hide and seek. She is notoriously known to play hide and seek even when you are just sitting around the house watching tv. She will either hide in plain sight or hide in a less obvious place. In either instance she will not make a sound when you are looking for her.

One day she was playing hide and seek by herself, and it put the entire house into a panic because we could not find her. We searched for 10 minutes inside and outside, all while calling out to her. She did not say anything, and we didn’t hear a sound. When she was found, she was sitting quietly in a corner of my bedroom, on the opposite side of the bed just out of sight. When I picked her up to tell her we had been searching for her she just giggled and says, “I was hiding Lala.” What a fun day for Auntie Khayla.

Intro

Now I hope that everyone has been enjoying this holiday season. I pray that you have been able to feel the advent joy that comes with the birth of Jesus Christ. As well as sharing that joy with the ones you love around you.

Today we find ourselves deep within the Gospel with a teenager. When reading the Gospels I like to remind myself of the author we are engaging with before we begin. The Gospel of Luke is one of the four gospels as you know and is written by Luke. Now Luke was believed to have been a physician and companion who traveled with the disciples. So, this book is written from his perspective as a narrator, and we should make note that he was more of a quiet observer throughout this book. In Luke’s account we find the book is focused on the ministry of Jesus around Jerusalem. Furthermore, the audience that Luke seems to be writing to can be categorized as marginalized and oppressed. Luke is portraying the idea that Jesus’s ministry is meant for the outsiders, those who were not in the inner circle.

With this perspective from Luke, we tend to get a fuller picture of what was happening, and he includes some stories of Jesus’ life that leave us confused at times. In addition, Luke contains a great deal of insight about women that is not found in any of the other Gospels. Our passage today is no different.

Where are we? We return today having been on a whirlwind trip through the holidays and the life of Jesus Christ. Little baby Jesus has been born, celebrated, and now begun to mature. He is a teenager, what could go wrong here? There is a lot happening within our passage so the easiest way to work through it is to break it down for us to explore. We are going to take our time today, so settle in and join me.

Our passage begins with celebration. The festival of Passover, also known as the feast of Unleavened bread. It is a seven-day festival celebrating the Israelites escape from Egyptian bondage. Seven days. Now that is a party, I want to be a part of it. Mary and Joseph go every year to celebrate, so Jesus would know the routine, and I know parents like Mary and Joseph would have set the expectations before they left the house.

Why would this year be any different? We go to the festival, see family and friends, have a wonderful time, and return home.

Have you met a 12-year-old before? If the present gives us any indication of the past, then I don't need any more information.

We continue.

Here is where it all falls apart. Luke says this:

2:43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this.

2:44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.

Key phrases here: The festival has ended. The boy Jesus stayed. His parents were unaware. They went on a day’s journey. Then they started to look.

Then they started to look.

First, Luke describes Jesus as a boy, to help us understand who he is developmentally and to reestablish his humanity. He is a child. Although we know who he will become, there is still space for growth. In Addition, in many Jewish customs this is the time when young boys enter many rites of passage to becoming a man.

Second, his parents were unaware because of a decision Jesus made. They didn't neglect him and just wandered off. I imagine that they checked the bags, counted the children, and loaded them up with the rest of the family that was traveling. And they went on a day’s journey. A whole day. They are walking on foot and would have likely traveled like twenty miles.

Third, then they started to look. They searched among their travel group and still did not find him. Now I know Mary is in full panic mode. There is a dust cloud of emotion that his parents are trapped in. They do not find him among them, so they return to Jerusalem and search for three days.

Three days.

At this point I am sure that Mary and Joseph are not seeing clearly, enraged that Jesus is missing and panicking that he may not be found. Three days with no clue as to where he may be. Three days with no communication with their child. Three days looking for him among the crowds of people leaving and going in every direction after the festival.

2:46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.

He is found but there is no sigh of relief, there is no celebration. Instead, they have a heated exchange in a way that only a mother and teenager can have. Mary says “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you…” and Jesus responds with “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

What left people around amazed, left his immediate family in a panic. Not because Mary and Joseph do not know who Jesus is, but because he is still loved and cherished by them as Jesus becomes who he will be. Jesus believes that this was his moment to begin his transition revealing his divine calling. But his parents do not understand.

2:51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.

Well, what just happened? This is one of the only places in scripture where we see the adolescent Jesus and see him in a manner we are not accustomed to. And we see parents who seem to be unable to control their child.

After reading this passage and spending time trying to figure out what to do with it, here is what I have seen and what I am left with:

First, Jesus is human. In all this his humanity is described, realized, and affirmed. Although he is destined to do remarkable things, Jesus Christ is deeply connected to each of us as a human being.

Second, parents never stop being parents. Mary and Joseph are a part of a community built around a child. They love deeply. And their son Jesus Christ is a part of them. So, when he is not where he is supposed to be they will find him.

Third, the temple is central in Jesus Christ’s ministry. The place he is brought to as an infant to be presented to God. The place he seeks out to sit among the teachers at the time to learn and grow. It is the place where he finds purpose and the place he protects.

Lastly, Jesus is obedient. Despite where they started, it ends with Jesus understanding that his earthly parents are his people. Understanding that he is supposed to be a child among his family and when the time is right, he will move into his divine calling.

After the dust has settled. Jesus went home with his parents with an attitude of obedience. His parents, who could not understand why he was not with them, finally felt relieved. Mary treasured her son. And Jesus increased in wisdom.

Conclusion

 I often wonder why passages like this are included, because they force us to make sense of the intertwined relationship between humanity and the divine. In many ways we can grasp it quickly but in others we are left with more questions than we began with.

The time between advent and lent leaves little room to stop and take notice. Things happen quickly and only after the dust has settled do we notice what really happened. In one Sunday, we went from infant to teenager. When the dust settles it changes everything. We see clearly and learn how to prepare for the next dust storm. We know how to get out of the way of danger when it is coming.

We are caught in the dust storm that is the end of 2024. I am sure most of us can’t see clearly and are simply looking for a way out. But when the dust settles at the end of the year, what did you learn about yourself and those around you? How have you changed since you learned that truth? How will you be obedient to what lies ahead? What remains on your mind? Where do you see God in the dust storm?

Let us pray.