Epiphany 1 January 12, 2020 The Sunday of Jesus in the Temple at 12 Years Old

Epiphany 1
Luke 2:41-52
January 12, 2020

“Identity in Christ: Confident yet Submissive”

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

Jesus is lost by his parents for three whole days in the big city of Jerusalem. Yet He’s confident, cool, calm, and collected.

Before Christmas we were shopping at Kohl’s and there was a little girl who had gotten lost from her mother. She had asked one of the Kohl’s ladies to help and while we’re standing in line they’re trying to find the mother. This little girl had probably only been lost for five minutes or so, not three days. And yet she was distressed. She wasn’t nearly as confident as Jesus. She wanted her mother. As we all would.

Think of your temperament the last time you were lost. Maybe lost with the GPS in your car. Were you calm and confident? Maybe lost in the city of Chicago or St. Louis? I’m nervous driving in those cities even when I’m not lost. Always afraid I’m going to get in the way of some fast city driver. Maybe you’ve gotten lost from a group of people you were with? Were you calm and confident?

Yet Jesus is. He’s 12 years old and hasn’t seen his parents for three days. Where did He sleep? What did He eat? Have you wondered these things before? Does He sleep on the floor in the Temple? Does He sit outside the Temple with the beggars? Apparently He wasn’t too worried about any of that. He ate. He slept. He was confident, cool, and calm.

So we can safely say that this story isn’t about Jesus being lost. He wasn’t lost at all. The truth is the story is about who Jesus is. No average 12 year old sits around confidently in the Temple for three days amazing the Teachers.

We’re the ones who need to talk about being lost. With Jesus you’ll never be lost. But without Him, we’re the lost ones. There are two ways we will be lost in this world without Jesus. The first way you’ll be lost without Jesus is that you won’t know who you are or where you’re going. This is an identity crisis. That’s why we’re hearing so much right now about identity politics. Because people don’t know who they are or where they’re going so they latch onto these political groups who will give them identity and purpose and direction. Without Christ, people will try desperately to find something else to give them identity and it’s very often politics. But that’s no true identity.

Let me take a moment to be very clear about this. Most of you in the pews probably take this for granted because you’ve been Christian most or all of your life. But without Christ, what is the purpose of life? Without Christ, who are you really? Are you just a random blob of biological mass that will be on the earth for about 80 years and then gone? What’s your purpose? Are you just here to have as much pleasure as you can while you’re able? So live it up?! Sex, drugs, and partying? Without Christ, you will always end up lost in this big world not knowing really who you are or why you’re here.

The second way we’re lost without Jesus is that we won’t be saved. We will die in our sin and go to hell. Because God is God whether you like Him or not. Whether you believe in Him or not. And without Jesus we don’t stand a chance before Him. What will we tell God? How will we explain the words we’ve said, the thoughts we’ve had, the people we’ve hurt? We can’t explain them away. Without Jesus, we’ll face an angry God who will punish us just as we deserve.

So what it this story about today? Jesus being lost? No. Jesus coming to save us lost sinners. Coming to give us identity. Look at Jesus in the Temple. He knows exactly who He is. When Mary questions Him, “Son, why did you do this?”, He replies confidently, “I must be in My Father’s house.” He clearly knows that He is God’s Son. He’s confident.

Everyone who is hearing Jesus asking questions and answering them is amazed. They can’t believe the knowledge Jesus has at 12 years old. He’s not a person confused about life. He knows exactly what life is. He knows who God is. He’s not worried about where He’s going to sleep or what He’s going to eat. He’s not worried that God doesn’t love Him or that God has it out for Him. He knows confidently that He is God’s Son and that His Father will take care of Him.

Now because you and Christ are one, because Christ lives in you and you live in Him, because you’ve been baptized into Him and you believe in Him and He has given you His Holy Spirit—because of all of that—you also know who you are and you also know who your Father in heaven is. And that means you also never need to worry about being lost in the world. You are never lost no matter what happens to you in this world. You are God’s son, God’s daughter, and you are loved and forgiven and your hairs are numbered and you are going to live eternally. You’re confident who you are. You know who you are.

I put in the bulletin insert this morning the first part of the Lord’s Prayer as the doctrine for the day, “Our Father who art in heaven.” What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that, with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” Hear those words? Boldness and confidence.

That’s the first very important thing you have with your identity in Christ—confidence! You’re not lost. Don’t underestimate what a gift that is. You all will have and have right now friends or family who are lost. They don’t know who they are or where they’re going really. Show them the confidence you have in Christ. That you’re God’s child and you’re confident about Him and the world. We’re a bunch of wimps when it comes to talking about our identity in Christ. We act like it’s not a big deal. It is a big deal. Ask someone who’s lost in the world. It’s a big deal. You’re not lost. You’re God’s child. Others in your life need to have that same confidence.

Yet we might misunderstand this confidence. This confidence doesn’t mean we think we’re better than others and others should cater to us. Ha! Look at Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, right? Lord of heaven and earth, right? Amazing the teachers at 12 years old, right? The cattle on a thousand hills are His. The sun, moon, and stars obey His Word. He is actually better than all of us. And yet what does He do? He submits Himself to others. He’s submissive. Right after He tells His mom, “Didn’t you know I must be in My Father’s house?”, then they don’t understand what He’s talking about. So He just humbly obeys them and goes back with them to Nazareth and it specifically says He was submissive to them.

Think big picture here. God (Jesus, that is)—obeyed man. He obeyed His parents and His teachers and other elders and authorities. He was confident who He was and yet He submitted Himself to others to love and serve them.

In fact, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, submitted Himself to you because He gave His very life for you on the cross so that you might live in Him and have His confidence and His identity and that you might be called a child of God.

If the Son of God can be submissive to others, can we? In our reading today from Romans 12, this is what Paul commands us to do, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned…for we are one body in Christ…and members one of another.”

It seems like a paradox. Confident yet submissive. But it’s not a paradox at all. It’s Jesus. It’s our life in Christ. A lot of people in this world use their confidence to gain power and money and fame. Not Christians. We use our confidence in Christ to serve and love others. We submit ourselves to God and to others.

I’ll give you a final little example so you know what we’re talking about. They always say about the millennial generation that we don’t respect authority. Authority doesn’t matter to us. Well, that’s a sin. That’s not Christian. Jesus respected those in authority. How many of us Christians are good at respecting our elders? That’s a problem. Remember that Jesus, even though He was smarter and wiser and better than everyone else, still respected His parents Mary and Joseph, still respected those teachers in the Temple.

How many of us Christians have been respectful and submissive to our parents even after we’ve grown older and left the house. We should be. We shouldn’t think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. God calls us to respect others and submit ourselves to them—especially our elders and those in authority.

So I hope you didn’t get lost in the sermon this morning. You’re not lost. Because we live in Christ, because we’re baptized into Christ, we know exactly who we are. We’re confident as God’s children, heirs of the heavenly kingdom, and yet we’re also submissive—serving and loving as Christ has served and loved us.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.