"Ultimate Loyalty"

Psalm 138            Luke 2:41-52

 

Psalm 138 {Thanksgiving and Praise Of David.} 

1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;  2I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.  3On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. 4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth.  5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.  6For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.  7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.  8The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

 

Luke 2:41-52 {The Boy Jesus in the Temple}

41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Assuming 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. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When 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.’ 49He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

 

My friend Don grew up in a terrible home and environment of neglect.

            His mother was an extreme alcoholic,   and had been abandoned à

                        by each of the men who fathered her three children.

 

It is ironic, that for Don, the  best years of his childhood   came

            during the Prohibition and the worst of the Great Depression.

During those hard times she was a better and more attentive mother,

            because with alcohol more scare, costly and harder to come by,

                  she had been unable to drink as much, or get drunk as often.

 

Don was essentially on his own without much parental guidance,

            and so he grew up fast and angry,    a tough kid of the streets

                        in and out of trouble with little chance for a good future.

 

A school friend got him to attend a youth group meeting one time,

            where the pastor was solid, and took an interest in Don;

                        and who over time   challenged him to think about his life.

 

     That pastor provided the only caring guidance he had ever known,

            and he heard the Gospel news of Jesus Christ for the first time.

Eventually Don responded.  He committed his life to Jesus Christ,

    and that pastor & youth group became major influences in his life.

 

Don's mother & the man she was living with   hated religion & church.

            They tried to discourage Don's involvement with Christianity

                        because it was changing him   away from the way they lived,

                            as a light  shining into the darkness of their own lives.

 

One evening as he was heading out to a youth group Bible study,

            they tried to stop him from going, and gave him an ultimatum:

                            "If you go out to youth group tonight,

                                    then don't ever come back.  This won't  be your home."

 

Don was not quite 14, and he had a huge & difficult decision to make.

            If he decided to trust and follow Jesus Christ, then that meant

                  having to give up the only home and family he had ever known.

 

When he tried to return after youth group that night,

    he was met at the door and sent away never to be allowed back home.

                           After that night, he never saw his mother again,

                              and was from then on,  cut off seeing from his brothers.

           

With nowhere else to go, he showed up at the pastor's house,

            who was pleased to take him in, to raise him and give Don a home.

   After serving in the Army,

            Don followed in this man's footsteps,

                        and became a Presbyterian pastor himself.

 

Don was my teacher and mentor during my year of internship,

            and he was one of the most remarkable men I have ever known.

He was an incredibly faithful and completely committed pastor,

      who never wavered or compromised from absolute Christian truth.

 

I think,  because he had been forced to choose at a very early age,

               and because his decision to trust and follow Jesus Christ

                        had come at such a high risk and personal cost,

                                    he never questioned or doubted   his ultimate loyalty.

 

Having paid the price of his home and family   for the sake of Christ,

            and having experienced how God did provide and care for him,

                   that gave him  a power and certainty which he never doubted.

 

Don had decided & determined   what & who mattered most in his life.

            And with no regrets,

                 his absolute loyalty, his trust and his total commitment

                        was to God first and foremost   over all else in this world…

 

            … and he was grateful every day of his life for God's blessings;

                        that God had removed him from a terrible family situation,

                                        intervening on his behalf to give him a future,

                                                according to God's good purpose and will for him.

 

Don's life exemplifies the truth of these words,  of Psalm 138:

            I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; … Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. 

            The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;   your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.  You do not forsake the work of your hands.

 

It is that same hopeful truth and promise which lies at the heart

            of the story we read earlier from Luke 2 about Jesus as a youth.

    The author of Luke chose to include this particular story

            because it helped address a situation they were facing.

 

At the time when the gospel of Luke was written,

            there was  some  persecution of Christians under the Romans,

                        but by far the worse persecution and most bitter attacks

                                    were those coming from within the Jewish community,

                                                often their own family members & former friends.

 

When someone became a Christian, a follower of Christ,

            they were seen as a dishonorable traitor and religious heretic

                 against their own family traditions and God-given heritage.

    That culture and situation was similar   to how   Muslims today

             will often kill any family member who coverts to Christianity.

                       

For many of these early Christians,

            they were having to choose   at great risk

                        between their families and communities,  or their faith.

            Just like my friend Don, to be faithful and follow Jesus,

                        meant placing loyalty to God above loyalty even to family.

           

To help these early Christians grapple with that life-situation

            that the author of Luke uses this as a teaching story

                        to show how Jesus lived out that family vs. faith question

                             by choosing  his ultimate loyalty,   even as a boy of 12.

 

This story retold in the gospel of Luke, is written in a way,

            that can also help us think about our own   ultimate loyalties.

 

All through the nativity and pre-birth stories about Jesus,

            Mary and Joseph had trusted in the Lord, even at great risk,

                        because they took God at His word and faithfully obeyed.

 

Luke is intentional in making it clear, that with Joseph and Mary,

            loyalty & faithfulness to God was the way they choose to live.

    It is reasonable to assume    that God

            used the environment of their home to lay the foundation

                        upon which Jesus build his life's mission and purpose.

 

We're told that each year they made

            the difficult journey  to Jerusalem  to celebrate Passover.

As parents   they were teaching about  ultimate loyalty to God

            by demonstrating it   through their own lives and living,

                        so that even at an early age,

                           Jesus had already learned & knew his ultimate loyalties…

                                                            … as demonstrated by this story.

 

Travel in those days was very dangerous and treacherous,

            so neighbors, and friends, and families

                        would make their Passover journeys together in caravans.

            Typical of Middle Eastern culture,  they segregate by gender,

                        with women looking after the children in one travel group

                                    while nearby, the men would travel in their own group.

 

As a boy of 12, Jesus might have traveled with either group,

            and so it's reasonable that he might not be missed until

                        the family stopped and came together at the end of the day.

 

Notice then, that Joseph and Mary had to leave and separate from

            the comfort and safety of their friends and family

                        in order to go, to follow and search for Jesus  à à

        similar to the situation faced by those within Luke' community,

                similar to Don's separation from his family  to follow Jesus.

 

Sometimes following Jesus requires us to sacrifice,  and it can

            mean separating ourselves from other important things in life.

     We have to choose what really matters most.

            We decide to whom or what, we will give our ultimate loyalty.

 

After three days spent in searching for Jesus,

            they find him in discussion about Scripture with scholars,

                        and like so many other things concerning Jesus,

                                    Mary and Joseph are amazed.  They are astonished.

 

vs. 46-48

            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.                  

 

They were astonished, because in that time and culture,

            only the rabbis as a matter of respect,

                        only the teachers were seated during such discussions.

      And only by their invitation  would Jesus have been with them,

             'sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.'

                       

This is intended to reveal something about who Jesus is,

            and its purpose   is to lead to the pronouncement of this story.

 

vs. 48-50

            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?’ 

 

"I must be in my Father’s house", translated more literally,

            'among   the things  of my father   it is necessary    that I be'

 

Just as Mary and Joseph had taught Jesus by example,

            by their own lives of demonstrating their loyalty to God,

                        so too for Jesus,   His first loyalty is to God.    

 

In the story, there are two fathers, that represent two loyalties.

                As Luke's faith community

                        is having to choose between loyalty to family or to God,

                                    so too,  Jesus is choosing loyalty between fathers…

                                                and for Jesus, his ultimate loyalty is to God,

                                                            for Jesus knew   to whom he truly belonged.

 

A further lesson held in balance   is that   ultimate loyalty to God,

            did not preclude returning home with Mary & Joseph to Nazareth,

                        where he is an obedient son, and he continues to grow up,

                                    to prepare to fulfill   God's purpose and plan for him.

 

I think that the intended message from Luke   is quite subtle.

            First, our absolute and ultimate loyalty  is  to God alone,

                        even over family and community, if necessary.

                                    And perhaps sometimes they may have to leave

                                                or distance ourselves from family and friends

                                                            in order to follow, or to search for Jesus.

 

And yet faithfulness to God also entails, & to be held in tension,       

    with the fact that we may also be called

            to live in obedience within our  local Nazareths,

                        where God is preparing us for His purpose and plan for us…

            … which may mean and require wisdom   for us to be  

                        faithful & loyal to God,   wherever the Lord has placed us.                               

Today we are nearing our year's end,

            and it is an excellent time to consider            

                        the ultimate loyalties that govern our lives…

 

            … recognizing that sometimes obedient faithfulness to God

                        is not always the easiest or most comfortable path,

                                    and that sometimes God's plan and will for our life

                                                may involve painful sacrifices and hard choices.

 

My personal experience is that though God's way is the better way,

     it is also generally the path that is more difficult & demanding.

 

When Don's faith commitment was tested, he passed and excelled.

            Having made that faithful decision to follow Jesus Christ

                        even at great cost and surrendering his home-life,

                                      that set a pattern of faithfulness for a lifetime,

                                                and allowed for God's purpose & plan in his life.

 

                When our ultimate loyalties are right and righteous,

                        then other things in life  can fall right into place.

So,

    if faithfulness to God truly is our ultimate loyalty in this life,

            then how does that play out,

                        and are our hearts really in tune with the Lord's will?

 

àand if we do get that right,   then in a year from now,

            perhaps it will be true when look back, that we have: vs. 52

                        increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor;  

                            for having been faithful, loyal to our Heavenly Father.

vs. 1~8

            The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.              You do not forsake the work of your hands.

            I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;    I will sing your praise.