Where Else Would I Be?

by | Dec 29, 2024

  1. There are some quotes that are easily recognizable The Rev. Suzanne Trump, Associate Pastor of Formation and Compassionand once you hear them you can immediately place the movie or the time and place
    1. And we use them often because they are so recognizable
    2. Here are some of my favorite movie quotes, how many do you recognize?
  • “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
    • Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), Gone With the Wind(1939)
  • “I’ll have what she’s having.”
    • Older woman customer at Katz’s Deli (Estelle Reiner), When Harry Met Sally, 1989
  • “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
    • Brody (Roy Scheider), Jaws(1975)
  • “Houston, we have a problem.”
    • Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Apollo 13(1995)
  • “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
    • Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), The Godfather(1972)
  • “You can’t handle the truth!”
    • Colonel Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson), A Few Good Men(1992)
  • “I’ll be back.”
  • “My Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.”
    • Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump(1994)
  • “Go ahead, make my day.”
  • You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”
  1. I have that same sense of recognition when Jesus says in verse 49: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[b]
    1. What I hear Jesus saying is where else would I be?
    2. In today’s scripture reading we get a glimpse of Jesus as a child
    3. We left him on Christmas as an infant and Epiphany most likely sees him around 2 years of age
    4. So, this is the only reference we get to Jesus before he officially starts his ministry
  • There are a couple of points in this passage that jump out at me
    1. First, after Passover, Jesus stays behind
      1. Specifically, Passover, a link to what is to come
      2. When Jesus is betrayed and captured after eating the Passover dinner with his disciples
  • Jesus’ life begins and ends in the Temple
  1. This passage points to the three days of grief and loss to come
  1. Second, after a day’s journey, Mary and Joseph begin to search for Jesus
    1. The theme of seeking and finding is a common theme in Luke
    2. His parents are seeking Jesus and find him in the Temple, after three days
  • Linking this search with another search, why do you seek the living among the dead?
  1. Jesus is seeking to learn
  2. Throughout Luke we are instructed on what to seek
  3. And we hear stories of a God who does not stop searching until everyone is found
  1. Third, they go back to the Temple and find Jesus sitting among the teachers listening and asking questions
    1. Teaching is what Rabbi’s do and for a child of 12, it would have been common for the child to already be engaging in learning
    2. And Jesus is a Jew, raised in a Jewish household
  • What separates Jesus is his level of understanding and the questions he asks
  1. So often we will be amazed by what Jesus says and does
  2. Think about the miracle stories
  3. Raising Jarius’ daughter, Lazareth
  • Even wine into water
  1. Jesus asks, like the angel, why are you searching? Did you not know I would be in my father’s house
    1. The phrase in my father’s house is difficult to translate in the original Greek
    2. According to one commentator, Meda Stamper, it could be a place, people, or an activity
      1. Place being the Temple
      2. People being the teachers
  • Activity being the work of God
  1. Throughout his life we see something of God in Jesus
  1. And the somethings of God are not easy for us to accept and grasp
    1. Turning the world upside down, the weak now have the power, not who we normally think of as powerful
    2. We are asked to forgive as we have been forgiven
    3. We are called to serve a God who sent Jesus, the son, to be whipped, die a horrible death, and then raise from the dead
    4. Not quite the King we were expecting
    5. Hard concepts to wrap our heads and hearts around
    6. This is the Jesus we find in the Temple
    7. Where else would he be?
    8. So, as you ponder this scripture this week
    9. Where do you expect to find Jesus?
    10. God’s answer?
    11. Expect to find Jesus in all places, people and activities
    12. Where else would Jesus be?
    13. Thanks be to God
    14. Amen