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March 19, 2017
Guernsey County Ministerial Lenten Series – Lore City
After Three Days – Luke 2:41-54
In your life has any particular number meant something important to you? I was thinking about that the other day and it came to me that for me, the number three has always had a special meaning. I am a potter – the son of a potter, the grandson of a potter, three generations of clay under our fingernails.
You see I am the third son of Dorothy and Lewis Stoddard, who was born in the same house in which I grew up outside East Liverpool, OH.
My grandfather came to the East Liverpool area on the promise of work in Newell, West Virginia, at the Homer Laughlin China Company, where the still popular Fiesta Ware was and is still made.
My grandmother, Flossie, followed him soon thereafter, - well as soon as she could given she had been living in an abusive home life and couldn’t wait to get out of her part of West Virginia, even leaving and marrying my grandfather, Roy, maybe just a wee bit before the legal age. They worked together in that same pottery until their deaths. And when they weren’t working in the potteries, they could be found in the fields of their 20 some acres, growing corn, and green beans, and peas, and lima beans, and especially beets, along with a few chickens and pigs.
Again, the number three has always been significant to me in life.As soon as we were old enough, my two brothers and I followed my grandparents and my father into the potteries, earning some spending money and saving money for all of us to attend college.
We were, literally, about our father’s/our grandfather’s business. We weren’t by any means considered wealthy. I remember wearing pants that had patches upon patches after my brothers had pretty much worn them out before me. Third hand-me-downs.
But I guess we had what we needed – at least we didn’t know what we were missing most of the time. Those gardens of my grandparents and the hard work of all made sure we had enough food in our bellies, cars to get back and forth to work in, and enough clothes, even if they were hand-me-downs three times over.
It was a good life. Not an affluent life. But a good life. We were drugged too, drugged to church time and time again….and then there was lots of family, filled with the fun of playing baseball in the newly mown fields, and filled with basketball (it’s March Madness time) we had our basketball– on the road - dodging the road traffic with the hoop installed on the side of the garage.
If you made a basket from the opposite side of the road – it was a three-pointer. And you really didn’t want to make a layup – because more likely you crash your shoulder into the garage door.
Threes. Three brothers. Three pointers. 3 times worn pants – and three denominations of worship – Presbyterian, Episcopalian and now United Methodist. And I didn’t even tell you that I once worked three different times for the same newspaper company. Threes.
Threes are important in scripture too, you know. Just a few examples if I may.
Most of these are about three persons, three things, or three activities. For example, like my parents, Noah had three sons, and then there’s Job who had three daughters.
The Ark of the Covenant contained three sacred objects ‘The gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant” Daniel regularly prayed three times a day giving thanks to God. Israelite men were required to appear before the Lord three times in a year: “Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles”.
The number three appears often in measurements of time as well. For example, Moses and Aaron petitioned Pharaoh, “Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.The fleeing Hebrews went three days without finding water in the Desert of Shur. When the Hebrews had traveled from Mount Sinai for three days, the people began to complain. When the Hebrews neared the Jordan River they were informed, “Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own”
The Apostle Paul experienced three shipwrecks and prayed three times to the Lord for the removal of his “thorn in the flesh”.And he also spent three years in Arabia apparently to commune with the Lord and receive instruction from him before going to acquaint himself with Peter.
Before going in to make her request to the Persian king, Queen Esther instructed Mordecai as follows: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” In accordance with this period of spiritual preparation, “On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall” and gained entrance to the king’s throne. The events that followed are well known. Her people were allowed to take steps to deliver themselves and the Jew-hating Haman was put to death. Likewise, Abraham obeyed the Lord’s instructions and was prepared to offer his only son Isaac on the third day of his journey to Moriah. God Himself supplied a substitute for the sacrifice, praise God.
Then there’s the phrase, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken” In context the point is that there is strength in numbers, right? This was especially true for the traveler in the ancient Near East. Although a solitary traveler could easily fall victim to robbers along the way, a traveling companion or two could serve as a possible deterrent to a robber or provide a source of help.
Which leads me to Jesus. He had some important threes in his life as well.
Jesus grew up among a people who were subjected at the time to the yoke of a foreign oppressor, Rome; in a remote and conquered province of the Roman empire; in the darkest district of Palestine; in a little insignificant country town; in poverty and in manual labor; in the obscurity of a carpenter's shop; far away from universities, academies, libraries, and literary or polished society; without any help, as far as we know, except the parental care, the daily wonders of nature, the Old Testament Scriptures, the weekly Sabbath service of the synagogue at Nazareth, the annual festivities in the temple of Jerusalem, and the secret relationship of his soul with God, his heavenly Father."
Threes. Let me read about an incident you may have heard of in Jesus’ life which more clearly points to how much he was about his Father’s business.
Keep in mind – threes.
Luke 2: 41-52
Now at first glance this story seems like it’s only designed for the days after Christmas, right? But bear with me.
We know Jesus earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter. Jesus was a Jew, with Jewish parents, living according to jewish law and customs.
The temple was an important part of his life and the lives of his people. He was dedicated in the temple.
We’ve all heard, I trust, how his parents lost him for a time in this passage right? They searched for him. Imagine frantically searching for a youngster in the aisles of Kmart or WalMart. Where is that little rascal? Maybe you’ve been there.
We, I pray, have learned that when folks traveled to the temple they traveled in large groups, and it’s not inconceivable that the youngster, Jesus, would have gotten lost in the crowd….yet most often still cared for by others in the extended family. They weren’t really missing him right away…at least not until it was time to settle in for the night.
And then he came up missing.
Jesus was not to be found. The search is on. There’s no 9-1-1…there’s no Amber Alert. It’s only them and their extended family from Nazareth. I don’t think for a moment that Rome cared where one little jewish boy who’d gotten himself lost was.
Mom, dad, maybe a few others gather themselves up and return to Jerusalem. And apparently for three days he was lost.
Where was Jesus found? ((This isn’t what folks call a rhetorical question – really, where was Jesus found, church?)) Yes, in the temple.
What was he doing? Yes, he was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them.
But in reality he wasn’t learning from them, was he? No, he was the teacher. The one asking the questions was the teacher.
And what was the reaction of the temple students? They were amazed.
Eventually we learn his parents I’ll bet were just a bit appalled.
“We’ve been searching all over for you! Three days we’ve been searching you, you scoundrel? What have you been up to? Didn’t you think we’d be the least bit concerned? You’re gonna get it good when we get out of the temple, kid.”
I must be about my Father’s business, my Father’s affairs. Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?
“Yea, well come on, you’ve got to get back home with us because your father needs you in the carpentry shop, and don’t think for a minute you’re going to be doing anything other than work for a mighty long time. Talk about disrespect. Well, I never!
And Jesus returned with his parents to Nazareth. Scripture says the child Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. He most likely did return to his earthly father’s carpentry business….but no doubt that was not all.
Because Jesus ministry and teaching beginning at probably about 30 and lasting for how long church? (3 years) Yes, his ministry it is of primary importance beginning with an important set of three – After his baptism how many times was he tested? 3 – and he turned every temptation of Satan away with three scriptures. Yes, his ministry calling came even above family…which is saying a lot since family relationships were of paramount importance back in the day.
And Mary…..Mary took this all in…in her heart.
And one day, and here’s why this message has meaning for us today in the middle of Lent, his mother, Mary, returning to the temple, her heart would break. She’d find her boy Jesus again, but not as the child….instead as the man…the man accused…the man scorned…the man on trial…the man the very temple leaders would stir the crowd on to yell, “crucify him….crucify him.”
And crucify him, murder him they would – turning the actual dirty work over to the Romans – but get him murdered they would.
After three days. After three days.
That should stir our minds. It was after three days his parents found him in the temple. It was after three days we’ll find him again.
Praise God after three days -- his betrayal, his trial, his scourging, his crucifixion, his burial……after three days he will be found again.
After three days Mary and Joseph find Jesus alive and well in the Temple at Jerusalem among the teachers of the law, the very company where it all will end as Jesus is tried, convicted and handed over to be killed. Mary and Joseph find him alive and well after three days in a place they didn’t expect.
After three days he will be found again…not contained in the Jerusalem temple or a Jerusalem tomb…..after three days.
This sounds like Easter to me, friends! Amen!
Our scripture tonight says after three days Jesus returned to Nazareth, obedient to his parents, grew in wisdom and stature.
How is it that Jesus grew? What does it mean for Jesus to have developed, matured? If Jesus was fully human, then of course growth and development would be necessary. If Jesus can grow friends, then here’s my application point for tonight…..What’s this mean for us?
If Jesus can grow to become the Savior of all in his death and resurrection….if he becomes our light and our salvation….shouldn’t we be growing?
And how did Jesus grow? By worshipping, by studying the word, by being in fellowship with one another, by showing his divine connection with God the Father by loving others, by learning and loving in community.
Yes, he had a special relationship with the Father, even from the start, but that relationship hadn’t been fully realized until he returned to the Father, and he gave us the Spirit which prompts us to grow today.
Are we? Are we, church, growing too….May we praise God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who three in one, spur us on to growth – growth in the love of God and in our love for each other.
Where will God find us in three days? We must be about our heavenly Father’s business, too. Amen?