12/29/24 “Home Alone”

Home Alone

Luke 2:41-52

How many of you have seen the movie “Home Alone”?

The movie stars Macauley Culkin as 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, who wakes up to find that his family has mistakenly left him behind as they embark upon a Christmas vacation to Paris.

While by himself at home, Kevin realizes that two men are trying to rob the house…

…so he must employ some quick-thinking tactics in order to protect the house – and himself – from these very dimwitted burglars.

The movie has become one of those holiday classics that some families enjoy watching every year….

…maybe some of you watched it recently as well.

You’ve all probably been in a situation at some point in your lives when you were accidently left behind…

…or perhaps you were the one who accidentally (Or maybe not-so-accidentally) left somebody else behind.

It happens more often than we’d think.

We get preoccupied with busy schedules and we forget to pick a kid up from practice…or we assume our spouse is going to do it.

One time when Lindsay was about 6 years old, Lisa & I accidentally left her at church all by herself.

…we had driven separately that morning, and when the service was over, Lisa left before I did…

….When when it came time for me to leave, I didn’t see any sign of either of my kids, so I just assumed they both rode back home with Lisa.

…well, one did…the other one….did not.

Turns out, Lindsay was on one of her 45-minute bathroom visits that she was famous for at that age…

So anyway, I hop in my truck and head for home….

…I’m pulling in my driveway when I get a call from our pastor who calmly said: “Ah, Andy…I think you forgot something at church”

Talk about feeling like a horrible parent…

So, ten minutes later I pull up to the church to be greeted by a chuckling pastor and a crying child…

…It was not a good day for Andy’s confidence as a competent parent!

Well, today’s passage of scripture from Luke chapter 2 describes a very similar event

….but this time it involved a 12 year-old boy being left behind at a place of worship….and this young man went by the name of - Jesus.

To back up for a moment, the past four weeks we’ve been looking at the birth of Jesus, and what impact his life has had – and continues to have – upon this world…and in the life of a believer.

…A week after the birth of Jesus, scripture describes how Mary and Joseph take their baby to the temple to be circumcised and named….

…It is here that their baby is officially named Jesus…

As many of you probably know, the name Jesus – or Yeshua in Hebrew - means “The Lord Saves“.

…It was the name that both Mary & Joseph were told by the angel Gabriel to give this child

…and this baby’s name would perfectly match his life mission..

The Lord, indeed, saves…and the God-man Jesus Christ is the exclusive channel by which people are able to experience that salvation.

So, after Jesus is circumcised and prayed over by two people named Simeon and Anna, scripture goes silent as to the Christ child…it goes silent for 12 whole years.

….Until – that is – we get to our passage for today.

Then, after this single event at the temple in Jerusalem, scripture will again go silent as to the life of Jesus for another 18 years…

…The next time we see Jesus, He is 30-years-old beginning his public ministry.

Our passage for today from Luke chapter two contains the only recorded words of Jesus between his birth and his public ministry…

It’s a small island of information about Jesus that is far removed from the mainland of information that we have concerning the beginning and end of his life…

The other day, I was waiting at the service center for my truck to have its oil changed and I noticed a magazine containing an article describing the most remote islands in the world…

…I learned that the most remote inhabited island in the world is called “Tristan da Cunha”, a 7-square-mile British settlement that is home to 240 very hardy …and very introverted…people.

It’s in the lower Atlantic Ocean equidistant from Africa, Antarctica, and South America…

I thought it was interesting that the official motto of the predominantly Anglican island is:“Our faith is our Strength”

There’s no airstrip on Tristan da Cunha, so the fastest way to get there is by boat from South Africa…a short one-way journey of 6 days.

Today’s passage of scripture is the “Tristan da Cunha” of all biblical information regarding the life of Jesus.

These 11 verses are surrounded by 30 years of silence regarding the savior.

We don’t often hear sermons on these verses because it can sometimes be difficult to extrapolate life application from a short, historical account…

…but I believe that we can learn a good deal of useful information from this passage today – so let’s dive in.

We pick up at verse 41 (Luke 2:41) where we are told that Mary and Joseph travel to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover.

First of all, this tells us that both Joseph and Mary were obedient to the Jewish faith…they were a devout couple who took seriously their duties under the mosaic law.

Mary would have been in her late 20’s at this point, while Joseph was most likely around 30 years old.

According to 1st century Jewish law, it was only men who were required to make the yearly trek to Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover…

…so the fact that Mary went along with Joseph speaks very highly of her devotion to the Lord.

Passover was observed in early Spring and it commemorated the Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery…some 1400 years earlier.

If your recall…this was accomplished through the final plague involving the Angel of death taking the life of each firstborn son in Egypt…

….Unless the Angel saw the blood of a sacrificed lamb spread over the doorframe of a home, then he would “Pass-over” that specific dwelling…

During the time of Jesus, Passover was only a single day event, but it was immediately followed by a 7-day celebration called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread”…

…this was when the Israelites would remember how God sustained their people in the desert following the exodus with a miraculous bread-like substance called manna.

Today, when people refer to Passover, they usually combine both the observance of Passover with the Feast of Unleavened Bread into one celebration – and simply call it “Passover.”

So, both Joseph and Mary made the 80 mile trek from Nazareth to Jerusalem (That’s about the distance from LaValle to LaCrosse)…a good 3 day hike.

Verse 43 tells us that when the feast was over, 12 -year-old Jesus stayed behind while his parents took off for home with the rest of the caravan of people - who would also be leaving at the same time.

This is the part of the story that gets difficult to understand…

How could Mary & Joseph possibly forget Jesus…

I mean, com’on…they’ve got one job, right?

…And it happens to be the most important job on the planet at the time.

…Their one job was to raise the boy who will grow up to change the world forever.

All they had to do was feed him…clean him…keep him sheltered…….just Don’t Lose Him!!!

But what we have to understand is that 1st Century Jewish families didn’t live with nearly as much isolation as families do today in 21st century America.

Within a given town or area, there was a great deal of cooperation amongst families in terms of food, work, construction, cleaning, and raising children.

People would often be as much of a parent to someone else’s child as you would be to your own.

This kind of communal living where people were dependent upon one another was necessary in order to secure the basic essentials of life.

…John Wayne would have hated it! 😊

Truth be told, many of us today are uncomfortable with reading about this level of social dependency because in our western culture, one way we define ourselves is by our level of independence.

…Especially us men.

Ladies, want proof of that?

Next time you’re at Menards with your husband and you’re having a difficult time finding something, encourage your husband to ask someone for assistance….

….Nope!  “I will find it myself!”…Joyce, is that generally true?

…even if it takes an extra hour and a half, by-golly, I’m gonna do it on my own!

This prideful independence is something that many of us men struggle with…

…Lots of us were brought up with the idea that asking for help indicated weakness…

…and weakness meant shame.

…and shame meant a perceived disappointment in the eyes of your family & friends.

…and to disappoint your loved ones is the greatest of all inadequacies as a man.

This level of prideful self-sufficiency would have been completely foreign to the typical first century Jewish person…

…they depended on each other every day just to survive.

..In many ways it would do us well today to admit when we need help with something….a task…a problem…an addiction…whatever it might be.

Not only does it help squelch the pride problem…but we were not created to be isolated from each other – physically, emotionally…. or spiritually.

We – as members of Christ’s body…the church…need to remember that lone-wolf Christianity really isn’t Christianity at all…

And….It’s a recipe for spiritual disaster…

Just like when a wild animal on the Serengeti Plain detaches itself from the herd, the hungry Lion zeroes in on that animal because it will be the easiest one to kill.

Same is true on a spiritual level…

The less involved you are with other believers, the easier it is for Satan - The prowling Lion of this world (as we are told in 1 Peter 5:8) –

…The easier it is for him to be able to track you down and destroy you.

So, getting back to our passage, Jewish people would travel in large groups – sometimes numbering in the hundreds…

This makes it much easier to understand how Jesus could have gotten mistakenly left behind in Jerusalem.

It would also have been the scenario that the women traveled in a different part of the caravan than the men.

The women – and many of the children – traveled up front and set the pace for the entire group…while the men generally walked behind them.

This is why verse 44 (Luke 2:44) begins with the assumption on both Joseph and Mary’s part that Jesus was with the other spouse – kind of like what happened to Lisa and I years ago….

So, Joseph and Mary realize that Jesus is not with them, then in verse 45 (Luke 2:45) after a full day of traveling - they turn around and head back to Jerusalem.

Can you imagine this scene?...they would now be going the opposite direction from the throngs of people coming out of Jerusalem?

….Imagine the jokes: “Hey, Passover was last week”…”You’re a little late”

Well, Mary & Joseph would not have been in the mood for jokes at this point.

…they were on a serious mission to find Jesus.

Let’s pause there for a second.

Think about those words: “A serious mission to find Jesus”

Does that describe you today?

Are you serious enough in your mission to find Jesus each day that you don’t mind getting ridiculed for your faith?

Are you on a serious mission to find Jesus in God’s Word each day?

Are you on a serious mission to include Jesus in your daily activities?

Are you on a serious mission to submit your life to Him on a daily basis?...your marriage?...your children?....your job?...your house?

Is there any part of your life in which the serious mission to find Jesus has stalled out…?

Maybe you’ve given Him most of your life……but you’ve also held back a few things for yourself?

Maybe it’s a pet sin that you purposefully harbor in the shadows rather than confessing and repenting of it…?

Maybe it’s an attitude of hard-heartedness or cruelty toward others…maybe even your family…

It’s usually the people closest to us who experience the hurricane-force winds of our own unrepentance or own self-centeredness.

Every day when you wake up…Prioritize your walk with Jesus.

This will be like a powerful & effective vaccine in your life against the virus of demonic deception that exists all around us.

Verse 46 (Luke 2:46) tells us that after 3 days, Mary & Joseph find the young Jesus sitting among the teachers in the temple…in Jerusalem.

Not only was he there, but he was engaging with the brightest minds in all of Judaism…and astonishing all of them with his knowledge and understanding of the faith.

Verse 47 (Luke 2:47) Tells us that Jesus was not only asking questions, but was providing many insightful answers to many theological difficulties.

This would be like assembling many of the greatest thinkers in modern Christianity – People like Darrel Bock, John Lennox, Norm Geisler, William Lane Craig, Tim Keller, NT Wright, John MacArthur…bring them all together in one room…

…then have someone Lilly’s age...or Acacia’s age…come in and completely school them on theological matters of the faith.

Verse 48 (Luke 2:48) tells us that even Jesus’ parents were ‘astonished’ at what their child was doing amongst the heavy hitters of modern Judaic thought.

Also, in verse 48, we see that Mary is a bit upset with her son.

…She says “Why have you treated us like this?”…. and “We have been anxiously searching for you.”

You know that feeling when you’re at the big box store and you get momentarily distracted by something, you turn around and all of a sudden your small child – or grandchild – is no longer there?

The panic that sets in is real, isn’t it!

Well, Mary had been feeling that panic for a couple of days now…

Then, when you are reunited with your little one, Joy fills your soul….followed very quickly by Anger, right?

Why did you leave my side?...What were you thinking?

From Mary’s perspective, this is what she is going through.

…But from Jesus’ perspective, this situation involved a lesson that he needed to gently convey to his earthly parents.

Verse 49 (Luke 2:49) is special because it gives us the first recorded words ever uttered from the mouth of Jesus.

…”Why were you searching for me…didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

Everyone who has ever lived – except for Jesus – has an earthly father.

Jesus never had an earthly father.

His Father – God the father from eternity past – is the only father that Jesus was related to as Jesus himself was the 2nd member of the eternal triune Godhead.

The statement that Jesus makes here in verse 49 is the first time in scripture that any individual claimed God as his personal father.

Not Adam, not Noah, not Abraham, not Moses, not David, None of the prophets…

Only Jesus can make that claim because only Jesus was without human genealogy on His father’s side.

This truth is what he needed to convey to his earthly parents here in this passage of scripture.

He needed to remind Mary and Joseph that his actual home was in the presence of his one true Father – God.

And – at that time - the closest place for Jewish people to be in the presence of God was in the temple in Jerusalem.

Another important thing to remember here is that Mary & Joseph left Jesus….Jesus never left them.

You know, in the scenarios where kids go missing, it’s typically the children who leave the presence of the adult…

This time, however, it was the adults who left the child.

…and in a greater, spiritual reality, this is also true of anyone who drifts away from God…

…God never moves.

…Scripture tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

If you ever begin to feel estranged, or distanced from God…

…It’s my job to tell you that it wasn’t God who moved….it was you.

..And If that has happened to you – if you are currently making choices in your life that don’t align with God’s will or His Word –

 If you have back-slidden from where you know that you ought to be in your walk with the Lord

Please listen closely: Don’t lose hope!

…In fact, take heart!…because God is waiting with open arms for you to return to Him.

I’m reminded of the father figure in the parable of the Prodigal Son?

The father in that story never went anywhere, did he.

He remained back on the ranch where he had always been…with eyes fixed on the horizon in the hopes that his precious son would repent and come home.

Folks, that is the loving God whom we serve…

…Not some angry, stern-faced, frowning, agitated old man just waiting to give us the full force of His wrath because of our disobedience.

Yes, God is a holy and righteous God who cannot let unrepentant sin go unpunished…that is true.

…but he is also a God of infinite love, who will welcome you home with open arms!

In Jewish tradition, boys participate in a rite of passage called the Bar Mitzvah (Meaning ‘Son of the law’) when they turn 13 years of age…

…It is at this age when they are considered to move from childhood into adulthood….and when they are said to be fully accountable to obedience to God’s law.

Jesus was almost 13…and he would now begin to move from allegiance to his earthly parents…to allegiance to his heavenly Father…in whom he was eternally conjoined.

We see here how – even at the age of 12 – Jesus fully understands his divine nature…

…and He fully comprehends his mission to ultimately be a sacrifice for mankind.

In the mystery of Jesus’ dual nature (Called the hypostatic union) He understood his divinity - yet needed to still develop physically, like any other human child.

In other words, positionally, he was fully God – yet, practically, he was still ‘learning’, or ‘experiencing’ how to be human.

Sort of like a child who becomes a King at the age of 2…

Positionally, they are indeed the King…but practically, they must still learn to read and write…and do all of the things necessary to successfully fulfill the office of King.

Jesus was always God…yet he needed to experience the growing process within his humanity as well.

To me, the fact that Jesus experienced humanity from within flesh is very comforting…

As the writer of Hebrews states “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are….” (Hebrews 4:15)

If you’ve ever wondered if Jesus truly understands your current situation in life…He does!

He’s been there…He gets it…He can truly sympathize with you.

There are certain things that some of you have gone through that I cannot fully empathize with because I haven’t experienced it to the same degree as what you have….but Jesus can….Jesus can.

Verse 51 (Luke 2:51) tells us that Jesus then subjected himself to his parents and went home with them.

How ironic, right?

Jesus is the Word of God – and John tells us that the Word of God made all things (John 1:3)…

…which meant that Jesus literally made his earthly mother and father…and, yet, now – as a child - we see Jesus willfully submitting to their authority because that was what the law – the law that he wrote – informed him to do.

How complex it must have been for Jesus to live such a life of divine authority tempered with human frailty!

So, brothers & sisters in Christ…take heart today.

Take heart today that we serve a risen savior that has lived a life from within the flesh – just as we are.

Take heart in knowing that Jesus understands the hurt and the pain that we experience in this world…

…Pain that perhaps some of you are experiencing today.

Take heart that through Him, we can experience joy regardless of the circumstances of our lives..

And...most importantly…take heart that Jesus came to this earth as a baby in a manger…

…And He left this earth victorious over sin and death…

…And that through faith in Him, you too can experience that same victory!

Let’s Pray.