How many of you made New Year's resolutions this year? Hold up your hand. Now, how many of you have already broken at least one of those resolutions?
Weight Watchers and Nutri-System and all the other diet plans have their biggest months in January. Did you hear about the notice that appeared in a church bulletin: "Weight Watchers will meet this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Please use the large double door at the side entrance."
Some of us have resolved to pursue an exercise program. One fellow says that he doesn't believe in exercise. He says if God meant for us to touch our toes, God would have put them farther up our body.
One man said his doctor suggested he try running in place. The man asked, "In place of what?"
I don't know where your focus is this New Year's Day. It may be on your weight, or some habit you would like to get rid of. Maybe you're going to try to stop smoking, for the 113th time. I was disturbed to read that lung cancer has now surpassed breast cancer as a primary killer of women. According to professor John
R. Benfield the cause is the increased numbers of women who smoke. Maybe your focus is on smoking or some other vice. Each of us has our own need which we bring to God at the beginning of this new year.
Our text for the day would have us focus on relationships within the family. Our story is about the time Mary and Joseph misplaced Jesus. It must have been embarrassing. They were on their way home from visiting the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. They were among a large crowd of pilgrims traveling together. They thought Jesus was with the other children. They were probably unnerved to realize that somehow he had been left behind. Have you ever had anything like that happen in your family? It's amazing that it doesn't happen more with both Mom and Dad having such hectic schedules at work and then trying to get children to ball practice and music lessons and all the other extracurricular activities that seem to be priorities in today's world.
Mary and Joseph hurried back to the Holy City and three days later found their bright 12-year-old son in the temple in deep discussions with the Rabbis. "Did you not know," Jesus said, "that I must be about my Father's business?"
Let's start here by noting something that is very clear. JESUS WAS A GOOD KID. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. How absurd to say that. Of course Jesus was a good kid ” he was God's own Son. Yes, that is true. But you and I are not Gnostics. Gnostics believed that Jesus didn't really become a human being. He was more like a ghost who simply flitted down and lived among us for awhile then went back to God. The writers of the New Testament go to great pains to emphasize that Jesus was a real person. When he came into the world he totally emptied himself of his unique divinity and became as we are ” subject to all of the temptations, heartaches and hurts you and I are capable of. We need to understand: Jesus was a real 12-year-old boy.
There is a story about little Bobby who was picking up the toys which he had scattered about the room. The visiting pastor commended him for it. The pastor pleasantly inquired, "Did your mother promise you something for picking them up?" Bobby replied, "No, sir, but she promised me something if I didn't."
Did Mary ever have to discipline Jesus? Of course she did. Just like all loving parents are forced to discipline their children from time to time. Jesus was a good kid but he still was a kid. Maybe that is why there is no record of his teen years.
There was a humorous story in the JOYFUL NOISELETTER sometime back. The Reverend Paul Griffin of Downieville, CA, was working with his staff on a children's summer camp. The theme was "Children of God." They were also studying the story of Jesus' excursion to the Temple. Pastor Griffin said that they began to wonder what happened to Jesus between the ages of 12 and 30, the start of his adult ministry.
"The picture we get," says Reverend Griffin, "is of parents who were astonished at their son's actions and of a son who was totally obedient to his parents when he got home. What is missing from the story ” and accounts for that missing 18 years in Jesus' life ” is that his Jewish mother was more than a little peeved at her son's taking off on his own. So, when they finally did arrive home, she told him: `Son, you're grounded for the next 18 years.' And obedient son that he was...." (1)
I doubt that Mary grounded Jesus for eighteen years. Listen to what Luke tells us even before Jesus 12th birthday: "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was on him." (v. 40) And here is what Luke says about Jesus' teen years: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (v. 51)
Jesus was a good kid. We have some good kids around this church. Maybe we ought to take this opportunity to tell our young people how proud we are of them. There are some boys and girls in our congregation who are growing in favor with God and with their family and friends ” and we are so thankful for you, young people. Jesus was a good kid. But there's something else we need to see: EVEN GOOD KIDS CAN DRIVE A PARENT UP THE WALL.
Let's face it. Jesus was not the first nice young man to strike terror in his parents' hearts, and he most certainly was not the last. Sam Levenson once said, "Childhood is a time of rapid changes. Between the ages of twelve and seventeen, a parent can age thirty years." Someone else has said, "In these times, the accent may be on youth, but the stress is on parents." Robert Orben put it this way: "Sound travels slowly. Sometimes the things you say when your kids are teenagers don't reach them till they're in their 40s."
Of course, some young people take longer to grow up than others. One comedian said, "My son is a typical American teenager ” he's 32."
Even nice kids can drive a parent up a wall. Why? Because they have their own identities, their own dreams and aspirations. Sometimes those dreams clash with our dreams for them. Sometimes those dreams lead them into scary places. As someone has said, the best years of parenting are when your kids are old enough to wash your car but too young to drive it.
Every parent knows how difficult it is to ease up on the apron strings, not because we do not trust our young people, but because there is so much to fear.
Jesus was at that age in Jewish life when a boy begins taking on some of the responsibilities of adulthood. He was not trying to hurt his parents when he stayed behind at the Temple. He was simply following his heart, and sometimes following your heart can pose some real problems for those who love you and feel responsible for you. Even good kids can drive you crazy.
But notice one last thing: THE STORY HAS A HAPPY ENDING. Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple; he came back home with them; then, Luke tells us, "he grew in favor with God and man."
Why did the story have a happy ending? It is the same reason most of the young people in this church will turn out to be fine, responsible adults. Jesus knew Mary and Joseph cared about him. And he knew God loved him. This is a story of a family filled with love. They were devoted to one another and to God.
Neil Kurshan tells a gripping story about a medical student who went to a counselor about whether she should complete medical school or drop out to raise a family. The counselor suggested that she could do both with a little outside help. The student explained that she had vowed never to entrust her children to a housekeeper. The counselor asked why, and the young woman explained that when she was a young child, her wealthy parents would vacation in Europe each summer and leave her with a nanny. One spring when the girl was eleven the housekeeper suddenly quit. The parents were upset that their vacation was jeopardized, but a few days before their intended departure they found a replacement. When the daughter noticed her mother wrapping up all the family silverware and jewels, she asked her why, since it had never been done before. Her mother explained that she could not trust the new maid with the family valuables. That insensitive remark stabbed the little girl in the heart. Was she not a "family valuable" of more worth than knives and forks?! She never forgot the incident, and as she grew up she promised herself that she would bring up her own children. (2)
No matter what kind of mischief Jesus may have gotten into as a child, he knew that his parents loved him. That love was with him all the way to the cross. Jesus was a good kid, but even a good kid can make a parent sick with worry. Every parent in this room knows what I am talking about. But fortunately the story has a happy ending.
Lewis Timberlake in his book, IT'S ALWAYS TOO SOON TO QUIT, tells a wonderful story about a young woman in high school who took music lessons and joined the marching band. As a senior, she played first trumpet in a band that was chosen to march during half-time at the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Her proud parents stood in line for hours to purchase tickets for a football game that they had not come to watch. They were there for the half-time show. They were excited and proud to be in a stadium with thousands of people who would watch their daughter, the lead trumpet player, march onto the field and perform.
As the bands were introduced at half-time, this father and mother felt lumps in their throats and tears in their eyes as they experienced joy they had never felt before. They finally realized that their lives were not in vain. They had made life better for their daughter and for those she would bring into the world. God had given them a special gift that would outlast them and anything that they could do or accomplish on earth.
The bands marched onto the field to a cheering, exuberant crowd. Their daughter's band gave the best performance they'd ever given and basked in the applause and cheers of an appreciative audience. When it was over, the eyes of these two parents were glued to their daughter's face ” a face radiant with excitement and joy. The father made his way through the crowd, down the bleachers, and to the sidelines where the bands stood waiting to file up to their seats. He grabbed his daughter and embraced her. After a moment a teary-eyed father said, "Honey, tell me about it! How does it feel?"
"Oh, Daddy!" she cried. "You just can't know. It's the greatest feeling in the world. Daddy, there's no way anything in the world could ever match the experience I just had!"
Her father held her for a moment and with a choking voice managed to whisper, "Oh, yes, honey, there is. There is one thing that is more exciting and more enjoyable. There is one moment in life that surpasses even this. It is when you are sitting at the top of the stands, one of thousands of people cheering, and you know it's your child they're applauding." (3)
We have a lot of good kids in this church. We applaud them, and like Jesus we know they are growing in favor with God and with all who know them.
1. 3-92, p. 3.
2. RAISING YOUR CHILD TO BE A MENSCH (New York: Atheneum, 1987), p. 32.
3. (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell), 1988.