PERFECTLY PLEASING TO GOD, AND GROWING IN IT
Sermon Text, St. Luke 2:41-52 (v. 49, 51-52). And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” … Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Purify us through the truth. Your Word is truth. By this Word of truth, lead us, as You led us even as a little Child, on the way of truth to our eternal home. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ, who was a holy Child to make us holy:
We naturally wish there were more stories of Jesus’ childhood. Of all places, you find some, in the Koran. Muslims don’t believe that Jesus is God, or Savior. But they have fantastic stories of Jesus’ childhood; for instance, that He just up and started talking – not baby talk but actual conversation — while in His crib! And, as a child, how He made a bird out of clay and breathed life into it. These are made-up stories; Jesus didn’t do this.
Even Christians can be guilty of this. Martin Luther complained about what he heard in the monastery, that the monks “had the child Jesus making new little birds, fawns, and other small animals.” (House Postils I:231).
Lest we be too hard on others, it’s easy for us also to have misconceptions about Jesus’ childhood. Yes, He was perfect, but it’s better to say that He was holy, without sins. Let’s get rid of the notion that Jesus never spilled his milk, or got the equivalent of all A’s in school, or that if He were a basketball player or a golfer He would never miss a shot. He was not perfect in that sense.
We know this from this gospel, where it says “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” This brings us to the mystery of the incarnation, that He who knows all things as true God, knew very little as a human boy. You can’t explain it. Joseph and Mary struggled to get it!
Luke’s gospel is the one where he says at the outset he is using the reports of eyewitnesses. As the virgin Mary is surely one of Luke’s human sources, you can see Mary’s eyewitness perspective and vivid memories as it tells of His parents’ frantic search for Jesus, how it’s from their viewpoint that He is seen with the teachers, and then her conversation with Jesus. It says that after they went home, “He was subject to them,” and “increased in wisdom” and “in favor with men,” which means He received praise for doing better than before, so this tells us that before that He did some things less well.
This means that Jesus would have struggled with things that He was learning. The Bible’s teaching of Jesus’ perfection is strictly limited to His being without sin. It doesn’t mean He didn’t have to work at learning things. It doesn’t mean He knew all the answers. Because getting B’s or C’s is not sinful. What’s sinful is refusing to do your homework when told to do so, or lying to your parents, or pretending to be good on the outside, or defying authorities, or being lazy, or pridefully acting like others are beneath you.
This is where Jesus’ youth is important. He was without sin in these ways. He did the good you fail to do, and fully refrained from all the sins of your youth. He was “in favor with God,”“pleasing to God,” and even grew in it. This is what we need. You don’t need Him to be impressive. You need Him to be a Savior, in fact your Savior, and in this story we do get that.
But it doesn’t make for an exciting movie, does it, that all you hear of the Child Jesus is that He went to the temple as a 12-year-old, honored and obeyed His parents, grew up learning more, and being well-thought-of.
But it’s hard to escape the impression that this one episode from His childhood is, well, boring. And that reveals our basic problem. We are bored with obedience, bored with the duties of our vocation. We want to be given a big, important job so everyone will notice our greatness. Our goals in life are determined often by what society values, how it says some things are more important, worth doing. It’s a society steeped in boredom and restlessness. Often people are miserable because they compare themselves to others or to their original expectations which sometimes (or often) don’t pan out.
This applies to our modern attitude toward childhood. There’s nothing wrong with encouraging, praising, and developing God-given talents, but it can lead to an impression that our children and youth have to perform in order to be something. It’s a recipe for thinking that if you aren’t great and don’t win, you’re a nothing. You build your status on performance. This starts in childhood, but continues to adulthood. It’s the fear of being judged. It’s the anxiety of meeting people’s expectations. It’s the constant comparing yourself to others, and how they get noticed and appreciated more.
This shows how we need the Christian doctrine of vocation – the Bible’s teaching that you have callings or stations, where God calls you to serve Him.
The world’s view is that there are levels of vocation, some are better than others, and it thinks obeying your parents, paying your taxes, working hard, and going to the back of the line so others can go first is shooting way too low. But Christian vocation teaches that it’s never about being number one or being recognized; it’s recognizing where people need what you do, and doing it. Serving your neighbor in love. That’s what the callings are for.
This doesn’t ignore that our vocations benefit us too, whether it’s earning money in a job or earning good grades, doing work that gets you promoted, or just getting along in your family. When you do dishes, or serve customers, you don’t have to be thinking of your love for neighbor driving you; if you are you might not do it well! But just doing what your calling calls for, does serve them in love. It’s the hidden reason God places you in these callings.
God says this is glorious. Also, it’s a duty. The catechism calls this the Table of Duties, not the Table of What I Choose to Do If It’s Exciting Enough.
This is front and center in Jesus’ childhood. He has the vocation of a child. That category exists in the catechism Table of Duties, under The Young. But “child” is simply an age-determined stage of life. Vocations have to do with relationships, so it’s not simply being a child, but being a child of these parents; it’s being a son or a daughter. It’s Jesus’ vocation of sonship that is on display. It’s even emphasized in the dialogue recorded by Luke:
“Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” … “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” … He went down with them [Hisparents] to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.
Jesus is called “Son” by Mary. He listens to Mary and Joseph as “His father and mother,” even though Joseph was not biologically His father. The Child Jesus “was subject to them” in all things, fulfilling the 4th commandment. But that’s only half of Jesus’ situation. We hear Him say “My Father,” as in, “My Father is God.” He was a dutiful Son to Mary and Joseph, and to God the Father. He perfectly fulfilled all His duties under the Law. He was fully “in favor with God,” pleasing to God, and He even grew in this.
He did this to count for you. He makes you pleasing to God. His holy childhood purifies all that you do. He was doing this for you! Serving you in love. His Sonship is His vocation by which He serves you with salvation. His vocation as the Son fully atones for all the sins you commit in your every vocation. His perfect obedience gives you your status. He was good. He took all your disobedience. It was all laid on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God.
For His sake God calls you good. You’re pleasing to Him. You’re perfectly in favor with Him, for Jesus’ sake. “The Lord look with favor on you.” Not only that, but like Jesus you increase in favor, not just with people, that’s small potatoes, but what’s far more – you increase in favor with God, in being pleasing to Him, as you repent daily, trust Him, and in your vocations work “to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Mic 6:8)
Your status isn’t tied to your performance. You aren’t performing. You’re receiving. From Jesus’ Sonship you receive your status as first-born sons of God, perfectly pleasing to Him. Now God says of you, “This is My beloved son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased!” It isn’t boring!
This is the only praise you need: to be praised, blessed, by God. Some people think because our faith says that you do nothing to achieve this, and God does it all for you and in you, it would make you lazy. Quite the contrary! Freed of all pressure to perform, your response is to relax and just be the child He’s made you to be, wherever you are.
You get to use skills and learning that you gain through all that God has allowed to be developed for His creation in science and technology, through vocations of people who came before us, not all Christians, but doing His will even unknowingly. But you do your best in your vocations, as a Christian, knowing His will. Not to be praised by others, or earn God’s approval, but because you know He’s watching with approval already guaranteed.
This is also helpful when we face such things as this past week’s turmoil in Minneapolis, when emotions are out of control, and the political noise and feeling of instability is high, and everyone has opinions about blame, and you feel helpless, to know that there are people in vocations to whom God has given responsibility. We remember that “citizen” is a vocation that gives us some limited things to do, but also that “hearer of the Word” is a vocation where God places us in His Church to pray for this world. And: all of it is in God’s hands, He’s in control, He gives responsibility and places people where He needs them. He is working and upholding all things through the vocations He ordains. God has a vocation: He works, He guides and leads , and takes care of it all, and we rest in that.
This is the Christian view of work. God is the author of our work, the one who gives us our place with its duties. It’s “our Father’s business.” If you don’t get all your work done for the day, it isn’t the end of the world. That’s in God’s hands, too. Everything working out or running well doesn’t depend on you – although God in kindness lets you have a part – it’s still in His hands.
Whatever work it is that you do, it’s good. It’s work God has given you, in places God has put you. You’re using the gifts and opportunities He gives you, in the places He stations you. Like Eric Liddell, the Olympian in Chariots of Fire, who said that when he ran he felt the Father’s pleasure, – you know the Father is pleased with you, you love to be confident in having His favor, you love to enjoy this, to grow in it, and what you’re doing in your vocations is showing the world what a child of this Father looks like. “The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.” Amen!