"The Father's Business" based on Luke 2:40-52

The Second Sunday after Christmas - January 4, 2009

Pastor Troy Slater, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

It's that time, isn't it? Time to get back into the old routines. The holidays are past, the in-laws are gone, the "new" Christmas presents are now used, school starts tomorrow and for the first time in 7 weeks we don't have an extra church service this Wednesday evening. Yes back to the old routine, back to business as usual. And I suppose for some of us - especially those going back to school - that may not be good news. For the rest of us though, especially the parents of those going back to school, while we may enjoy the Holidays and trips, the family gatherings and such, getting back into the routines can't come soon enough. The special occasions and such may be the spice of life, but life is lived in the routines, isn't it? Life is lived in the routines.

That's true for us and that was even true for Joseph and Mary and the boy Jesus as we can see in our Gospel reading for today. Evidently they, being faithful Jews, participated fully in the religious routines of their day. Our reading tells us that "every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover." In other words it was their custom - it was their routine. But not only would their lives have been punctuated with annual festivals commemorating God's deliverance of His people - as we see them doing here by going to Jerusalem for the Passover feast - but no doubt it also would have included the daily routines of the Jewish life. Lighting the lamps, following the kosher diet, observing the Sabbath in accordance with the Laws of Moses, even keeping house according to the laws of their fathers. Yes all of life from the special to the routine would have been marked with meaningful ritual and ceremony - a ritual and ceremony that was there to remind the people of who they were and of whose they were. They lived by a ritual and ceremony that served as constant reminders of God's gifts - reminders that God was a God who had led them out of slavery in Egypt and who was still with them in the Promised Land with His grace and mercy. …

Of course some in the day would have been bored with all the ritual and ceremony - the routine of being a first-century Jew. It would all have seemed more like a burden and a bore for some Jews even as for others it all was a reminder of God's gifts. Much like the teenager today who, unable to see beyond their little moment in time, says, "I don't want to do that, it's boring". "I'm bored" many would have complained regarding the rituals and routines of the Jewish life. A burden and a bore is what they would have seen it all as.

But while we don't know a whole lot of details regarding the early home life of Jesus and the specifics of His family's religious routine, we do know enough from the Gospels to state firmly that in the home of Joseph and Mary, the religious and daily routine was not considered to be a burden and a bore. And especially that would not have been the case with a young Jesus. But before we start thinking, "Well of course that wasn't the case with Jesus, He's the holy Son of God", we need to remember one thing. We need to remember that while yes, Jesus - even as a 12-year old boy - was God, He was also a true human being. You see we mustn't gloss over the fact that Jesus, while divine, was also a real man - and at one point a real 12-year old boy who would have wondered, "What's the point of all this? What's it all got to do with me? Who am I and how do I fit into all of this? To what destiny am I called?" Jesus would have wondered.

And so I suppose it is little wonder that the boy Jesus stayed on in the temple even as the rest of his family departed for home on this particular Passover trip to Jerusalem. We are told that He listened to the great teachers of His day, in fact was seated among them. Scripture doesn't tell us what conversations Jesus heard or what questions He asked, but we do know from His later ministry that Jesus would have taken the conversation beyond the routine. Beyond the "What?" to the "Why?". He would have taken the conversation to an examination of God's acts in history to save His people. For as a boy - a Jewish boy - He would have had to learn just like all of us have to learn. He would have desired to hear more of God's saving plan and to try to understand the implications of that plan for himself, for the Jewish nation, and for all the world. In other words, Jesus was concerned with something greater - something greater than just that little moment in time, he would have been concerned with the business of His Father. .. He would have been concerned with the business of His Father. For consider Jesus response to His mother Mary's question regarding His staying behind at the Jerusalem temple and worrying them, "Why were you searching for me?" as if they should have known where He would be at. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" "Didn't you know I HAD TO BE at my Father's house?" "It was NECESSARY" for him to be there. It was necessary for Him to be about His Father' business. That was His concern - His heavenly Father's business. …

Of course we falter and fail there, don't we? That is with our heavenly Father's business. For instead of asking "What's God's business - His plan for my life?" we ask "What's my plan?" Instead of asking "What's God's will in this situation?", we ask, "What do I want?". Instead of asking "How can I raise my children in the fear and knowledge of the Lord and teach them to be faithful in His eyes?" we ask, "How can I raise them to be happy and successful in the world's eyes?" Instead of choosing our spouses or jobs or houses based upon what will best honor God and allow me to serve Him, we ask what looks best to me and fulfills my desires. The Father's business too easily gets pushed aside while our business becomes the driving force in so much of what we do.

But again, not with Jesus. Not even with the boy Jesus. And of course that didn't change, did it as He grew in wisdom and stature? Jesus remained steadfast about His Father's business. He would always be about His Father's business. During His public ministry nearly two decades later, curing and caring, He would be about His Father's business. "Be healed" he would say to the lame and crippled, "be opened" He would say to the ears of the deaf and the eyes of the blind. He would always be about His Father's business preaching and teaching, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near." "Seek first your heavenly Father's kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." He would always be about His Father's business forgiving and comforting, "Your sins are forgiven" He would say to the paralytic. "I am the resurrection and the life" He would assure the mourning sister of His friend Lazarus. "If it is possible, O Father, let this cup pass from me." He would say in the Garden. "Yet not my will, but Your will be done." .. Yes Jesus would always be about His Father's business - whether it was as a 12-year old boy at Jerusalem's temple or whether it was as a grown man walking the road to Calvary's cross. …

Calvary's cross. Yes that ultimately was the Father's business, wasn't it? For remember what the angel had told Joseph prior to Jesus' birth. "You will name Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins." Save His people from their sins. While God calls us to live for Him and for Him alone, that's not what we do, is it? And that's why God became a baby once held in His mother's arms. That's why He became a 12-year old boy who stayed in Jerusalem's temple learning and questioning. That's why He became a Savior upon a cross. It was the Father's business to save His people - to save you and me from our sins - and so that's what Jesus was about. … That's what Jesus was about - His Father's business of saving sinners. …

Need proof that He was about the Father's business? Well consider what happened a bit later in the Gospel of Luke. Remember the words that were once spoken just outside an empty tomb not far from Jerusalem's temple? "Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here, He has risen." "Just as He said, He is risen." Need proof that Jesus was about His Father's business? See Him risen, risen from the grave, risen from our sin. God's people saved. .. God's people saved. You have been saved by Jesus. He made His Father's business to save you to be His own business, even if that meant suffering, even if that meant bleeding, even if that meant dying. He made the cross His business no matter what. …

And now, He is our business. That is, He is the one we serve - He is the one we live for. We can now live our lives seeing each day, seeing each day as a gift from our loving God. We can see even the routines, even the mundane, even the ordinary as opportunities for service in His kingdom. In our conversations, in our raising of the kids and the grandkids, in our rising in the morning, our laying down in the evening, in the eating and the working and the playing, we can see in everything opportunities to serve our God, to bring Him glory. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." In his first epistle Peter says, "I urge you dear friends, as aliens and stranger in the world, to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

God our Father's call to us is to live for Him, to be about His business. And yes, to be sure we will fail at that many a time as our fallen nature wages war against our soul. Not an excuse, just reality. But there's a greater reality. And that is that Jesus came to do His Father's business by saving His people from their sins. He accomplished that reality on Calvary's cross as attested by the empty tomb. You are His. Jesus' Father is now your Father. His business is now your business.

And so may we use every opportunity to be about our Father's business - even in the routines. Not living for selfish gain, but serving God with selfless service. Being about His business - our heavenly Father's business who has made us His own by His Son, our Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.