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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
One of my friends is a Certified Public Accountant, and, when he sees me, he usually asks me how the “sin business” is, and I usually answer something about there being plenty of sin. In today’s Gospel Reading for the Second Sunday after Christmas, the boy Jesus asks His “parents” if they did not know that it was necessary for Him to be “in [His] Father’s house”, the English Standard Version translated (confer ASV, NIV84, NEB, NASB95), though the Greek text more‑literally refers to the Father’s “things” (confer NASB95 margin), and other versions translate Jesus’s being “about [His] Father’s “affairs” (AAT, NASB95 margin) or about His Father’s “business” (KJV, NKJV). Considering primarily today’s Gospel Reading, this morning we direct our thoughts to the theme “Forgiveness Business”.
In last Sunday’s Gospel Reading, Jesus was 40 days old (Luke 2:22-40), and in next Sunday’s Gospel Reading, Jesus will be 30 years old (Luke 3:15-22; confer v.23), but in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus is 12 years old. “By Jewish standards”, Jesus was “on the threshold of adult life” (Marshall, ad loc Luke 2:41-52, p.125), since at age 13 He would become, as it later came to be called, in Hebrew Bar Mitzvah, which can be translated a “son of commandment”. His “parents” found Him in the temple, maybe on Solomon’s porch to the east of the sanctuary hill (Schrenk, TDNT 3:236), sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Whether Jesus was learning or teaching is debated; regardless, the Divinely‑inspired St. Luke reports that all those who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and answers—amazed as at a manifestation of the Son of God in human flesh, and so the Gospel Reading historically was read during the Epiphany season.
But, we heard the Gospel Reading today in the Christmas season, paired with today’s Old Testament Reading about both Solomon’s asking God for an understanding mind, in order to continue his father’s “business”, as it were (Halboth, CPR 25:1, p.28), and so also God’s giving Solomon a wise and discerning mind (1 Kings 3:4-15). In that Old Testament Reading, Solomon refers to himself as “but a little child”, and perhaps most commentators take that “little child” as a figurative reference to Solomon’s lack of experience, and they say that Solomon became king when he was 20 years old and already had a child of his own. But, other commentators take that “little child” as a literal reference to Solomon’s age, and they say that Solomon became king when he 12 years old (The Hebrew Student, 2:1, pp.23-24), the same age as Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading. Either way, the combination of these two Readings, and an Epistle Reading that refers to God’s “wisdom and insight” (Ephesians 1:3-14), certainly further emphasizes God’s wisdom in the human Jesus.
That Divine wisdom in the human Jesus contrasts with a lack of knowledge and understanding, for example, on the part of Jesus’s mother and adoptive father. Both Mary and Joseph had received special revelation about Jesus’s being the Son of God Who would save His people from their sins (Luke 1:26-38 and Matthew 1:18-25, respectively), and, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus expected that they knew that He had to be about not Joseph’s carpentry business (confer Mark 6:3), but God’s “Forgiveness Business”. Yet, as we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, Mary and Joseph did not understand the saying that Jesus spoke to them. Of course, by nature, we all are like them, regardless of our age or understanding. As St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God and is not able to understand them, but, he says, the spiritual person understands the things freely given us by God (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). God leads us to be sorry for our sinful nature and for all of our actual sin, on account of which we deserve present and eternal punishment, and God leads us to trust Him to forgive our sins for Jesus’s sake. When we so repent, then God forgives us. For, as we are saying, God is in the “Forgiveness Business”.
The Child Jesus’s statement to His “parents” about His Father’s “business” and Jesus’s subsequent submission to His “parents” show that He knew both that He was Divine and human and why He was God in human flesh. Out of God the Father’s great love for even fallen humanity (Romans 5:8), the Son of God came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary for us and for our salvation. Again, especially during this Christmas season, we can and should ponder the mystery of the Word become flesh: according to His Divine nature, Jesus is omniscient, all‑knowing, and, at the same time, according to His human nature, Jesus has limited knowledge (Scaer, CLD VI:61). So, today’s Gospel Reading says that Jesus both was being filled with wisdom and was increasing in wisdom—according to His human nature, we might add. Ultimately, Jesus is wiser and greater than Solomon (Luke 11:31), but, before Jesus’s crucifixion, He did not always or fully use His Divine abilities, such as His Divine wisdom, but He humbled Himself. Yes, He manifested His wisdom that day in the temple complex, and, yes, He also died on the cross in such a way that He conquered sin, death, devil, hell, and eternal damnation (Formula of Concord Solid Declaration VIII:25)—all for us, in our place. In terms of Jesus’s wisdom, we might think especially of His “comprehensive insight into the will and work of God” (Roehrs-Franzmann, ad loc Luke 2:40, p.62), which insight comes from the Holy Spirit (for example, Isaiah 11:2). As we receive the Holy Spirit, we repent and are forgiven, and, we receive the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and Sacraments.
In Holy Baptism, we are, as today’s Epistle Reading described, sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. Baptized, we privately confess to our pastors the sins that particularly trouble us, and they individually absolve us in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Absolved, we are admitted to this altar, to which altar the Holy Spirit comes, and so from which altar we receive bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, and so we also receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Here in God’s house, His holy things are a vital part of His “Forgiveness Business” (confer Luke 2: 49 AAT), as even Solomon might be said to have known and expressed at the Temple’s dedication (for example, 1 Kings 8:30).
At the time of the Lutheran Reformation in what we today think of as Germany, the Roman Catholic Church, to the extent that it forgave sins at all, arguably tried to make a for‑profit “business” out of forgiveness. Forgiveness was at least perceived as being sold, if not actually sold, by way of such things as indulgences. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ paid in full the price of our forgiveness of sins (confer John 19:30), and that forgiveness of sins is given to us for free. We might sympathize with the Roman Catholic Church, as we recognize the difficulty of covering operational expenses when the service that the Church offers is free to its recipients, but we also recognize that the forgiveness that the Church offers for free transforms its recipients. We who are forgiven are moved by gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ to return to His Church a sacrificial first‑fruits portion of what He has given to us, in order to cover the work of His kingdom in this place, including this congregation’s support of the work of His kingdom in other places. We at Pilgrim have begun a new budget year, again with a projected deficit, which budget challenges us to give more, even as our own income may go down, and our own expenses may go up. We can and should be comforted both that God knows our circumstances and that, with daily contrition and faith, we live in His forgiveness of sins, for our failures to support the work of His Church as we should, as for all of our other sins and for our sinful nature itself.
My accountant friend’s question about the “sin business” sort of missed the mark, as least when it comes to the faithful Lutheran Church, which, if anything, is in, as we have said, the “Forgiveness Business”. My reply to my friend that there was plenty of sin was true enough, but, more importantly, there is more than enough free forgiveness. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +