LutheranLectionary.org

1 Year Lectionary – Second Wednesday in Advent – Wednesday, December 8, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	tonight’s gospel is taken from the
0:30	gospel of luke chapter 2.
0:34	starting at verse 41. now Jesus’s
0:37	parents went to jerusalem every year at
0:39	the feast of the passover
0:41	and when he was 12 years old they went
0:43	up according to custom
0:45	and when the feast was ended as they
0:47	were returning the boy Jesus stayed
0:50	behind in jerusalem his parents did not
0:52	know it but supposing him to be in the
0:55	group they went a day’s journey but then
0:58	they began to search for him among their
1:00	relatives and acquaintances
1:02	and when they did not find him they
1:04	returned to jerusalem searching for him
1:06	after three days they found him in the
1:07	temple sitting among the teachers
1:09	listening to them and asking them
1:11	questions
1:12	and all who heard him were amazed at his
1:15	understanding
1:16	and his answers and when his parents saw
1:19	him they were astonished and his mother
1:21	said to him son why have you treated us
1:23	so behold your father and i have been
1:26	searching for you in great distress and
1:29	he said to them
1:30	why were you looking for me did you not
1:33	know that i must be in my father’s house
1:36	and they did not understand the saying
1:38	that he spoke to them and he went down
1:40	with them and came to nazareth and was
1:42	submissive to them and his mother
1:44	treasured up all these things in her
1:46	heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and
1:49	in stature and in favor with god
1:52	and man
1:53	in the name of Jesus
1:56	all right it’s that time of the year
1:58	when out come the Christmas carols the
1:59	popular ones and even the unpopular ones
2:02	and i would note that there was a fad
2:05	that seemed to run through our society
2:08	not that long ago and there was a song
2:11	that everybody was hearing everybody was
2:14	singing everyone was kind of excited
2:15	about and it well it was such a flash in
2:18	the pan now that if you even mention the
2:21	name of that song
2:22	people roll their eyes
2:25	it’s the song
2:26	mary did you know
2:29	have you heard it you know that on
2:31	youtube that one version of it put out
2:33	by pentatonix has been viewed over
2:37	270
2:38	million times
2:40	and it’s one of those songs when you
2:42	first hear it
2:43	you sit there and you go you know
2:44	actually it’s kind of refreshing to hear
2:47	such good incarnational theology
2:50	regarding the birth of Christ because
2:52	always and again the refrain as mary did
2:54	you know and then talking about the
2:56	things that Jesus did did you know that
2:58	he would give sight to the blind that
3:00	you know all the things that he would do
3:02	and and as it goes it’s not a bad tune
3:06	but nowadays when you mention that that
3:09	tune there are people
3:12	and i’ve even seen satirical responses
3:14	where
3:15	somebody asked the question mary did you
3:17	know and they get a very loud yes she
3:20	knew of course she
3:24	such is the cynicism of our day but i
3:26	would note that a better question
3:30	and one that i read in another pastor’s
3:32	sermon he was telling a story about how
3:35	in one of his catechism classes there
3:37	was a kid in his catechism class who
3:39	asked the question did Jesus know
3:42	did he know that he was the son of god
3:44	did he know that he was god in human
3:46	flesh
3:48	not a bad question and so the text that
3:51	we are looking at here tonight
3:53	for uh for our second midweek advent
3:56	service
3:57	really answers the question and this
3:59	question itself is quite stunning the
4:01	answer is
4:02	yeah he did know in fact what’s really
4:06	interesting about this particular text
4:08	is that it
4:10	well Jesus’s answer kind of hints at the
4:12	fact that
4:13	mary should have known more than she did
4:17	one of those things but always and again
4:19	this is kind of a thorny authority text
4:22	and the reason why it’s a thorny text is
4:23	because
4:24	Jesus legitimately went missing for
4:26	three days and and and you have to ask
4:29	the question did did Jesus fall short
4:32	here was he disobeying his parents
4:34	answer no not at all
4:37	and so here our our text will be
4:39	actually helpful to work our way through
4:41	back from the gospel of luke now Jesus’s
4:44	parents they went to jerusalem every
4:46	year at the feast of the passover and we
4:48	learned from the gospel luke chapter 2
4:50	that Jesus’s parents although humble and
4:53	although
4:54	not well padded in their bank account
4:57	let’s say they were poor better way to
4:58	put it right
5:00	joseph is pretty much a blue-collar
5:03	hard-working fellow and the the word
5:05	that we use for
5:07	carpenter
5:09	could also be translated construction
5:12	worker
5:13	all right so what is joseph he is the
5:16	heir by the way he is the heir to the
5:18	throne of david legitimately the right
5:21	descendant who should be sitting on the
5:23	throne of israel
5:25	but there is no real throne of israel at
5:29	this point and king herod
5:33	and his
5:34	family dynasty after him they’re not
5:37	even jews
5:38	and so when we come to the story of the
5:41	birth of Christ in his childhood we
5:44	don’t get too much information but one
5:46	of the things we see
5:48	is that mary and joseph
5:50	they fear god and they obey his
5:54	commandments and this is super important
5:56	for us because Christ is sinless and
5:59	some of the things that were required
6:01	for Jesus to do as an infant he couldn’t
6:04	do them for himself
6:06	instead his parents had to do them for
6:09	him like presenting him in the temple
6:11	circumcising him things of this nature
6:13	and also when you read torah then you
6:16	learn that the jews who were
6:19	in covenant with god in the mosaic
6:20	covenant the men were supposed to
6:23	present themselves in jerusalem in the
6:26	presence of god at the temple the place
6:28	where god caused his name to dwell
6:32	they were supposed to show up for the
6:34	different feast days and so
6:37	on this particular occasion the whole
6:39	family
6:40	the whole family they jump into their
6:43	family minivan
6:45	no actually they didn’t have one of
6:47	those they probably walked from nazareth
6:50	to jerusalem
6:51	and and they are heading to the passover
6:54	feast Jesus is required to be there
6:57	joseph is required to be there the women
6:59	are not but the women they they often
7:02	time accompany their family and so when
7:05	he was this all happens when he’s 12
7:07	years old so they are faithfully obeying
7:10	god’s law
7:11	and Jesus here is required to do these
7:13	things and this is very good they went
7:16	up according to custom and when the
7:17	feast was ended as they were returning
7:20	the boy Jesus stayed behind in jerusalem
7:22	important to note that Jesus didn’t
7:24	actually disobey a command you know he
7:27	did what his mom didn’t say be there or
7:30	whatever
7:31	and so Jesus what did he do well we know
7:34	from this text he goes into the temple
7:36	and
7:37	spends time with those who are teaching
7:40	asking them questions in fact his
7:42	parents didn’t know that he was not in
7:44	the family group they supposed him to be
7:46	there and they went a whole day’s
7:47	journey and then you can kind of see
7:49	what happens here around this time of
7:51	the year a lot of people watch those
7:52	movies home alone right home alone and
7:55	home alone too i think those are the
7:56	only two that should exist i just i’m
7:58	just saying all right and then you know
8:01	and then you got that moment where
8:04	kevin mcallister’s mom realizes that
8:07	kevin is not with the family the first
8:09	time in paris second time you know
8:11	they’re heading down to florida for
8:13	Christmas and she has that big moment
8:15	where she goes
8:16	kevin right
8:18	i can just see mary going
8:20	yeshua
8:22	where is yeshua right
8:24	and and the poor lady i mean the stress
8:26	of the moment has got to be overwhelming
8:32	she legitimately lost track of the
8:34	messiah
8:35	you know she had she had one assignment
8:38	she understood the assignment all she
8:39	needed to do
8:42	all she needed to do is keep tracking
8:44	Jesus and keep them safe and he’s
8:47	gone missing right so they stop what
8:49	they’re doing they head back a day’s
8:51	journey back to jerusalem and they
8:54	didn’t find him
8:56	they returned searching him after three
8:58	days they found him in the temple
9:00	sitting among the teachers listening to
9:02	them and asking them questions what’s
9:05	really interesting about the home alone
9:06	movies is that in home alone 2 kevin
9:09	mcallister’s mother
9:11	figures out where she can find her lost
9:13	son because what does he like
9:16	he likes Christmas trees so she heads to
9:18	rockefeller center and wouldn’t you know
9:20	it there’s a big Christmas tree there in
9:21	rockefeller center and there’s kevin
9:23	mcallister you see mary should have put
9:25	this all together mary didn’t you know
9:30	you see
9:31	sorry you’ll note i’m doing a lot of
9:33	play on words tonight i’m getting groans
9:35	and laser beams from certain
9:38	people here in the congregation work
9:39	with me folks work with me right
9:44	so
9:45	they found him in the temple
9:47	they were astonished
9:49	his mother said to him son
9:52	why have you treated us so before behold
9:54	your father and i we’ve been searching
9:56	for you
9:56	in
9:57	great distress and she’s not speaking
9:59	hyperbolically all right i i once
10:02	misplaced one of my kids at the local
10:04	mall
10:05	for a few minutes the utter panic the
10:08	ice cold feeling that runs through your
10:10	body that whole thing about you know
10:12	your blood running cold that’s for real
10:14	the poor parents of Jesus that great
10:16	distress for three days but note what
10:18	Jesus said
10:20	why were you looking for me
10:23	why
10:25	mary didn’t you know
10:27	right i must be
10:30	in my father’s house
10:32	and the answer to the question did Jesus
10:34	know that he was god in human flesh is
10:36	right here yeah
10:37	he knew
10:38	he absolutely knew and that’s kind of
10:40	the point because scripture is so clear
10:43	on this that Jesus although he is by
10:45	nature god he did not consider equality
10:48	with god a thing to be grasped when he
10:49	emptied himself taking on the form of a
10:52	servant and he humbled himself by
10:54	becoming obedient even at the point of
10:56	death death on the cross you see Jesus
10:59	knew full well
11:00	where he was from who his father was he
11:03	knew that he was god in human flesh and
11:06	at the same time in his state of
11:07	humiliation Christ did not make full use
11:10	of the powers of his divinity although
11:13	he had every right to if he wanted to
11:15	you’ll note that the count doesn’t tell
11:17	us that when Jesus was 11 years old he
11:19	scared all of his school kid friends
11:21	away by glowing in the dark he didn’t do
11:23	any of that right instead in his state
11:26	of humiliation he muted his divinity and
11:30	was
11:31	for a time
11:32	well
11:33	in a state where he was being obedient
11:36	to the point of death in fact we see
11:38	here in this text
11:39	that Jesus went with him came to
11:41	nazareth and was submissive to them in
11:44	fact Jesus himself as a child grew in
11:46	wisdom and in stature and the psalmist
11:49	make it clear that Jesus learned
11:51	obedience to the father
11:53	through what he suffered hard to believe
11:56	that god and human flesh although god
11:59	knows all things he’s omniscient he’s
12:01	omnipotent all powerful that Christ
12:04	chose not to tap into all of that and
12:07	like every other kid
12:10	in his time whatever it would have been
12:12	to live a normal childhood at that time
12:15	in his region of the world
12:17	he had to go to school he had to learn
12:19	his alex bates gimmels in dallas and
12:21	probably had to learn his alphas betas
12:23	right and because he had to probably
12:25	learn greek along the way too and maybe
12:27	he also had to learn latin folks in that
12:29	region of the world
12:31	seem to know a few languages in order to
12:33	survive
12:34	and so Jesus he does all of these things
12:38	so that he can then be the spotless lamb
12:42	of god who takes away the sin of the
12:43	world and as to whether or not Christ
12:46	sinned in this matter the scripture is
12:48	very clear that Christ never sinned in
12:51	hebrews 4
12:52	talking about Jesus as our great high
12:54	priest it says we have then a great high
12:57	priest who has passed to the heavens
12:59	Jesus the son of god so let us hold fast
13:02	to our confession
13:04	we do not have a high priest who is
13:06	unable to sympathize with our weaknesses
13:08	but one who in every respect has been
13:11	tempted as we are yet is without sin did
13:16	Jesus sin in this regard not at all
13:19	in fact mary should have known
13:22	should have known where Jesus was should
13:24	have known that his mission was to come
13:28	and save us because that’s exactly what
13:31	the angel told her
13:32	his name will be called
13:34	yeshua
13:35	for he will save his people from their
13:37	sins and so as we consider then the
13:40	mystery of the incarnation and the
13:42	mystery that not only did god
13:45	join us in our human state in human
13:49	flesh and had 10 fingers and 10 toes
13:53	also had to learn his abcs and also
13:56	freaked his parents out for a few days
13:58	right
13:59	we know then that Christ
14:01	because of what he’s gone through in a
14:03	state of humiliation that he sympathizes
14:07	with our weaknesses
14:09	you know
14:10	we live in a day right now where it
14:12	seems like every week we hear a report
14:15	of somebody that we know
14:18	or love who’s come down with covid and
14:21	every time that happens we kind of hold
14:23	our breath
14:24	and we pray
14:26	you know i think about ryan and amy
14:28	seavers you know who we’ve been serving
14:31	in our leather outreach now for years
14:34	both of them having been in the hospital
14:36	one of them was just released yesterday
14:38	and amy is still in the hospital but we
14:41	got to report that she’s getting better
14:43	but you’ll note that each and every one
14:45	of us the reason why we suffer
14:46	sicknesses and illnesses and things like
14:49	this is due to the fact that we’ve
14:51	messed up god’s good creation through
14:54	our sin and as a result of it we suffer
14:57	from colds and flus and cancer and
15:00	rheumatoid
15:01	arthritis and old age and things of this
15:03	nature but worse than that we all
15:06	struggle then with sin
15:09	boy
15:11	and it’s just a daily
15:14	slog
15:15	and at times
15:17	we
15:18	well
15:19	embarrassed by our weakness
15:22	we sometimes feel that god doesn’t want
15:25	to put up with us anymore we’re tempted
15:27	to basically
15:28	think and maybe the devil has whispered
15:31	in your ear you know if you really were
15:33	a Christian you’d have your act far
15:35	better together than you do
15:37	right what do you do in a situation like
15:39	that well when you’re sick
15:42	you go to the doctor and you tell the
15:44	doctor i’m sick
15:46	and the
15:47	doctor says what are your symptoms you
15:48	explain your symptoms if you have a rash
15:51	you show them the rash if you have a
15:52	lesion you show them the legion if you
15:54	have something that’s bugging you and
15:56	it’s internal they go and they take an
15:59	x-ray of what’s going on
16:01	right if you’re sick and you feel like
16:03	you have covid you have a test and then
16:05	you you actually get care
16:07	that’s kind of the same way note that
16:10	god isn’t standing far off going you
16:12	know i’m waiting for you to just hit the
16:15	gym and would you go and get yourself
16:17	strong so that you don’t have all this
16:19	weakness in relation to sin
16:23	instead we know this
16:25	that Jesus our high priest
16:28	because he has been tempted in every
16:31	way that we have
16:33	and is without sin that he legitimately
16:36	sympathizes with our weaknesses
16:40	he’s the one that you can go to and so
16:43	and say to him Jesus
16:46	right now i’m struggling
16:48	right now i haven’t got my act together
16:51	today i have been tempted to sin in this
16:54	direction in this direction in this
16:55	direction and much to my shame i have
16:58	given in to that temptation in this
17:00	direction
17:02	and Christ doesn’t sit up there and go
17:05	well
17:06	i i have no idea how to deal with this
17:10	this is this i don’t understand this at
17:13	all
17:14	far from it
17:16	he sympathizes with our weaknesses
17:18	in fact
17:19	he himself
17:21	bore
17:22	our sin in his body
17:25	going to the cross and bleeding and
17:26	dying for each and every one of our
17:29	weaknesses each and every one of our
17:32	sins and he is our great high priest and
17:35	hebrews then here says because of this
17:38	we can have confidence
17:41	confidence what a big word
17:44	you have confidence nowadays and people
17:45	will accuse you being arrogant uh-uh
17:48	this isn’t arrogance arrogance is that
17:51	self-reliance that’s self-love here we
17:54	have confidence not in ourselves we have
17:56	confidence in the one who sympathizes
17:59	with our weaknesses bled and died for
18:01	our sins so now because he can
18:04	sympathize with our weaknesses we can
18:06	draw near to the throne of grace with
18:09	confidence
18:10	so that we can receive from our god
18:14	mercy
18:15	and find
18:17	grace that is necessary to help us in
18:21	our time of need
18:25	that’s
18:27	how cool Jesus is
18:29	paul puts it this way
18:31	in second corinthians chapter five
18:36	all of this
18:38	he says
18:39	hang on a second here
18:43	i flipped to the wrong page there you go
18:45	he says all of this is from god
18:48	all of this who through Christ
18:51	has reconciled us to himself
18:54	and gave us the ministry of
18:55	reconciliation
18:57	you see Jesus knew
19:00	he knew that he was god
19:02	he knew that he was sent to earth to
19:04	fulfill a mission to reconcile us to god
19:07	to take the strained relationship that
19:09	we
19:10	had broken by our sin
19:12	and to repair the breach by his laying
19:16	down of his life so that we can be
19:18	forgiven all of this is from god and as
19:20	a result of what Christ has done he
19:22	himself has given us the ministry of
19:24	reconciliation think of it this way that
19:26	is that Christ in Christ god was
19:29	reconciling the world to himself that’s
19:31	what he sent Jesus to do
19:34	not to judge us not to send us to hell
19:37	not to condemn us he sent Christ into
19:40	the world to reconcile us to himself
19:43	by not counting our trespasses against
19:46	us
19:47	and note then that we as Christians then
19:50	we are entrusted with this message of
19:52	reconciliation
19:53	we as Christians are ambassadors now for
19:56	Christ
19:57	god is making his appeal through us
20:00	and so we should implore
20:02	others and implore as many people as we
20:05	can
20:06	on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to
20:08	god and here we get these great words
20:11	for see our sake god made Christ to be
20:14	sin who knew no sin
20:16	so that in him we might become the
20:18	righteousness of god
20:20	brothers and sisters our god is amazing
20:23	and the story of the incarnation is
20:26	mind-blowing in all of its capacities
20:29	and so let us this advent season
20:31	continue with the work of recognizing
20:34	our weaknesses
20:36	recognizing our sins recognizing that
20:40	scripture is clear that Christ has
20:42	suffered these same temptations and is
20:44	without sin and despite the fact that he
20:47	was without sin he instead took up your
20:50	sin and iniquity and mine bled for us
20:52	and died for us reconciled us to god and
20:55	given us a joyful message to proclaim to
20:59	the world
21:01	hmm it’s almost like you can begin to
21:03	hear
21:04	those
21:05	well Christmas carols
21:07	glow
21:09	right
21:12	oh
21:13	real
21:14	right glory to God in the highest peace
21:18	on earth
21:20	those God is reconciled to Himself the
21:23	story of Christmas is just around the
21:25	corner let us repent of our sin cast off
21:28	the sin that so easily entangles us and
21:30	run the race
21:32	as if it was our last day in the name of
21:34	Jesus amen

If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to: Kongsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Ave NW, Oslo, MN 56744 We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message, and, again, thank you for listening.