How many of you had “preteen” kids around you at your holiday celebrations this year? Honestly, that was my nightmare week of summer church camp if I ever got called to help lead that back in the day. So much drama! As I reflect on that, I wonder why we never made the kids memorize Bible verses about gossip! They’re at that age where they want to be independent but still have to pass notes or create a “grapevine” to find out who likes who.
The stories you get as a camp counselor may be hard to follow sometimes too. “Maggie asked her BFF Jenny to ask Jake if he would ask Maggie to sit with her at the campfire, but Jake likes Jenny better than Maggie so Jake asked Jenny to the campfire instead and Jenny said yes so now Maggie’s mad at Jenny” and so on and so on….
Fortunately (or rather, “divinely”), the preteen, 12-year-old Jesus in our Bible passage this morning shows no signs of having that kind of drama to worry about or distract him from preparing for his ministry as an adult. In fact, he is SO not into that kind of drama that he creates his own drama by not telling his family he’s going to hang out at the temple as they’re departing and talk to a bunch of old theologically minded men about what his real dad is really like. No playing tag or hide-and-seek with his cousins and half-siblings on the way home from Jerusalem for this Savior-to-be!
When you think about it, this really is a remarkable account of the early life of Jesus. We very rarely got that with other important biblical figures in the Old Testament. With Isaac and Jacob and Esau, we didn’t really have too much of their early life, other than Jacob holding onto to Esau’s heel when those twins were born. Joseph was 17 when he started having visions of grandeur and was subsequently sold into slavery by his brothers. We looked at Samuel’s birth briefly last week as well.
Then of course there was David. He was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. But he also was seemingly quite brave, having bragged to King Saul about killing a lion and a bear. This set the stage for his confrontation with Goliath and thus giving him a reputation as a great warrior king. David would not be allowed to build God’s Temple, his “earthly” residence in Jerusalem, because he had blood on his hands, but Solomon would.
The tabernacle had certainly been through the ringer in the over 200 years it had been used for worship in the wilderness and as they settled into the Promised Land. David wanted to replace it with something beautiful and more permanent. He drew up the plans, and Solomon would eventually build it. But even that temple would fall into disrepair and ruin after the exile and its abandonment. Herod built a new temple, but even though it wasn’t the original built by Jesus’s earthly ancestor Solomon son of David, Jesus, the Son of Man of the lineage of David, would still come to call Herod’s temple his father’s house.
What is interesting about the youth and young adult stories we have about all these forefathers is that, since Cain killed Abel in the early chapters of Genesis, the Old Testament seems to have an underlying theme of disfavor on the firstborn among the family line of God’s chosen people. It’s not clear if Abraham was firstborn, because his story in Genesis is told under the title, “This is the account Terah,” his father’s name. Isaac was not Abraham’s first son. Jacob of course was second born to Isaac. Joseph was Jacob’s (Israel’s) second to last child of twelve sons and one daughter. Samuel wasn’t Elkanah’s first born, and David was the youngest of eight.
But we do know that Jesus is Mary’s first born, and this is where the disfavor of the firstborn gets nipped in the bud. Jesus knows, even at the tender age of 12, that he is God’s one and only begotten son, and not only that, that his father’s house is his home too by inheritance. In this temple encounter, Jesus asserts not only his first-born responsibility to bring honor and respect to his parents, and by extension to the rest of his family, but also honor, respect, and glory to his true father, his heavenly father, in the place his heavenly father calls home on earth.
Unfortunately, we do not have a transcript of Jesus’s discussion with the teachers in the temple. That would have been fascinating indeed. Jesus was only one year away from what was essentially his bar mitzvah, that is, becoming a “son of the commandment,” and thus being formally held to account for his observance of the law. Jesus was obviously trying his hand at dialoguing with the teachers of the law to understand the human and religious reasoning and logic these teachers applied to the law.
The dialogue would have been very Socratic as well. Lots of questions going back and forth, including answering questions with questions each way. The amazement the teachers had with Jesus probably stemmed from his depth of understanding of the law, his ability to answer their questions, and his own penchant for asking intelligent and thought-provoking questions himself. I’ll venture a guess and say he even tried out a parable or two on them.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”[1] Of course, Jesus was most likely a self-starter once he had awareness of his divine nature (and we can only speculate on when that happened). But our children obviously need guidance if we’re going to expect them to have any awareness of faith in God, a relationship with Jesus, or sensitivity to the Holy Spirit speaking into their lives.
To the extent that you can, if you can have any influence in the spiritual formation of the children in your extended family, take the opportunity to exercise that influence. Send them cards and letters. Record a video or two for them. Create a photo album with family stories included. I’d like to think my own blog is the spiritual legacy I’m leaving for my kids and grandkids.
As God’s chosen people, we have an obligation to pass on the legacy of our faith to our families. The other New Testament passage from today’s lectionary readings comes from Colossians 3:12–17, where Paul gives us insight as to how we can be shining lights to our families and the world around us:
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.[2]
In some ways, this passage reads like a further explanation of the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”[3] If you’re considering any New Year’s resolutions for 2025, this passage from Colossians would be a good way to start, to recommit yourself to being a better follower of Christ. This past year has certainly been pretty hectic and emotional given what’s happened on both the political and cultural fronts. Maybe it’s time we wipe the slate clean by injecting a heaping helping of forgiveness where we’ve encountered negative feedback from friends and family.
I like how the NIV translation uses “forbearance” in the fruit of the Spirit passage, the only time the NIV translates the Greek word that way. Every other time, it’s translated “patience” or “patient” in the New Testament. I’m not sure why that is, but the translation “forbearance” seems to have a more active nuance than the word “patience.” Patience seems to imply just waiting around for something to happen, while forbearance seems to suggest that you’re actively praying about whatever the situation is and how you can keep your emotions in check if it’s something you’re not comfortable with but have little to no control over.
As we talked about during the Advent season, seek the peace of Christ as well. “Let [it] rule in your hearts,” says Paul. Peace is not necessarily the absence of conflict, although that helps greatly, but the security of knowing you’re safe in Christ and in your faith. Spend time in Scripture and commit yourself to maintaining a connection with your faith family here or wherever you may attend regularly. That is how the word of God can dwell “among you” (notice it says “among” and not “in,” that’s significant!) richly and how you can have the experience of singing the songs of praise together that our Psalm 148 reading spoke about today.
As we close the books on 2024 this year, my prayer is that you will draw even closer to God in the new year. I pray for you (and me) like Paul prayed for the Ephesians: “That the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”[4] Power, riches, and hope (and not the hope of the MegaMillions jackpot type of riches). Jesus wants us to be strong in the faith for him and look to him for our joy. May God richly bless you as we enter 2025 this week. Amen!
[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[3] The New International Version. Galatians 5:22–23a. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Scott Stocking
My opinions are my own.
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