Christ the King-Epiphany, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

December 29, 2024 / Christmas 1C / 8:30 service

Luke 2:41-52

The days between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays have a distinctive quality to them.  Many people, though certainly not all, don’t have to work, so some of us are busy with holiday visits and relaxation.  Those who do not have the luxury of days off during this week between the holidays find that the pace of their work is somewhat slower.  And even those who don’t celebrate Christmas experience this betwixt and between period of time in which the old year is passing away and the new year is yet to come.  It is a hinge, a pivot, a turning point between the past and the future. 

Being in transition, with one foot in the past and one in the future, is a challenging place to be, and not just at this time of year.  We encounter these kinds of transition our whole life long:  between childhood and adulthood, between school and work, between work and retirement, between relationships, between living arrangements, between stages of health.  Sometimes those transition periods are hopeful times – we’re excited about what the future holds.  Other times, those transition periods fill us with dread – we are comfortable with life as we’ve known it, and don’t really want anything to change.  But always, always, those turning points are filled with question marks, with ambiguity, with uncertainty about a future that, try as we might, we cannot accurately predict.  And sometimes those turning points are more like turning seasons, far longer than just a single moment in time. 

It is at just such a turning point that we find Jesus in the part of Luke chapter 2 that we have just heard.  The Feast of Passover brings Mary and Joseph and Jesus, as was their custom, from Nazareth to Jerusalem, and in this year that is recorded in scripture, Jesus is 12.  I believe it’s anachronistic to think that Jesus is “bar mitzvah” age.  I don’t know a great deal about the custom of bar mitzvah, but my understanding is that those of the Jewish faith didn’t perform such ceremonies in Jesus’ time.  However, bar mitzvah literally means “son of the commandments” – and it is performed when the boy becomes liable as an adult for his own following of the commandments.  Think confirmation in our tradition.  And at age 12, especially in the ancient world, Jesus is quite literally on the cusp of adulthood.  He is at a turning point between what was apparently an unremarkable childhood, since we know very little about it other than the stories of his birth – a pivot between his childhood and his adulthood.  He is betwixt and between.

And right then, in the tension between a pretty ordinary past and a most extraordinary future, in that awkward space between childhood freedom and adult responsibility, Jesus chooses to stay behind when his parents and extended family return home to Nazareth.  He chooses to stay in his Father’s house, sitting among the teachers, both learning from them and teaching them.  He stays in the community founded on God’s Word.  It’s not a long stay, as we have read.  His anxious parents come looking for him, and after three days . . . take note and think about another three-day transition period in the story of Jesus . . . after three days, Mary and Joseph fetch their boy and set off for home.  And then, of course, we hear nothing again about Jesus until we encounter him at his baptism at age 30.  More on that in a couple of weeks.  But think about it:  From age 12 to age 30 is 18 years of Jesus’ life about which we know nothing except that he grew in wisdom and physical stature and both human and divine favor.  18 years in which he was in transition between being Mary’s boy and the Savior of the world.  18 years of transition, which started on this day when Jesus was 12.  And how does he begin to handle that period of ambiguity, that time betwixt and between a life of relative obscurity and living the greatest story ever told?  He chooses scripture and community.  He chooses to stay in his Father’s house – where scripture is shared and community built around the word.  And being from a good Jewish family, my guess is that this wasn’t a one-time choice for Jesus, but a regular way of life during those 18 years of growth and change.

This is a helpful strategy for us as well in our times of ambiguity:  to keep ourselves grounded in scripture and community.  Because they are the places where we can reliably find God.  Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.  He, quite literally, brings God’s Word to life.  And he can always be found in the words of scripture.  Even those who know the Bible inside and out will tell you that there is always new guidance, new comfort, new hope to be found in the pages of scripture because of Jesus’ embodiment of the Word and the Spirit’s interceding between the Word and us.  And help is also always found in this community – not because we’re such gosh-darn nice and caring people (though we are!) but because we are the body of Christ.  When we’re in betwixt and between, can pausing to take in a beautiful sunset help us to see God?  Of course.  When we’re struggling, can a good night’s sleep help us to gain a better perspective?  Definitely.  Can a healthy balance in our checkbook make us feel more confident when faced with an unpredictable future?  It can.  But clouds can block the sun, and pain and anxiety can keep us awake, and unexpected expenses can drain our finances.  Still, we will always find help here:  in God’s word and with God’s people.  

In these closing days of the year of our Lord 2024, as we get ready to turn the pages on our calendars and enter into the new year 2025, may we find comfort and assurance in knowing that God is here with us.  May we, like Jesus, find ourselves often spending time in God’s word and with God’s people in the year ahead, so that we can be reminded of who we are and strengthened in our faith.  And may God continue to bless us, and all of God’s children throughout the world, with health and joy and peace.