The living sacrifice of the child of God

Sermon for Epiphany 1

Romans 12:1-5  +  Luke 2:41-52

There were many kinds of sacrifices and offerings in the Old Testament. There were sin offerings. There were peace offering. And there were also whole burnt offering, the only offering where the whole animal was placed right on the altar, not just a piece of it, as with the other offerings. The offering and burning of a whole animal on God’s altar was to teach the people of Israel that a person’s whole life should be completely devoted to God. It seems to be the whole burnt offering that St. Paul had in mind in our Epistle today when he encouraged the Roman Christians, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.

You want to see what it looks like in practice, to offer your life as a living sacrifice to God, in service to God? Then watch the whole life of Jesus. That, partly, why we follow His life every year in the lectionary of the church year, to see what a living sacrifice to God looks like, until that living sacrifice offered Himself as a dying sacrifice. Christmas and Epiphany celebrated the birth of Christ and the actions of others surrounding His birth. Today is the first account in Scripture of the words and actions of Jesus Himself. So watch Him today in the Gospel, even at the young age of twelve, and learn from Him, both as your Substitute under the Law, and as your example of devotion to the things of God.

We know practically nothing about Jesus’ early years in Nazareth, after He and Mary and Joseph moved there from Egypt, following King Herod’s death. All we’re told is what Luke tells us here in our Gospel, that it was Mary and Joseph’s custom to make the annual journey down to Jerusalem for the Passover. God required His people to make that annual journey, both in commemoration of the first Passover—Israel’s redemption from slavery in Egypt, and in anticipation of the true Passover, of God’s plan to save His people from their sins with the blood of Christ, the true Lamb of God, applied to their hearts by faith. So every year, Mary and Joseph would go to Jerusalem to the feast in commemoration of the future death of their Son for the sins of the world—though they surely didn’t understand that at the time.

But Jesus did. He knew His purpose. He had things to learn as a human child. There were ways in which He would “grow,” as our text also says. But Jesus knew who His heavenly Father was, and that He had been sent to do His Father’s will. He knew that each Passover He attended was a sort of rehearsal for Holy Week. Whether He went with His parents before He was twelve or not, we aren’t told. We’re only told of the astonishing events that took place when He was twelve.

After the one-or-two-week-long celebration of this particular Passover, Mary and Joseph left to start the long trip home to Nazareth. They left Jerusalem, together with their traveling party that had made the journey together, so there may have been dozens of them. They left, assuming Jesus was with some of their relatives and acquaintances. But Jesus stayed behind. There was nothing sinful about that, nothing rebellious. The Holy Spirit didn’t want us to know exactly how it was that didn’t end up with Mary and Joseph. He just wants us to focus on the why.

His parents had already traveled a day’s journey when they started frantically searching for their Son. Nowhere! They couldn’t travel at night back then, so they had to wait till the next day to start back, and then they anxiously searched for Him in Jerusalem until they finally found Him “after three days.” (Does that bring up any thoughts another Passover, 21 years after this one, when the recently crucified Jesus would rise from the dead after three days and finally appear to His anxious disciples? Maybe it’s supposed to!) In any case, they found Him, not playing with the other kids His age, but sitting in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. He had, if you will, enrolled Himself in the church’s school, and was taking advantage of the opportunity to listen to the teachers of the law, to ask questions, and to answer their questions. And His questions and answers revealed such a depth of understanding of Scripture, that His teachers were amazed. He likely asked them questions that made them question their own understanding, like He did 21 years later, when He asked the teachers of the Law. If the Christ is the Son of David, how can He be David’s Lord? This was the understanding of one who didn’t need to rely on human wisdom and traditional interpretations. He was the Word of God, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God.

You can imagine Mary and Joseph’s relief, mixed with surprise, and with a bit of indignation. Son, why have you done this to us? See, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.

“Son,” Mary called Him. And, of course, He was that. She refers to Joseph as “Your father.” And, legally and practically, that was true, too. But it seems they forgot for a moment who this Boy really was, and why He had come into their family in the first place. He reminds them: What do you mean, you were you searching for me? Did you not know that I had to be engaged in the things of my Father? Jesus’ life—His whole life—is and has always been a living sacrifice, devoted to the service of His Father, both as the Son of Man, and as the only-begotten Son of God. When He was a Baby, you couldn’t see that. But now you can. You can see where Jesus’ heart is: fixed on learning God’s Word, as every human child must do, yearning to be in God’s House, to be engaged in the things of His Father. This is what it looks like to “present your body as a living sacrifice to God” for a twelve-year-old at that time, to love the Word of God, to love the things of God, with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, your whole strength.

But then, Jesus also presented His body to God as a living sacrifice by going back with His mother and His earthly father when they told Him to, and, as Luke tells us, He was “subject to them.” And He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Those are the duties God has given to us as children: to love and honor His Word, to love and honor our parents, to show kindness and love and respect to all men—in short, to keep the Third and the Fourth Commandments, and all the Commandments. And Jesus shows us what it looks like to carry out those duties, from the heart, as One who has devoted His whole life to be a sacrifice God.

Here is your Substitute, the innocent sacrifice, the spotless offering that mankind needed, to whom all the Old Testament sacrifices pointed. As the perfect Man and perfect God, who loved God with His whole heart, who loved His neighbor as Himself, who kept all God’s commandments perfectly and sinlessly, He stands in for all our disobedience and lack of love, including our lack of devotion to God’s Word. He is qualified to be the spotless peace offering, who makes peace between God and man and brings you into God’s family through His Sacrament of Holy Baptism. And He is qualified to be the whole burnt offering, whose blood now cleanses your service, as baptized children of God, so that, even though your service to God isn’t perfect, still He is pleased with your good works and accepts them for Jesus’ sake.

And so, St. Paul pleads with you, baptized children of God who know the mercy of God in sending His Son to be your Substitute, your Sacrifice, your Savior: I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

The world around you wants your attention. It gives you games to play. And games to watch. And shows to entertain. It gives you countless opportunities to work, to explore, to make money and to spend it, too. It gives you the chance to pursue friendships and relationships and courtships. But all to have a good earthly life. To have fun here. To be comfortable here. To pursue happiness here. And you see most of the people around you in the world conforming their lives to that. But St. Paul says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You’re Christians. Think differently about the world than non-Christians do. Think differently about your life. Make different goals—godly goals, goals to pursue God’s service and God’s will in the work you do or in the career you pursue, in the marriage you’re in, if you’re married, and in the marriage partner you’re looking for, if you’re looking.

All this begins, of course, with a zeal for godliness, with a zeal to offer your body, your whole life, as a living sacrifice to God. It begins with knowing your Bible, and also knowing your Small Catechism and reviewing it often. It continues with regularly being engaged in the things of God, hearing the preaching of the Word and receiving the Sacrament, with a determination to know the Bible better this year than you did last year. It continues with regular prayer, with daily repentance, and with asking the question each and every morning, how shall I serve my God today? How shall I walk in the footsteps of Jesus my Savior? Not to earn my salvation. He’s earned it for me and paid for all my sins. But as redeemed children of God, Jesus teaches us what the living sacrifice of the child of God looks like. May He grant you the zeal to spend your whole life pursuing it. Amen.