The Boy Jesus in the Temple: An Example of the Cross & Divine Comfort
By James Wiese on January 10, 2025
The First Sunday after Epiphany January 12, 2025
Text: Luke 2:41-52 Historic Series 25:2482
Theme: Jesus in the Temple: An Example of the Cross and Divine Comfort
Part I: God may take away our joy for a while.
What a thrill it must have been to give birth to the Christ-Child! Such a privilege and honor God bestowed upon Mary – and Joseph! Like any parent they had great joy and delight in their child.
But the Lord governed things in such a way that they also experienced a good deal of sorrow. People call Mary blessed and holy. Some even worship her. But Mary was a weak human being, sinful, suffering the consequences of sin like all others. Her true blessedness would not be complete until she entered heaven. She had many failures, temptations, sorrows, pain, and anguish to suffer on earth, even though she was blessed to be the mother of our Lord.
Already, right after Jesus’ birth, the cross hit her hard. Her first great sorrow was this – she had to give birth to this heavenly Child in Bethlehem. It was a little town where they found no room for him except in a stable. Hardly the place to lay a new-born, let alone the Son of God! What disappointment she must have felt. What mother would lay such a son in an animal’s feeding trough?
Her second hard experience was to watch Him shed blood at his circumcision. Then, within a few weeks, they were compelled to flee to Egypt for Herod wanted to kill the baby Jesus. Egypt was enemy territory, holding bitter memories of slavery and oppression for God’s people – many trials for a stranger in a pagan land. Hardly what the mother of God would desire for her son.
Then came the account in our text when she lost him at 12 years old. Lost a child! Have you ever lost a child? I did once, for a time. What anxiety and suffering it causes! Lost due to negligence; she left Him behind. Frantically she and Joseph searched for him in all the wrong places. This child was more than just her son. In a very real sense, He belongs to us all; He is the Christ! More, He is God’s Son. God entrusted His safe keeping to her and she lost Him. After 3 panic-filled days and no child, might a person wonder if God took the child away because of incompetence and negligence? Their pain and suffering were great. Mary expressed it when later she cried, “Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you!” They were responsible for Him. But they lost him!
How could parents travel home from the big city, having no idea where their child was? How did they even start out not knowing His whereabouts? They had not guarded him very well. Did God consider them unworthy and take His Son away?
Do you see the weight of the cross she endured? Surely, Mary gloried above all mothers in this son for whom He was. Surely, her joy was great. Yet, how deprived of happiness God left her. This is part of what Simeon meant when he told the young parents that a sword would pierce their hearts too (2:35).
In like manner the Lord God may take away our joy, if He so wills. He can cause us great sorrow with the very things that delight us. But if He takes them away, He does it for His loving and saving purposes. It’s hard for us to understand.
And none of us will fully understand the suffering which Mary endured as she frantically searched for her child. Yet, we profit for our faith from this example of the cross in life as we see God at work in it. Likewise, we must not despair when trials come upon us. For, if He so wills, God may take away our joy for a while to carry out His good and saving purposes in our lives.
Part II. But then He delivers us and we have comfort.
If God wills that we endure the cross and permits our hearts to ache and be discouraged…if He allows us to tremble and doubt that He still cares for us, He only does it out of His superabundant grace and goodness. For His purpose is to make all things turn out for our good. We rarely see it that way. But God is kindly and loving. He deals with us and tries us with all manner of crosses in life so that we may be humbled, and our faith may develop and become stronger. He does this to guard us against a greater danger that otherwise could threaten us.
The danger is that we become too strong in our own thinking – arrogant in our own self and abilities. In such a state we would be tempted to depend upon ourselves and believe that we are able to accomplish all things because of our own strength and ingenuity. We might even go so far as to think that God cannot do without us and our abilities in order to accomplish His purposes. So, God allows us to endure crosses that we see how helpless we are without Him and confess our great need.
Our sinful human nature will always look to itself, boast of its gifts, and depend on them. What a bad state that would be for us. Therefore, God graciously leads us to see that it is He who does all, and that we produce little on our own. As Jesus said, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn.15:5). So it is that the omnipotent Lord humbles His saints and prostrates them under the cross so that they might not become presumptuous and overconfident in themselves. In doing so, they become examples for the eternal good of others.
If in Scriptures we had no examples of the cross and God’s deliverance, we would find no comfort and would be unable to bear our trials, thinking that we are left alone to suffer such great afflictions. Then we would despair. But when we see the Virgin Mary and others suffer, even our Lord Jesus Himself, we have comfort – not in their pain, but in the Lord’s great deliverance of them. The psalmist encourages: “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we shall not fear….” (Ps.46) “Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee the desires of your heart” (Ps.37).
God may take away our joy for a while, but then He delivers us and we have comfort.
Part III: So go nowhere else for comfort in days of distress than to His “Temple.”
The frantic parents first sought the boy Jesus among their relatives and friends. But he was not with them. They returned to the city and spent 3 days searching. 3 days! I wonder where they looked for Him. They looked in the wrong places – worldly places. After 3 days of frantic searching, the Lord Jesus was found in the Temple. When they asked His reason for being there, the divine youth calmly replied: “Why were you looking for me? Did you now know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?”
About His Father’s business, asking questions, teaching on the Word of God. Those are the things of our heavenly Father to which the Lord Jesus’ attention was drawn. That’s also where the frantic parents’ comfort was found. For despairing parents, Christ is found in the temple where the Word of God is proclaimed.
It’s an example, dear friends, of the divine comfort that overcomes the cross. If you wish to find comfort in days of distress….if you wish to find relief when you feel you have lost the Son, you need only go to His House to find Him. For He says: “wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” Wherever God and His Word are found!
But too often we are like Mary. When she despaired of her cross and felt like she had lost Christ, she went everywhere else worldly first, to kinfolk, to friends, to the market, to the playground in Jerusalem – to wherever one might think a boy would be found. But she did not go to the right place, and she did not find Him until she did. She went to God’s House. There she found Him and in faith was comforted. For years to come she treasured in her heart the wondrous mercies God had shown her there through His Son.
Let us go no place else for our comfort in distress but to the place where God dwells. He dwells within His Word. If Mary did not find the Savior elsewhere but there, and if Mary did not find comfort elsewhere but there, how should we expect to find Christ and our comfort outside of His Word? So, go nowhere else for comfort in days of distress than to His “Temple.”
God grant it to us in faith in the days that lie ahead! Then we too shall grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with men, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Zion Lutheran Church of Springfield
(A member congregation of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod)
4717 S Farm Rd 135 (Golden Avenue)
Church phone: 417.887.0886 Pastor’s cell phone: 417.693.3244
www.zionluthchurch.com email: revelehmann@gmail.com
You can also find us on Facebook
The First Sunday after Epiphany January 12, 2025
“Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” Luke 2:49
Welcome: The family of Zion welcomes you as we worship the Lord today. We encourage children to worship with us. However, if you need to leave with your child, there is a nursery room to the right as you exit the sanctuary. The rest rooms are located in the hallway between the sanctuary and the fellowship hall. Visitors, please sign our guest book to the right, just outside the sanctuary. We’re glad that you are here and pray that through our worship the Lord grants you peace.
U p o n E n t e r i n g G o d’ s H o u s e
“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the House of the Lord….May those who love you prosper….Peace be within you….For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek good for you” (Ps.122).
W h a t T h i s S u n d a y i s A b o u t
Revealed in Glory within the Father’s House. As the gracious light of salvation once shined into the hearts of the Wise Men, making them glad in the gracious gifts Christ brings, so may His saving light fill each heart today, driving out the darkness of sin and unbelief.
This past week we entered the Epiphany Season. The word Epiphany comes from the Greek word meaning “to shine upon,” “to reveal.” It refers to an appearance, like that of a heavenly body, shining forth and revealing an object or thought to us. As the Star of Bethlehem appeared to shine over the place where Jesus lay, guiding the Wise Men to the Christ Child, so the Scriptures during this season will shine upon different aspects of Jesus’ life, manifesting and revealing Him in His divine glory as God’s Son, our Savior.
To the end we pray: Dear Lord Jesus, when You were a child, it was already Your custom to first be about Your Father’s business. Help us who look to You in faith, humbly follow Your example, continuing to grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God. In Your name we pray. Amen.
– T h e W o r d o f G o d f o r T o d a y –
The Old Testament Lesson: Ecclesiastes 12:1-7
Don’t forget and overlook your Creator when you are young, and life’s vigor is strong. Life soon passes, strength fades, old age descends, and death follows. The one who learns and remembers the Lord in faith from youth onward will be prepared when God calls the soul to Himself.
The Epistle Lesson: Romans 12:1-5
The Epistle Lessons for the Epiphany Season encourage the manifestation of Christian virtues within those who come to Christ in faith. Made new through faith by God’s mercy, God’s people humbly present their lives to God as an offering, to worship and glorify Him.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52
Here is the one account we have of Jesus’ childhood. His glory is manifested in His devotion to “His Father’s business” and His obedience. It reveals the weakness of the human nature that belonged to those around Christ, and the strength and the devotion of His divine being.
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The Organist: Jane Rips. The Preacher: Pastor Edwin Lehmann
Point to Ponder: “’He just goes to church out of habit.’ How often this charge is leveled against the regular church attender. While God is surely displeased with purely mechanical worship, much can be said in favor of ‘going to church out of habit.’
“Of the holy family we are told that they went to Jerusalem every year at the time of the Passover ‘according to the custom of the festival.’
“Years later, when He visited Nazareth, Jesus attended the local synagogue worship on the Sabbath ‘as was His custom.’ It was His custom, His wholesome habit.
“If we are attending church merely out of habit, so be it. But let us continue to attend, meanwhile praying for the higher motivation of Kind David who wrote, ‘I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the House of the Lord.’
“He who hears God’s Word regularly finds that one good habit leads to another.”
— Herman Gockel on Don’t Break the Habit
Outline of Our Worship
The Preparation
Opening Thoughts on the Service
The Entrance Hymn: #373
Order of Worship:
The Service: Setting One page 154-160
Prayer of the Day
The Ministry of the Word
Ecclesiastes 12:1-7
Psalm 72
Romans 12:1-5
Gospel Acclamation: Epiphany p.161
Luke 2:41-52
Hymn: #540
Sermon: Luke 2:41-52 The Boy Jesus in the Temple: An Example of the Cross & Divine Comfort
Hymn: #942 – Create in Me…
The Apostles’ Creed pg.163
Our Response to the Word
Prayer of the Church: pg.164
The Offering
The Lord Blesses Us
The Hymn: #820
Closing Prayer and Blessing Hymnal page 171
Closing Hymn: #761
Silent Prayer
The First Sunday after Epiphany – Historic Series
Old Testament Lesson: Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 – Remember Your Creator
1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the bad days come and the years arrive when you will say, “I have no delight in them,”
2 before the sun and the light of the moon and the stars are darkened, before the clouds return after the rain, 3 before the day when the watchmen of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent over, and the women who grind grain cease because they are few, and those watching through the windows can barely see.
4 Then the double doors to the street are shut, as the grinding of the mill grows quiet. A person wakes up at the sound of a bird, but all the sounds of music are muffled.
5 Then they fear heights and terrors along the road. The almond blossoms become white. The grasshopper drags himself along, and the caperberry has no effect. Why? Because the man is heading to his eternal home. Then the wailing mourners will go around in the street.
6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, before the jar is shattered by the spring, and the waterwheel is broken by the well, 7 and the dust goes back into the ground—just as it was before, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it
Epistle Lesson: Romans 12:1-5 – Offer Your Bodies as Living Sacrifices
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy and pleasing to God—which is your appropriate worship. 2 Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.
3 So by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you. 4 For we have many members in one body, and not all the members have the same function. 5 In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52 – The Boy Jesus in the Temple
41 Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Festival. 43 When the days had ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. 44 Since they thought he was in their group, they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, 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 saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.”
49 He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” 50 They did not understand what he was telling them.
51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people. The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version® (EHV®) copyright © 2019
Calendar & Announcements for Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
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Divine Worship Service online -Facebook 10:15 am Fellowship & Bible Study
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A Brief Bible Study on God’s Word for Today
The Gospel Lesson today gives us a window into the boyhood years of Jesus. Although He is true God, Jesus came to be one of us so that He could do for us what we have not done. First, He is the Savior whom sinners needed to bring us back to God. He is also the example of what our lives are to be in worship to our God who loved us and gave His Son for us.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52 (answers are found on the back side)
- What was Jesus’ priority and desire as a 12-year-old child?
- What phrase indicates that the Lord Jesus, even as a boy, approached His task as the Savior with dedication for us?
Those We Remember In Our Prayers: Greg Miller; William & Laurie Moon; Libya, (Jodi Milam’s granddaughter); Barbara Long; Liz Lisenby; Pastor Roger Neumann from Oskaloosa, IA; Dee Bruck, following knee surgery.
Offering Envelopes for the new year are available in the mailboxes in the narthex. If for some reason you did not receive a set, please see Jim Wiese.
Divine Call Sent At the last call meeting, Pastor Kurt Uhlenbrauck was selected to whom our ninth call was sent. He is 62 years old and presently serves St. Jacob Lutheran Church, Grass Lake, MI. He and wife Karen have 2 adult children. Please keep them in your prayers as he prayerfully considers the call. More information may be found in the hallway.
Looking Ahead
Friday, January 17 – Serving supper at the Ronald McDonald House; sign up this week
Tuesday, January 21, 6 pm – Elders, Trustees, Church Council Meeting
Thursday, January 23 – Outreach Planning Committee – 4 pm door hangers; 6 pm meeting
Sunday, January 26 – Annual Voters Meeting following the worship service
February 4, 6 pm – Situational Awareness Class
February 22 – Firearm Safety Training
Pastor will be teaching in China with New Life Academy at the end of January into February
The Week in Review
Last Sunday Worship: 20; Communed: 17; Bible Study: 13; Offerings: $1,130.
Next Sunday’s Lessons:
Epiphany 2: Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Romans 12:6-16; John 2:1-11 (Historic Pericope Series)
Answers to Today’s Old Testament Lesson Brief Study:
- Unlike the focus of so many twelve-year-old boys, Jesus primary desire was to be among those with whom He could learn and discuss the deeper spiritual things. The teachers were amazed at the depth of His knowledge and understanding of the things of God.
- Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” This is the only section that gives us insight into Jesus’ growing years. What a thrill it must have been to be around Him.
This week I am praying for……