Scripture/Sermon of the Day

41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 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. 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. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 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.

I. Every year Jesus and his family walked from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover festival. They walked about 65 miles, which took about 28 hours of walking time. On the trip that only Luke mentions in the gospels, Jesus was twelve years old.

II. We don’t know, actually, the date Jesus was born. There are no historical records of Jesus until he was about thirty, and those mentions of Jesus are mostly from after he died. Before his death, historically, no one was interested in him.

III. Luke wants us to see Jesus when a child is at the passage where they become an adult. Today a Jewish boy marks this occasion with a ceremony called Bar Mitzvah. Jewish boys have been marking their transition to adulthood with this ceremony for three thousand years. Bar Mitzvah means “son of commandment.” There are 613 mitzvahs in the Torah — the first five books of the Old Testament, and the newly-recognized young adult must know all of these, and vow to follow them. The ritual demonstrating this vow is called the mitzvah of Tefillin. Tefillin are small black leather boxes containing paper inscribed with the Shema (Hear O Israel, the Lord is one, and you shall love the lord your God with all your heart and mind and body and soul….) and other biblical passages. According to Deuteronomy 6:8, these little leather boxes are to be bound on the hands and forehead — as a reminder to love God and keep the commands.

V. By the time of Jesus — people had been celebrating the Bar Mitsvah for a thousand years. Maybe that’s why he decided, after all this time — people weren’t getting it. Evil, it seemed, was ruling the world. Jesus realized nobody’s going to remember 613 commands. So he subtracted 611 of them and left only two that people have to follow: Deuteronomy 6:8, love God, and Leviticus 19:18, love your neighbor as yourself.

VI. Why does the lectionary give us this reading for today? Jesus at 12 years old, almost 13, in the Temple? Because Christmas is our Bar Mitzvah. It is our time of transition, from yesterday to today. But instead of strapping black leather boxes on our foreheads and hands filled with portions of 613 laws, we have only one command that we cherish in our hearts, from now and into the new year — “love one another.” The One Mitzvah Jesus gave us.

VII. Joseph and Mary lost Jesus on the way back from Jerusalem to Nazareth. It took them three days to find him. We lose him too — with all the distractions and chaos each day — we forget him. Maybe we lose Jesus momentarily and call someone a jerk. But, the good news is, Mary and Joseph found Jesus — and so do we. He’s still in the temple — of our hearts — waiting for us, gently reminding us each time we forget, “Love one another.”