Finding Jesus: A Sermon on Luke 2:41-52 and the Boy Jesus in the Temple
Introduction: A Parent’s Worst Nightmare
Of the millions of paintings artists have made of Mary, there is one scene that I can’t find. It’s the Home Alone moment. In the movie, the mother, sitting on the plane, starts mentally going through a checklist. “Did we shut the garage door? Did we turn off the coffee pot?” She leans back to relax, but suddenly, realization strikes like lightning. Her eyes fly open, and she bolts upright, screaming, “Kevin!” I want to see the bug-eyed painting of Mary when she realizes Jesus is not with the caravan traveling home.
Have you ever had a bugged-eyed Home Alone moment in your family?
Every parent knows that wash of terror when you’ve lost track of a child, even for a second. And it’s not just kids we lose on life’s journey, is it? Sometimes, we lose track of faith itself. We set out, busy with life’s demands, and suddenly realize we’ve left Jesus behind.
I find that routines keep me from losing things. I put my keys in the same place every time. On my way out the door, my neighbors must think I’m doing the Macarena as I check pockets for wallet, keys, phone, glasses. Going to church is one of those routines that prevents us from losing Jesus. So, congratulations you’re here, doing something right!
Jesus at Twelve: Learning and Growing in the Temple
As the story indicates, that’s where Jesus can be found. This story is the only glimpse we have into Jesus’ childhood. The Gospels take us straight from infancy to this moment at age 12, and then—fast-forward—he’s 30. We wonder, what was he like as a child? I love how author Christopher Moore imagines him smashing lizards to practice his resurrection skills. Can’t you just picture it? A young Jesus, rubbing his hands, peering down at a lizard and thinking, “Alright, little guy, let’s see if this works.”
We don’t know if he practiced resurrection, what we do know is at age twelve, Jesus was in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening, and asking questions. Even the Son of God didn’t come pre-programmed with all the answers. He had to learn them the same way we do–by studying the stories and traditions. It’s what empowers and sustains our faith. That’s why we keep coming back to church, to classes, to the stories of our faith. They help us remember that despite all the ugliness, callousness, and brutishness around us, there is still beauty, love, hope that things will get better.
Ask your questions!
How was Jesus learning? By asking questions. This detail matters. Too often, people present faith like a list of things to believe without question. Many of you had Sunday school teachers who didn’t welcome questions but told you that you just have to believe. But here we see faith formation as a dialogue. It’s asking hard questions, wrestling with doubt, and growing through the process.
One thing I want to know. . .
I’ll never forget Jacob, an eight-year-old in one of my churches. He was a chubby-cheeked, little dude who loved to make people laugh. Once he asked my wife, “Do you know why you think I’m so handsome today?”
“No, Jacob, why do I think you’re so handsome today?” He beamed. “Because I have gel in my hair!”
Sometimes I ask Dayna if she knows why she thinks I’m so handsome today. “Because I’ve got Rogaine in my hair!” Well, the generic Costco brand.
Jacob had a flair for the dramatic, but he also had a deep curiosity. One day, as people were leaving church, he waited until the crowd had cleared and marched up to me and threw his hands on his hips.
“One thing I want to know,” he said.
“Oh? What’s that, Jacob?”
“Who made God?”
I gave him my best Yale Divinity School answer, boiled down for an eight-year-old, but about three sentences in, his eyes glazed over. He walked back to his parents and grandparents, who burst out laughing. When I asked what he said, his mom said, “He said, ‘Pastor Dave doesn’t know either.’”
Jacob was right. Faith isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about being willing to ask the questions. Like Jesus, we’re invited to keep asking, keep wondering, and keep growing. It’s about being okay with mystery and believing that even though we don’t have it all figured out, there is still something that inspires us to be part of something bigger than ourselves It pushes us to be grateful, to look out for others, to be kinder, better people—the kind of people who try to make things right not just for ourselves, but for others, too.
Jesus and Samuel: Prophetic Parallels
The story of losing Jesus is great storytelling because it foreshadows so much. Here at the beginning of the story, he is gone three days, just like at the end. You see him connected to the whole tradition of Judaism by learning in the temple, he wasn’t just some random dude making stuff up about God. And in the last sentence of the passage Luke echoes the story of the Old Testament prophet Samuel when he quotes what was said about Samuel and applies it to Jesus. “He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” Just as Samuel was brought to the temple as a child, learning under Eli, Jesus is depicted here growing in the traditions of his faith. But Samuel’s story takes a dramatic turn. While he learned from Eli, Samuel also became a prophet called to deliver God’s judgment against Eli and the corrupt religious establishment of his time.
Similarly, Jesus would grow up to challenge the religious leaders of his day. As a child in the Temple, he was learning and asking questions—but he was also observing. He would have seen the power of the stories, the beauty of worship and the ways the leaders fell short of the ideals they taught. This story foreshadows his role as a prophetic voice, calling out hypocrisy and inviting people back to the heart of faith.
What the Younger Generation Sees: Losing Faith in the Church
This brings us to today. The younger generation—our modern-day Samuels—are watching and leaving the institutional church in droves. The phrase, “losing my religion,” comes to mind. Originally, it meant losing patience, reaching the end of your rope. But when R.E.M. released their song Losing My Religion, the phrase took on an added dimension—losing faith, feeling disconnected from something once deeply held.
Our young folks have heard the stories of Jesus, stories about love, kindness, and humility. But they’ve also seen the hypocrisy of Christians who preach these values but live with arrogance and intolerance. Their judgment is piercing.
I’ve seen several TikTok videos where young people express this sentiment. One in particular struck me. The creator, clearly heartbroken, said something like this: “You told me to love my neighbor, to care for the least of these, to show kindness and humility. I took it all to heart. But now, because I actually believe it, you call me names. You call me woke. You call me soft. What did you expect me to do? I believed it. And now I’m wondering: what happened to you?”
When people lose their faith, it’s not always because they’ve given up on God. Often, it’s because they’ve lost trust in the institutional church or in Christians who fail to embody the teachings of Jesus.
Like Samuel, the younger generation sees the gap between the story we tell and the lives we live. And they’re asking hard questions. Are we listening?
Rediscovering Faith: return to the stories that make us whole.
Maybe like Mary losing Jesus, much of the modern church has lost the point of Jesus, lost the plot. And statements like these should make our eyes bug out and retrace our steps until we find what we’ve lost. Where do we look? In the house of God, in the stories that he learned and we learn that shape us into decent human beings. We have a chance to go back and reclaim what matters most. Amen.