Milestones of Jesus’ Life

Milestones of Jesus’ Life
Rev. Dr. Chris Hensley
January 5th, 2025
Luke 2:41-52

This morning brings the conclusion of the overall birth narrative for Luke’s account. As I mentioned previously, Luke moves more slowly than the other accounts and the author provides a lot of information that is unique to Luke in the first two chapters. We see that Luke, specifically in the birth narrative, provides us with a visit between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth as they are both pregnant, two births, the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, the encounters with Simeon and Anna prophets, and finally the boy Jesus at the Temple.

Luke includes these milestones of Jesus’ life, according to Craddock, as a way for this historian to make connections to Jesus’ religious identity as a faithful Jew, further suggesting to the readers of this account that Jesus, in all of his teachings and ministry, is not a heretic, remains faithful to the spirit of the Law and the teachings of the Prophets. Jesus’ family are faithful and follow the religious precepts and instructions in regard to the various rites of passage dictated by the Law for children. These are laid out for us in these first two chapters of Luke’s account. Further, Luke takes great pains to connect Jesus to other figures within Judaism and the Hebrew Bible. There is an underlying connection to the young child Samuel who grew to be one of the great High Priests and prophets within the Hebrew Bible. One interesting thing to note that is not unique to Luke is that the Gospel writers do not mention again the miraculous virgin birth, neither does the early church in sermons revolving around Jesus’ early life.

We come to the reading for this morning, the boy Jesus, probably having already been through his bar mitzvah, traveled with his parents to the Temple in Jerusalem from Nazareth in the north for the purpose of the Passover celebration. A likely common practice for folks living in more remote or rural areas was that families would travel caravan style. When the family departs for home, they travel in a large group and the family travels with extended family who likely lived in the same town. It was not uncommon for immediate family members to not see one another frequently during these caravans. We must note that the anxiety which Mary and Joseph exhibit during this time is natural. Even losing sight of your child for a brief time in the midst of a crowd is enough to send a parent into a panic.

 

Following a few days of frantic search, Mary and Joseph discover that their son is hanging out in the Temple. The idea that Jesus is old enough within his society to make adult decisions with adult consequences cannot be overlooked. Jesus is of the age when he can decide to stay behind, he simply must face the consequences of his actions. So, he decides to stay in Jerusalem. That is to say, Jesus is not forgotten as Kevin in Home Alone was forgotten by distracted parents, Jesus made this decision of his own accord. Luke suggests that Jesus is Divinely compelled to go to and remain at the Temple in Jerusalem. Allusions to Jesus’ later work and calling in his ministry wherein he is Divinely compelled to minister with folks and teach all who might listen of the Kin-dom of God.

The narrative concludes with the family being reunited and the parents expressing their mixture of relief and frustration at their son’s decision to remain in Jerusalem and be about the work which God the Creator has compelled him to be about. For Jesus, the Divine compulsion made sense, to those around him, it induced anxiety and confusion. Looking back throughout the narrative, Divine compulsions, callings, and work were frightening and confounding to some and made perfect sense to others. For Mary, in her dream, the announcement of her pregnancy initially gave her a reason to pause before she then sang her song of joy. The shepherds quaked in fear before going out and singing God’s praises. Simeon and Anna had longed for a Divine sign and, taking the infant Jesus into their arms gave praise to God as the parents looked on in awe. It seems that the birth narrative in Luke provides a vivid description of, as Vinson says, how wonderfully complicated Divine calls can be.

 

It is fitting that we conclude our calendar year with this strange calling narrative which encompasses the overall birth story of Jesus of Nazareth. Clearly, regardless of how one interprets the identity of Jesus of Nazareth whose birth we celebrated just a few days ago, the call of this Jesus is important. The part that is fitting for our calendar flipping over is that we now are looking ahead at a new year and pondering all of the potential which that year brings for us in our lives. As persons who recognize the importance of our own spiritual journey, we may look at this overall narrative as a reminder of the complicated nature of a Divine calling within our own lives. At times it is complicated, at times it is clear, at times we understand our calling and those around us look on with confusion or contempt, and at times the Divine calling in our lives confuses us. As we look ahead in our own contexts and as we look to the narrative of the birth and young life of Jesus, we see complicated and confusing calls from the Divine. Let this be a time of reflection for ourselves as we sit at the precipice of a new year. How are we being called by God in this season of our lives? How do the milestones of Jesus’ life impact the milestones of our own spiritual lives. What sort of milestones exist in our own spiritual journey? How are we being called in this coming year as individuals and as a collected body at Sardis to enact the Kin—dom of God in the here and now?