Humble Wisdom

“Humble Wisdom”

Psalm 148  Colossians 3:12-17        Luke 2:41-52

First Sunday after Christmas, Year C, December 26, 2021

First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho

Andy Kennaly, Pastor

          Two nights ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus.  This morning, Jesus is a boy, 12 years old.  My how time flies!  His parents are worried about him, they search for days.  They are distraught when they find him.  He is in the temple.  The religious leaders of Jerusalem are amazed by this child’s wisdom and understanding, and they recognize what Luke describes earlier as, “the favor of God was upon him.”

Jesus says to his parents, “‘Why were you searching for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’  But they did not understand what he said to them.”  Luke doesn’t say “Jesus asked them,” but that he “said to them.”  These are not questions but statements, in question form.

His own parents don’t understand.  What he says is more than meets the eye.  What he says is like a summary of the first two scriptures we read, from Psalm 148 and Colossians 3:12-17.  Both, bring together the micro and the macro, things that seem opposite are linked.  Nothing is lost, nothing is destroyed, and everything is included.  These passages present visions of unity, proclaim universal connection, and show Love’s Living Presence in all things.  And we just went through Christmas and said, “it’s only in Jesus” so we, too, often don’t understand Christ’s Incarnation and the unity of all things through the inherent presence of divinity.

As Luke writes, this passage is not so much about the story, about a boy separated from his parents and them seeking him out, but about life and existence and love and truth.  His parents remind us of ourselves and how well equipped we are in our endless capacities to get these messed up, to confuse, and to miss the point entirely.  Jesus tells them there is no need to search for what is inherently given.  But we, too, are good at denying what we are inherently given.  When someone tells us we are inherently divine, we don’t believe them, and we look to lesser teachings.

Jesus was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”  He is a boy and he’s surrounded by the religious world’s elite, those in the know, the ones who were in charge and had peoples’ respect, were the trusted voice of tradition, and authoritative in their interpretations.  Jesus listens to them.  They are the teachers, and he is listening.  He also asks them questions, as any good student would, of course.

But the next sentence has dissonance, it’s jarring in trajectory.  Rather than discuss what he asked them, or what they said as teachers in their response, instead, Luke tells us that “All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”  “All who heard him.”  People were not amazed at what the teachers said, those who had position.  Rather, this boy who has no position, no social status, no clout or prestige or formal training is the one who is amazing all those listening.  Which means that Jesus must have asked some tough or intriguing questions, really probed the subtleties that only scholars would pick up on.  This implies that Jesus backed up his questions with observations or statements, and because he was a boy these are made with a type of innocence and were received without a hint of threat.  “All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”  This means they asked him questions, and those are the answers and explanations that were noteworthy, that caught peoples’ attention, not those of the teachers.

We just survived Christmas and Traditional Christianity’s quaint explanations of the Reason for the Season.  Like those teachers in Jerusalem, most Christian churches are well versed in the teachings, well-schooled in how to answer questions from people who come to them with sincere devotion and faithful intent.  Churches declare the truth.

We can be glad Luke flips this on its head as the Gospel reminds us that Christmas is so much more than what we thought it was, far beyond our limited understandings.

When Jesus’ parents noticed he was not with them, they searched among the relatives and group of travelers.  They “returned to Jerusalem to search for him.”  Luke doesn’t say if it’s just Mary and Joseph that returned, or a smaller group of other relatives with them, or the entire group.  To cover the city, the more people helping the better.  Maybe some of them didn’t return, they just kept going.  Do we do this?  Do we get through Christmas and just keep on going?  Do we take the easy-church answers to our questions and just keep going?

Mary tries to put Jesus in his place, “Child, why have you treated us like this?  Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”  Talk about loaded sentences.  “Child.”  This is a demeaning category and tries to strip Jesus of all authority.  “Treat us.”  This is ego-justification, an attempt to control and have power by creating a victim status.  She says, “Look,” which is ironic, because for days and days, they are the ones who couldn’t find what they were looking for.  “Your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”  This is a statement representing the human condition as we live distracted lives focused on lesser things.  This is what easy-church does not help us deal with in life.

Like the Psalmist and Paul in Colossians linking seeming contrasts, so too, Luke toys with the word, “father.”  “Your father and I” and this “father” is a human being, a role, a lowercase “f.”  Jesus says, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  Capital “F” for Father, the Divine, God Almighty, Maker of heaven and Earth.  “Did you not know” is an existential statement as he points out that his own parents are not grounded in their experience, their hearts are not centered on God.  This is confirmed in the next sentence, “But they did not understand what he said to them.”  Anxiety.  Confusion.

People in the temple were amazed at his understanding and his answers but his own parents wrapped in anxiety could not see or hear and they lacked in understanding throughout this story.  The family goes to Nazareth, Mary ponders in her heart, and Jesus increased in “wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”

The Christmas message declares Christ.  In Jesus, Christ takes human form to declare that created things are worthy of God’s Presence, that it’s good to be human, and like the Psalmist declares, heaven and Earth are joined together in praises to God.  God’s Presence is always present, breathing life and unity into each moment.  Humble wisdom opens us to know in our hearts, as deep truths are revealed through inner experience with the Divine.  As it says in Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”  This is Christmas as Christ dwells within us and all things.  May we come alongside Jesus as we claim unity as holy and beloved chosen ones called to give Love expression in the world.  May we live into the humble wisdom of Christmas, now, even as forever.  Amen.