Epiphany 1, 2024

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

St. Luke 2:42-52

Epiphany 1

January 7, 2024

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A perfectly obedient child is easy to neglect. At least, that’s what we expect since none of us have ever known one. Anxiety and guilt transform us. It brings about our fight or flight instinct. Sometimes we choose to fight. An awful lot of arguments would never happen if the person in the wrong would just fess up and admit he’s in the wrong. But when you call a drunk a drunk, he gets angry.

St. Mary is feeling the burning shame of having left her twelve-year-old unattended for three days. What did He eat? Where did He sleep? Is He safe? There is no way to get a hold of Him. She can’t call or text Him. She has to go back. What if He starts home while they head to Jerusalem? If He holes up, where will He be? 

In light of her grief, anxiety, and pain, she lashes out. She gets angry. Often times, anxiety and guilt lead to anger. Jesus made her feel that way. It must be His fault. Why has He done this to them? She and His father have sought Him anxiously.

We choose to feel the way we feel. We choose our reactions. We choose what type of attitude to have in any given situation that annoys us, makes us anxious, or angry. To be sure, we may be provoked, but that doesn’t excuse us. No one forces us to be angry. We give in to our anger, and therefore sin. We blame others at every step.

Sometimes, admittedly, we have been and are victims. But we add to the hurt and hurt ourselves with bad responses to bad behavior, with anger, gossip, or worry. Having done one bad thing, by neglecting her Son, St. Mary made it worse by panicking and then blaming Him. It’s His fault that she feels this way. It’s Jesus’ fault that Mary is anxious, that she feels guilty, that she’s embarrassed, and now becomes angry and lashes out against her holy Son.

Then the twelve-year-old Jesus rebukes her. His rebuke is gentle. He does not chastise her, “Why were you looking for Me?” and that means, in part, “How is it that I came to be lost? What went wrong? Whose responsibility was it?” But this also hints at the answer. They are looking for Him not just because He is their responsibility, but also because He is the Savior.

The next bit has quite a bit of bite as well. He wants them to remember, that contrary to St. Mary’s heated accusation and outburst, Joseph is not His Father. St. Luke is very careful to always describe this couple as “Joseph and our Lord’s Mother.” But mainly here, our Lord confesses who He is and what He is about. He must be among His Father’s things.

Most modern translations of this passage fail here. I really don’t know why. The KJV is better than the ESV because in the KJV, it is translated as Jesus saying, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” The ESV is even weaker. Because the word for “business” and “house” is not recorded by Luke here. What Jesus is literally saying is, “Did you not know that it is necessary for me to be about my Father’s things?”

It is also necessary to leave in the phrase “it is necessary,” because this is an indicator of prophecy. This is also the same phraseology that Jesus uses later in Luke’s Gospel when He would go on to speak of His death and resurrection. “It is necessary that the Son of man suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” So it’s not that reading this passage as “I must be about my Father’s business” or “I must be in my Father’s house” is wrong or leads to heresy. It’s just that these renderings miss the edge of the sword, and swords are about the edge.

I guess we could say that He is about His Father’s business, doing that things that He was sent to do by His Father and that He is actually in His Father’s house—that being the temple. But He is, among His Father’s things. The word literally is “things.” “It is necessary that I must be among my Father’s things.” It’s not business and it’s not house. What are those things? Jesus is among the lampstand, the altar of incense, the prayers, the sacrifices, the priests and their teaching, and the like. In fact, He is among His Father’s things because He is one of His Father’s things. He is THE thing. He is THE sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He is THE mediator between God and men who brings our prayers to the Father. He is THE high priest who brings the sacrifice of His own body into the Holy of Holies. He is the Prophet, whom God would raise up like Moses who teaches us all good things and reveals His Father to us.

Mary and Joseph find Him where He belongs, not simply in His Father’s house, but there as the Priest and the Victim.

And here is a clue from St. Luke: Mary and Joseph find Him on the third day. This is not coincidental. We really should not make light of this. Because here, St. Luke isn’t simply passing by this, as if finding Jesus on the third day doesn’t really matter, as if this is simply and merely a marker of time. The Holy Spirit, writing through St. Luke is doing this on purpose, and thereby, foreshadowing the Resurrection. They found Him alive on the third day. The disciples on the Emmaus Road found Him on the third day. Mary Magdalene finds Him outside His tomb on the third day. This is what Luke is foreshadowing.

And even though He has laid down His life, taken it up again, and ascended to His Father’s right hand, He is still, ever and always, among His Father’s things. Even now. This Day. There is no more temple, and yet, there is. It was torn down but rebuilt, on the third day—the temple built without hands. Jesus lives. He comes to us now because He is still among His Father’s things. He is in this building, in this church, present among us through preaching, in the Sacrament, and in the Word, always about His Father’s business. These are the Father’s things. They are His things. He is one of His Father’s things and He comes to us through means.

And so also, He comes to us, He epiphanies Himself among us as He has promised wherever two or three are gathered in His name, the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren. And if He is there, if He is here, always among His Father’s things, then that makes you His Father’s things. He is among you. You are the Father’s. You belong to Him. You are the beloved of the Father, loved by Him, cherished by Him, forgiven by Him because Christ has forgiven you and redeemed you.

We live always in the third day. He welcomes us back as His own, even as He welcomed St. Mary back, despite her failings. He welcomes you back as well. He did not die in vain. Your sins do not stop His love. He is faithful to the end. Treasure these things up in your heart. Bend the knee and submit to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Be fed, be forgiven, be here.

In +Jesus’ name.