+ Second Sunday after Christmas - January 5th, 2025 +
Series C: 1 Kings 3:4-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 2:40-52
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning…in Genesis, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the Garden he created for them. Adam and Eve did not have to wonder where God was or wander to find him. But Genesis 3 changed all of that. Along with the curse of sin and death spread over creation, there was also a separation between God and man, Creator and creature. And ever since Genesis 3, fallen humanity has been trying to reclaim what was lost…to find God or rather, to become our own gods. So it was in the wicked generations that preceded the flood. So it was with the tower of Babel.
So it is in our day. Our fallen world has not grown less religious…but more. Man’s search for God is endless…and in all the wrong places. Some look for God in their morals and behavior. Some look for God in the mystical experiences of emotion. Some look for God in their minds. Some look for God in the material alone.
But the Scriptures declare something marvelous and gracious and unexpected. What we cannot do, God does. We, who are unable to find God on our own, God becomes findable and knowable in searching you out…in seeking and saving the lost. The Scriptures tell us time and again of the story of God’s search for man. And when God comes looking for you this is good news.
In truth, God is not hard to find if you know where to look. Look where he promises to be. And in Scripture, there’s one place you can always count on finding the God who has come to find you. In his temple.
In Eden, God created a garden temple for Adam and Eve to live in, worship in, and dwell with God on earth. And even though sin destroyed this and Adam and Eve were exiled out of Eden, God’s desire was always to dwell with his people and be where he could be found.
So, years later, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush - a preview of the tabernacle and temple - holy ground, holy fire and God’s holy presence. Later on, God gave Moses and Israel the Tabernacle - a place where God could be found. Where he dwelled with his people and for them - in the blood and fire and smoke and sacrifice. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.
In the days of the tabernacle, if you wanted to find God, it was easy. Moses didn’t offer you a self-help book or a guru or some strange tasting kool-aid. No. You go to where he finds his people and dwells with them. Where God promises to be. In the Tabernacle.
Centuries later, King David desired to build a house for the Lord in Jerusalem, but that was not given to him to do. That task was left for another son of David, Solomon. And build it he did. Yet even Solomon wondered…as he prayed at the temple’s dedication…will God indeed dwell on the earth?
It would take several more centuries and exile and prophets, but God eventually answered Solomon’s question. God sent yet another son of David…the Son of David…who is also the Son of God in human flesh. And where is he found when he comes? Surprise. Surprise! In his temple.
First the temple of Mary’s womb. Then the temple at 40 days old. And now in Luke 2 at the age of 12, God is once again findable and knowable. Once again God is in his temple.
When Mary and Joseph go looking for the pre-teen Prince of Peace, where do they find him? Where God has always promised to be with his people and to be where they can find the God who has come to find them.
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents[g] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”
What about us? Where do we go to look for God’s promise and presence? Do we search our feelings? Do we grope about in the darkness? Do we look for God in what we think, say, or do? Do we seek God in our happiness, but think he’s abandoned us in our sadness? Do we look for God in our savings accounts and screens and shiny things?
We go where God promises to be found. We go where we can find the God who comes to find you. And it’s right where he said he would be…in his Father’s house. In the holy ark of the church. In the tent of meeting where he meets you in his word. In his peace and presence in holy baptism where you are made a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the holy tabernacle of bread and wine where Jesus’ body and blood dwells for you.
Jesus teaching in the temple at age 12 is not only a remarkable story of his wisdom and obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus could have taught people anywhere…and he did. But he chose to teach in the temple because not only is God found in his temple…now in Jesus, God incarnate, he is the temple. No longer is the temple made of cedar and wood and gold. Now God’s temple is made with flesh and blood and bone.
This is why Jesus will say later on in his ministry: “destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up again.” His incarnate, crucified, and risen body is now your temple. AFter three days Mary and Joseph found him in the temple in Jerusalem. And after three days, his disciples find him, the temple in human flesh, alive again and risen from the dead. Just as he promised.
If you want to know where to find God, it’s not hard. He is right where he promises to be. Jesus is in his Father’s house finding you and bringing you all of the Father’s gifts of wisdom, grace, and steadfast love.
This holy house and these holy gifts of water, word, bread and wine…are a gracious foretaste of the feast to come in the new creation. Where once again, and forever, Jesus is your temple.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
A blessed 12th day of Christmas to each of you…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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