Jan 4. 2026 - Luke 2:40-52 - 2nd Sunday after Christmas

There’s only been a time or two that I can remember where Paul was lost for more than a minute or two. He might not have thought he was lost, but we didn’t know where he was. It’s one thing when we’re up in Missouri with the in-laws. They live way out in farm country and there’s basically nothing around them except the church. You can send the boys out to play without being overly worried where they might be at any particular moment. When you’re at the party or out shopping or wandering through a busy museum, things are a little different.

Reading old books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are a bit surreal, not just because of how different life was back then, but also of how different parents and kids related to each other. Letting your kid run off and not see him again until dinner time wasn’t strange at all. Kids would be playing with friends or out exploring the wide world without any worries that there might be people out there who would hurt them if given the chance. There might be unsavory people in the community, but you probably knew who they were and knew to stay away from them.

Nowadays, especially in larger cities, you can’t make that assumption anymore. We’re a lot more aware of the kinds of people who lurk out there and what they are willing to do. Yeah, around here the chances of someone really wanting to do something harmful might be lower than other places in the country or certainly in the world, but when it comes to your kids, are you willing to take that chance? As parents, we have to find the balance between keeping them safe and letting them grow and explore the world around them.

Hearing the story from Luke 2 in our gospel today, you might get the impression that Mary and Joseph were being pretty negligent as parents. But, like when reading Tom Sawyer, you have to have a sense of what life was like then. Luke tells us that this is all taking place in the context of the Passover, a time when Jews from all over would be flocking to Jerusalem to celebrate this holy festival. Often this would be done with family, since extended families tended to all live right near each other. You’d have aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and grandparents, all coming together to head out there together. It’s a bit more like the beginning of the classic Christmas movie, “Home Alone.” Poor Kevin is left behind, simply because in all of the extended family hubbub, he got lost in the shuffle.

While Kevin is at home and generally safe, at least at the beginning of the movie, Jesus is not. While some little boys and girls might try and ditch their parents as a gag or to get a chance at freedom, Jesus instinctively knows and follows the Fourth Commandment. He will never disobey his parents, nor will he even knowingly mislead his parents. He is a perfect man. Doing anything that disobeys, frustrates, or angers his parents simply does not make sense to him. His being left behind isn’t because he did something or failed to do something that caused it to happen. Nevertheless, he’s stuck there and has to figure out what best to do.

What would you do in his position? Remember you don’t have access to a cell phone. The authorities in town are the Romans. They aren’t really police. They’re soldiers. It’s hard to know what they would even do if a twelve year old Jewish boy knocked on the door of the guard post. Given the smoldering hostility between the Jews and Romans, it’s just as likely the guards would just kick him out into the street again.

So there you are. No family, no friends, no police, no way of contacting anyone you know. You’re alone and you have no idea when anyone will come looking for you. Where do you go? What do you do?

When Mary and Joseph finally track him down, you can just feel the relief they must have felt after searching frantically for him for three days. The thoughts that must have been going through their minds. Will we ever find him? Jerusalem is a big city and he’s just one little Jewish boy. No one is going to pay attention to him. No one pays attention to kids unless they start trouble. It’s not like his parents even have a photo of him to show around. Describing him as a “skinny, twelve year old boy about so high” isn’t going to get them very far. Maybe a slaver picked him up? Slavery tended to be something for criminals or those on the losing end of Roman conquest, but a boy running around who looked like an orphan probably wouldn’t be missed. Of course, then there’s always the one thought no parent wants to face. Is he even still alive? It doesn’t matter how implausible the scenario might be, it all becomes very real the longer you go without finding him.

But, again, this isn’t so much about Mary and Joseph and their pain as it is about you. When Mary and Joseph finally do find him, after all of the hugs, this kisses, the tears of relief, then all of the anger and frustration that have been threatening to boil over in the last couple of days finally finds a release. I suspect Luke leaves a sizeable chunk of the conversation out of the text. Not because he’s trying to protect our sensibilities or the reputations of anyone in particular, but because he’s trying to focus our attention on the point Jesus is making. Mary and Joseph are thinking about Jesus’ physical safety, which is part of their job and responsibility as parents. But this never really was an issue of his physical safety.

While Jesus was concerned about obeying his parents and not causing frustration or anxiety, he wasn’t afraid for his own safety. Even setting aside that he is God, in his perfect humanity, Jesus trusted his Heavenly Father implicitly. Whatever his Father willed would be and that was all there was to it. Earthly events in Jesus’ life are always just the surface, hiding the much deeper and much more significant spiritual problems and concerns.

When you find yourself in trouble, when difficulties arise that aren’t so easy to handle, when you feel lost, when you feel frustrated, sad, or lonely, what do you do? Where do you go? We, as creatures of habit, go to where we feel comfortable, where things make sense, where we feel like we understand how things work. People stricken with grief will lose themselves in sports or video games. They’ll throw themselves into work or a hobby that once gave them pleasure. They’ll give huge sums to charity or volunteer until they can hardly stand. People will do all manner of things because they’re familiar, because they allow you, for a time, to not have to face what’s going on in the rest of your life. They give you a sense of control, even if it’s illusory.

For Jesus, his Heavenly Father is the center of everything. Jesus doesn’t retreat into a fantasy world. He doesn’t work himself to exhausting to forget about his troubles. His trust is perfect. His eternal life is assured. There is nothing that this world can do to him to shake that. His Heavenly Father promises to protect him, so he goes to where his Father is. It’s as simple as that.

As Mary and Joseph question Jesus, his response carries a number of meanings. Jesus is alluding to his greater purpose here in this world. He isn’t just an average boy. He isn’t even just a perfect boy. He is the savior of the world. That means he has business to attend to that goes beyond the life of a normal Jewish boy.

But he also speaks to what should be the center of our lives. His answer tells us it should be obvious. If you’re in trouble, why wouldn’t you go to your Heavenly Father first? Who else actually has the power to keep you safe? Who else loves you so much that he’s willing to give anything in order to save you? Who else controls all things in creation?

There are all kinds of things in this world that will tempt you with comfort and familiarity, that will offer you control. It’s been a long time since the church was considered the center of society and culture. It’s been a long time since theology was considered the pinnacle of learning. The world tempts us with so many alternatives that cannot truly help us.

When you’re in trouble, when you’re drowning in grief, or guilt, when you’re scared, or lost, or overwhelmed with anxiety, frustration, or anything else, there is only one person who can offer you refuge from all of it. Go to your Heavenly Father. Don’t go searching around for where you think you might find him. Go to where he promises to be found. Go to where his word is proclaimed and where he tells you again what he has done for you and how he has planned for your salvation. Go to where his grace is offered freely, where guilt is forgiven, where eternal life is given to you, where he shows you again and again how much he loves you and how he is keeping you safe.

I joke now and then that if Laurie ever suffered from dementia and managed to wander off, the first place I’d probably check is Hobby Lobby, where she’d be going up and down the aisles filling the cart with craft supplies. The truth is that, as a child of God, baptized in the cleansing waters, and redeemed by the blood of her savior, the place she would feel safest is in her Father’s house, where even in the depths of dementia, she would know she was loved and protected.

Seek out your Heavenly Father, the creator of heaven and earth. Seek out Jesus Christ who triumphed over death. Seek out the Spirit who brings life to those who are dead in body and faith to those who are dead in soul. Come to God where he promises to be and know that there is nowhere safer to be in the whole world than in the presence of God.