These are our texts for the morning. First from the Gospel of Saint Mark:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news.”

Then from the Gospel of Saint Luke:

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in statute, and in divine and human favor.

Let us pray.
Eternal one, we come to you this morning as children, eager to learn how we, too, might increase in wisdom and stature, in divine and human favor. Be with us as we strive to see one another with new hearts and treat one another in a new way. In the spirit of Jesus Christ, our brother and our friend.  Amen.

Saint Luke provides us with the only glimpse we have of Jesus between the time of his birth and his baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan when he was about thirty years old. Save for this single passage of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve, the Gospel writers are silent. Saint Luke tells us that “every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. They were devout Jews.  It was not easy for them to make this annual pilgrimage from their home in Nazareth to the city of Jerusalem. Can we assume that Jesus went with them each year?  We do not know.  Saint Luke mentions only the year Jesus was twelve.

When the Passover festival was over they started home.  Without their knowledge of permission, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Now you have to listen to this with your parent’s, grandparent’s, aunt or uncle’s heart. Mary and Joseph went a day’s journey before they realized that Jesus was not with them. They assumed he was with relatives and friends.  They searched, but did not find him.  They returned to Jerusalem.  They looked for three days before they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Saint Luke tells us that all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

When his parent saw them, we are told, they were astonished and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this?”  What would have been your response had it been your child, after spending three days searching?  Mary says, “Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”  Jesus replies, “Why were you searching for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”  Which is to say, “Hey, Mom and Dad, where else would I be but here in the temple?  You should have looked here first.”

Now, lest that strikes you as a flip response, Saint Luke hastens to add: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in divine and human favor.

So very little said. All the rest we are left to ponder and treasure in our hearts along with Mary.

His boyhood in Nazareth, the death of his father, the responsibilities that fell upon him as the oldest child, his years in the carpenter shop working alongside his father and then alone, the long conversations with his mother after the supper dishes had been cleared and the young children gone off to bed.  Mary, who since his birth had known there was something special about her boy Jesus.  Then the day came when he locked the door of the carpenter shop, threw away the key, stopped doing what his family, friends and neighbors could understand and began a ministry which at best they only partly understood.  Walked down to the river Jordan to be baptized by John.  All we have of all those years is this one picture of Jesus at the age of twelve in the Temple.

There are those who want to see Jesus with divine knowledge.  Accordingly, he is only toying with the elders in the Temple, because he already knows both the questions and the answers.  I prefer to see the exchange as dealing with questions that any bright young person might ask at the age of twelve.

Questions are still asked today.  Young people ask their parents: “What kind of a car does God drive?” . . .”Gosh, that’s a tough question. You had better ask the minister.” I say, “Good question.” You should ask the Associates, they have graduated more recently from seminary.”

What commands our attention this morning are the words of our text: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in divine and human favor.”  Which is to say, Jesus did not simply grow older, Jesus grew wiser.  This is our challenge in the year ahead: to be growing in our faith; to be about spiritual growth which will make it possible for us to cope with the world in which we live.

Saint Luke tells us that Jesus matured as he grew.  We, too, need to mature and grow in the life of faith.  There are far too many people who have a “set it and forget it” mentality about the Christian faith.  They had a religious experience, some spiritual stirrings in the past, and that was the end of it.  Nothing new.  No further growth.

Christian growth involves a willingness to be open to the work of the Spirit today.  To be exposed to new ideas, widening opportunities for services, a new awareness of what is happening in the world, a new resolve to respond with caring and compassion and generosity.  Christian growth also involves learning and knowledge.  All too many Christians live all of their life on what they learned in Church School in the second grade.
We can joke about it.  The person who said, “The fifth commandment is humor your father and your mother.” Or “The patron saint of travelers is Saint Francis of Seasick.” Or “Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night.”  But it is not funny when life tumbles in upon you, for a second grade faith, a second hand faith will not empower you to endure the storms and crises of life.  Perhaps you can see now why I choose as one of our text this morning the words Saint Mark uses to introduce the ministry of Jesus.

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God, and saying ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news.’”  Repent simply means to turn back –to turn around – to turn away.  As in the Native American saying: “If we don’t turn around now, we may just get where we’re going.”  Let us repent of our carelessness and encourage each other to become more intentional and disciplined about our growth in faith and in faithfulness.  Regular worship, daily prayer, Bible study, conversations with Christian friends, service to others, generosity in giving – these are all ways we grow in the life of the Spirit, learning to live more fully the Christian life of love, commitment, caring and compassion.
Our texts this morning speak not only to each of us as individual Christians and to our life together in this church, but also to us as Christian citizens of this nation.  Time and again we are told we are the world’s last remaining super power.  As Christian citizens we will want to do all we can to ensure that our nation is also spiritually and morally strong, providing that leadership to the world.  This will involve repentance – a turning back, a turning away, a turning around.  For “if we don’t turn around now, we may just get where we’re going.”

For example, Della and I were in the Baltic countries this September.  Everywhere there were posters and demonstrations citing the United States as a polluter. The most common was a cardboard Statue of Liberty with pollution pouring from the torch.  But you know this from your own travels and reading.  The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty rejected by the Senate in 1999; the failure to ratify the Land Mine Treaty.  There is every reason to repent. .for “if we don’t turn around now we may just get where we’re going.”  Today the real test of America’s power and wisdom is not our capacity to make war, but our capacity to prevent it.

What we need are not bullets, but brains;
Not missiles, but minds;
Not combat, but conference and negotiated peace.
It is still not too late for that.

In the darkest days of the Second World War when England stood nearly alone against Hitler, when every night the German bombers came at dusk and left at dawn, President Roosevelt copied out, in longhand, a passage from Longfellow and sent it to Prime Minister Churchill.  There are words America needs to hear now as the world waits and watches to see how we will respond.
Sail on, O ship of State
Sail on, O nation strong and great
Humanity with all its fears
With all the hopes of future years
Is hanging breathless on thy fate.

May America provide the moral and spiritual leadership for which the world hungers.  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe in the good news.”  “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in divine and human favor.”  God grant that such an experience may be ours in all the days which are to come.

Let us pray:
Gracious God, be patient with us as we strive to increase in faith and in faithfulness and live each day according to your will.
What we have said this morning – in truth confirm.
What we have said in error – correct.
What we should have said, but did not say – help us to live till at last we see more clearly.
May our words be in our deeds of love and justice.
In the Spirit of the Prince of peace, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Mark 1: 14-15
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
 

Luke 2: 41-52

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 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. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in divine and human favor.