The sermon for January 11 was based on Luke 2:41-52.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

How could Mary and Joseph could journey a whole day and never realize they had lost their Son? Losing track of little Johnny in the jungle of aisles at Wal-Mart is one thing; traveling over twenty miles without ever missing Jesus is quite another. Any excuses fall short: "but we assumed He was somewhere in the crowd of our family and friends"; "but we had a lot on our minds that day"; "but we figured He'd pop up any minute". If Jesus were a normal child, this would be a case of shamefully negligent parents. But losing Jesus is worse. Mary and Joseph lost the promised Messiah of God. The Son of the Father, made flesh in Mary's womb, had been left behind in Jerusalem. What were they thinking?

Sinners delight in imagining that where others have failed, they would have succeeded. "Why, I never would have let Jesus out of my sight," boasts one. "That's right," brags another, "I'd have stuck to that Child like glue. If I would have been Mary, knowing Jesus to be the Son of God, every second of my day would have been dedicated to that Boy." You'd like to think that, don't you? You enjoy playing the "If-I-were-Mary-game," being the arm-chair mother or guardian of Jesus, scoffing at the silly mistakes they made, that you, of course, never would have made.

Is that right? You "never would have" lost Jesus; you "never would have" assumed He was around, when, in reality, He was far away from you; you "never would have" been so consumed by the hustle and bustle of the day that you were ignorant of the Christ-child's absence; you "never would have" gone a whole day's journey without ever once taking thought of the Son of God?

If you consider yourself to be part of those elite "never would haves", perhaps, instead of placing yourself in the shoes of Mary and Joseph, you need to examine the life you really do live. What I mean is this: it's easy to play the imagination game, claiming, "Yes, if I were really Jesus' mother or foster father, I never would have lost Him," but when the game is over and your real life is scrutinized, "never would have" becomes "I far too often have."

How have you lost Jesus? Have you lost Jesus amidst the cares and concerns of daily life? You have to get the bills paid, keep vehicles running, plan for retirement, and maybe sneak in a vacation here and there. You have to keep the children well-fed, well-clothed, out of trouble, in school, and at a hundred activities a year. You have to deadline at work to meet, classes to teach, bosses breathing down your neck. The problem is not the activities. Your daily duties are what God has called you to do in service to Him, as you faithfully carry the duties of your vocation. The problem is that you become devoted to the activities instead of devoted to Christ. You become so engrossed in the "stuff" of daily life that you go a whole day's journey, or whole week, or whole month, or worse, and never once take thought of Jesus. You lose Him in the maze of "real" life.

Or, have you lost Jesus in another, more sinister, way? Have you lost Jesus simply by losing interest in God? You come to church; you drop your envelope in the offering plate; you have served as a volunteer or church officer or elder; you can sing the liturgy by heart. But the truth too often is: you're really not interested in God. Do you want to know how to tell? Find out how interested you are in God's Word. Those who are interested in God are immersed in God's Word, for that is where God reveals who He is. How much real interest in God is there at Bethany? We'll see by how many of you skip Bible class. Have you lost Jesus by losing interest in God and His Word?

What did Mary and Joseph do when they realized they'd lost Jesus? First, they hunted for Him in all the wrong places. They zigzagged through the clusters of family and friends, seeking Him out, hoping that by finding Him they could begin to lay aside the guilt growing steadily heavier within them. But they found Him not.

What about you? What do you do when you realize you've lost Jesus? Far too often you look for Him in all the wrong places. Burdened by guilt, you vow to do better; you make new resolutions, promising God that in the future you'll be a better person. But this is looking for Jesus in your good works. You lose Him because of your sin and you hope to find Him by atoning for your sin by not repeating the mistakes of the past. But such turning inward will only lead you to deeper despair and even greater guilt. For you cannot atone for your sins. The more you look for Jesus within yourself the further away from Him you move.

Where do you find Christ when you have lost Him? You find Him the same place Mary and Joseph finally found Him: in the temple, not in the temple of Jerusalem, but in the temple where He now resides. You find Jesus in the temple of His Church, where His Gospel is preached, where He washes away sins in Baptism and Absolution, where He feeds you His forgiving Body and His cleansing Blood. In fact, Jesus was never lost from you; rather, you were lost from Jesus. He is where He has promised always to be for you: in the temple about His Father's business, giving wisdom to the foolish, giving life to the dead, giving salvation to the condemned, pardon to the guilty, healing to the sick, and forgiveness to the sinner.

That is, after all, why you are here this morning. You have come to the place where Christ is found, teaching His Word, washing away sins, and feeding the hungry with Himself. Here Christ is found, casting aside all your excuses, absorbing all your burdensome guilt, and giving all your daily activities real purpose and meaning. Here Christ is found, taking upon Himself all of your cares and concerns, and guiding you through the maze of "real" life to the peace and happiness of His gracious presence. Here Christ is found, replacing your distracted mind with one focused on Him as He reveals who He is in His Word. Here is Christ, right where He has promised to be.

Christ is here for you, but not only for you. Surely Mary and Joseph asked their family and friends to help find their lost Son. So they also would tell their family and friends where they had found Him. Likewise, Christ is here for your friends and relations. They, too, are traveling down the same road with the same hustle and bustle of daily life. They, too, are burdened with guilt and sin and are distracted by cares and concerns. Christ is here for them as well. He is here to carry their burdens, to forgive their sins, and to replace their cares and concerns with the peace and content which comes from being close to Him.

Your closeness to God does not come from inside you. Your only connection to God comes from outside of you and enters into you. Holy, divine water is poured onto you from the outside and you become an adopted son of God. There is your connection to God. The word of forgiveness in Jesus Christ is preached from my mouth into your ears. There is your connection to God. The Lord, through my lips, absolves the sins which you make known to Him in confession. There is your connection to God. Jesus puts His Body into your mouth and pours His Blood into your throat. There is your connection to God. And that connection is found outside of you, in Jesus Christ, who comes to you when you are lost and finds you with His grace. Your guilt will only lead inward to greater despair, but the Spirit leads you out side yourself, to where Christ has mercifully promised to be located for you: in the Sacraments and preaching of the Gospel.

You have heard the question asked, "What Would Jesus Do?" In light of this Gospel account, you would do better to ask a far different question: "What Did Mary Do?" What did Mary do when she lost Jesus? What did Mary do when she did not find Him where she first imagined He'd be? What did Mary do when she felt a ton of guilt crushing her heart? What did Mary do to find Jesus? Mary went to the temple, to the assembly of saints where the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are administered. And there, Mary found her Son and our Lord, who does what He does best: He grants forgiveness, life, and salvation to you who once were lost, but now are found in Him. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008