Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] December 26, 2021 “Jesus’ Awkward Teen Years” Luke 2: 45-52 There Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents[l] saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[m] 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,[n] and in divine and human favor Jesus was born yesterday, or the night before yesterday, and today, bam! He’s 12 years old. Wow! That was fast! I’ve always been curious. What else happened along the way? Like, I wonder, did he go through the terrible twos? I mean, surely, he wasn’t always an “angelic” child. Since the Bible doesn’t say, how old do you think he was when he first joined his dad as a carpenter, when he first learned how to cut wood and hammer nails? And when he hit his thumb with the hammer, what do you think he said? Did he curse his own name? When I was really young, I couldn’t wait to help in the barn and in the fields. Let me help! Let me help! But once I was old enough to help, I hated it. Hate is too big a word. How about, I never grew to appreciate it. Did Jesus ever grow tired of hammers and saws and nails? The Bible says nothing about the life of Jesus between infancy and about 30 years old, except this one time at the temple, when his parents panicked because he was missing – Mary saying to Joseph, “I thought he was with you.” Joseph saying to Mary, “I thought he was with you!” And for three days they looked. Did you ever get lost? What was it like? Or lose your child for a little bit? Did you panic? I remember being in Chicago for the first time at a great big department store – probably Marshall Fields. Well, all of a sudden, I looked up and my whole family was gone. Mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousins… A nice store clerk noticed and stayed with me until my family realized, I thought he was with you! I was so relieved when my parents found me. How did Jesus respond? Pretty insensitive and quite unsympathetic. Instead of apologizing, he asked, “Where else did you think I’d be?” Essentially, he blamed them instead of recognizing, “I really should have let you know.” Which means, Jesus was not always a super sensitive guy, something he never completely grew out of. Later in life, remember that time when he was really tired? He told a grown woman she was a dog. That she could eat crumbs from under the table like an animal. If Jesus wasn’t perfect as an adult, I doubt he was a perfect child either. It’s fun to speculate what may have happened during the roughly 30 years between infancy and the start of his public ministry. Among other things, I wonder if he struggled with those typical middle school years. Was he a popular kid or a little weird? Well, maybe not weird, but… unique. Did he ever get bullied? Was he always the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting, Prince of Peace? The heir to the throne of David. Or did he have insecurities, acne and body issues and times of existential doubt? Did he go through his own atheist period? If we say he was fully human, why wouldn’t he? What helped him get through such times? Nadia Bolz-Weber is a pastor from Denver but is better known as an author, lecturer, and blogger under the name The Sarcastic Lutheran. A recovering alcoholic covered in tattoos with a colorful vocabulary. One time while on a book tour, a middle school girl raised her hand and asked, ‘Pastor Nadia, what advice do you have for someone my age who might be bullied and not have many friends and is maybe someone who other kids make fun of?’ Nadia said that when she does Q and A’s, she’ll usually speak back to the whole audience. But this time she looked the girl straight in the eye and said, “Look kid, I’m so sorry that’s happening and I totally get it because I’ve been there. But as horrible as it is right now, just do whatever you can to get through it because I promise you one thing: grownups who were bullied in Middle School and survive it, as adults they are like, 10 times cooler and way more interesting than the ones who were doing the bullying. You get through this kid and you’re gonna be amazing. I promise those kids will be nothing but a footnote later on. I mean, come on, who wants to peak in middle school?!” And think of Jesus. Bullied as an adult by the scribes, Pharisees, priests, kings and governors, even Caesar, and all of those people are just footnotes to his story. Maybe that was the advice he got at the temple when he was 12 years old. All those elders told him, “Look kid, it’ll be OK.” Maybe that’s how he survived those awkward teen years. It gets better. As he grew into young adulthood, did he like to race camels and donkeys? Maybe place a wager or two? Or did he, as some have speculated, travel around the world. Maybe backpack through Thailand and Cambodia? More than a few people have suggested he must have travelled to such exotic places as India and Tibet because his style of teaching, his aphorisms and parables, are so similar to Eastern philosophies. Surely, he must have met some Buddhists along the way.[1] For example, Jesus said, “What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your life?” Sounds a lot like self-emptying. It’s even been suggested that he was a student of the original Buddha, or at least friends, but they were 500 years apart, so that’s pretty unlikely. Yet, there’s no denying the similarities in their style of teaching, and even some of their content. OK. So, what is the good news in the scripture today? Maybe it’s what Jesus demonstrated at the Temple. Questions are just as important as answers. In fact, maybe more important. You know how sometimes our Christian creeds, whether the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed or the “fill in the blank” Creed demand that you simply accept their answers? Sometimes people who claim to have all the answers are the worst bullies of all. Stay open and listen for the Word of God to come from unusual places, like a maybe awkward, pimpled teenage Jesus struggling with bullies. The good news is that 12-year olds have a lot of wisdom, if we, like the elders at the temple, are willing to listen. Keep the faith by asking questions and your life will be 10 times cooler and way more interesting than those who claim they have all the answers. Somehow, they can be the meanest Christians of all. Studies have even proven it. Finally, the good news of Jesus is to remember that Mary and Joseph just kept looking until they found him. When you’ve lost someone, keep looking. And if you ever get lost, you’ll be found. [1] http://www.reversespins.com/teenageJesus.html
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