“A Few Words for Parents and Children”
Luke 2:41-52
20091227


I am astonished and amazed at what families will do today to have their own reality television show. There is really nothing real about exposing your most intimate moments for the whole world to see. The teenagers in one of these families admitted to drug use and criminal activity. Of course, the clueless parents appeared dumbfounded as they expressed their resentment and disappointment. As absurd as such shows are to me they are interesting because we can find some connecting place with them…like reading a good memoir.

The professional counselor on this show advised the anguished mother and father to stop being a friend to their children and start being a PARENT! She went on to explain that popularity and Good Parenting do not always mix. The therapist explained the urgent but unexpressed need children have for limits and guidance, rules, and most of all…….AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW!!! Rules can be a very real expression of parental love. Limits and guiding principles actually contribute to a child’s sense of security and love.

Well over three decades ago, a time when most parents and children here today didn’t even exist there was a TV show that my family watched regularly, Father Knows Best. Today such a title would not be allowed or acceptable. Do you remember it? That program was a forerunner of such family oriented series like, Little House on the Prairie and the Waltons.

Looking back I am amused by these seemingly idyllic representations of family, but aside from being amusing they also create in us a longing for family virtues. They were popular because they told us that communications, respect, care, trust, and love is possible….even if only in a fictionalized form on a television screen. We all need to know that there is a better way than what usually passes for family life in our average household today.

As we should with any aspect of our lives, we turn to Jesus for an example. But we have so little information about Jesus’ younger years and the Holy Family. Those who were writing the gospels on the last third of the first century would have to have sifted through the oral traditions that might have been handed down about this family from Nazareth. Meditating on this oral tradition and the adult life of Jesus, Matthew and Luke must have used their imaginations and their faith to deduce what Jesus’ childhood must have been like.

The first thing that is clear to me about the young Jesus is that he was more than just a child prodigy, a show-off who wanted to impress his elders. In Luke scene today Jesus is seen as a PUPIL, a student. He is listening intently to his teachers and asking them questions. It is clear that Jesus, the 12 year old, is very interested in the peoples’ laws and religious rituals. Jesus, we must never forget, was first a student. Later, they would cal HIM, Rabbi, Teacher, but for now he was a student.

In this family scene in the young life of Jesus, we find this self-assured, wise beyond his years-young-lad lost. As was the custom the people went to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the Passover. I suspect that a large group from Nazareth went together and returned together…each adult helping the other keep “Half-an-eye” on each other’s child. Returning home after Passover Mary and Joseph discovered that Jesus was not with the group. I am sure, like most parents, they scurried back to the “Big City” with fear and trembling. After finding him and giving him what appears to be a mild scolding they returned home together.

Yes, in spite of this brief experience of what his later calling would be, he returned home. He was still too young. He needed his family. He needed more time to mature. The love which bound Mary and Joseph and Jesus together is a valid model for today.

In looking at that model I would like for us to reflect together this morning on three aspects of family life seen in today’s passage.
First, it appears that Mary and Joseph had given their 12 year old son a modicum of independence. They obviously were not leading him around on a leash, constantly keeping an eye on him, making him feel as if he couldn’t be trusted. After all, a Jewish boy is considered a man at 12 years of age. Now, this is not 1st century Jerusalem, I know we live in what seems to be a far more dangerous world so proper adult supervision is required.

And yet, I know it is true that as much harm can develop by no slack as too much restraint. Some slack must be given to our young people so that they might be able to find themselves, learn from their mistakes, and be better able to make their own way when parents are no longer around. There is a risk involved. But Jesus, that day found himself, and knew what his calling was to be.

This parental dilemma will always be with us. Mary and Joseph, like most of us, must have wondered, on discovering that their child was not with them, questioned their own judgment. You can imagine their fear and anxiety. Our child is not be found in a split second at the mall and we turn into crazy people frantically seeking after the child only to find her quite comfortable in the children’s book section. And at that very discovery you are torn between the two choices of strangulation and smothering.

This is a fine line we walk as parents…which should remind all the rest of us that we, too, have job to assist in our job as social parents.

This brings me to my second point. I know that many of you young people feel like your parents ought to allow you greater freedom. I think that is a natural movement toward maturity. But not so fast my young friends!!! Stop for a moment and pay attention to today’s gospel lesson. You see, Jesus left to go with his parents because he knew full well that there was still much to learn. So I advise you, this day, to be patient as you grow up. Enjoy the protection and advice and wisdom that your parents have to offer.

Go slow. There is a lifetime of the adult world ahead. I know that you are given such mixed messages from the adult world as you are pushed and pulled by commercials and other from of communication to mature faster than you should. Parents and churches can be guilty of this as well. Maturing and growing into responsible Christians and citizens of this world is so important and so is the path one takes along the way. Jesus has shown us that path. That path includes your family, your church and it includes the third point I want to emphasis…it includes EDUCATION!

Jesus, as wise and as knowledgeable as he was is shown by Luke today to be a STUDENT. Unlike many youth and adults today who think they know it all, Jesus is shown learning from his teachers. Jesus is not dominating a crowd of people older than himself. No we are told he is listening and asking questions. He is listening and asking questions, eagerly searching for knowledge. Perhaps all of us would do well by listening more and gently seeking after the truth.

So I ask the young people here today – Are you taking your education, in your public or private schools seriously? Are you here on Sunday morning for Christian Education? (Here is where I should also ask the adults…..are you here on Sunday morning for Christian Education? If you are, it is a wonderful example you are setting for our young people.

You see, if education is not a high priority for us, then we are cheating ourselves. Education is so important. I know you have heard that from your parents until you are blue in the face…now you have heard it from your pastor. But more important than the fact that your parents and pastor stress the importance of learning is Jesus example in today’s lesson. There he was, sitting in the Temple listening and asking questions. And we are told Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with his people.

This challenge to live family life to the fullest – in loving harmony and mutual edification is our greatest and most difficult responsibility today. That is why this sermon is meant not only for those here who are young parents with young children. It is for this entire church family. Every time we baptize a child in this church we vow to help raise that child and help one another in leading him or her in the way of the Lord. We try to do that most important work within a context and world that seems hell-bent on our failure. The solution for success that has been given to us is the very one we practice every Sunday……to center our lives in Christ and to open our hearts to his presence. Yes, trouble, and heartache, will journey with us, but instead of crushing us, those very difficulties will become our stepping stones to higher things…to family holiness…now and forever more.

I pray for your family and our church family…A Glorious New Year!