A friend of mine has a practice where he fields questions from the kids at the end of his Sunday morning children’s message. No questions about God, the Church, or Christianity are off the table. Now, he is either incredibly brave or recklessly foolish. He is a smart guy, and if anyone can field an 8-year-old’s question from left field, it is him. As a parent, I know that opening the floor to unlimited questions about God is treading dangerously close to thin ice with disaster around the corner.
Kids are notorious for asking the questions that well-meaning, sophisticated church folk are too nervous to answer themselves. Parents, how often have your kids asked you a question about God that you have been wrestling with? How often do you punt that question to another subject or the pastor?
Many of the questions I receive—either on the fly after worship, in Bible study, or by email—are easily answered:
How many books are in the Bible? 66. 39 in the Old Testament, and 27 in the New.
Did Luke really write his gospel? Most likely not.
Is God’s grace really for me? Unequivocally, yes!
Then there are the harder questions:
Did God really flood the world and kill all of those people?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—did they really survive the fiery furnace?
Can Jesus hit a curveball?
For the tough questions, we have our holy scriptures, the real presence of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our guide and supporter. Sometimes, the answers we long for escape us or are beyond our ability to answer. And “I don’t know” or “we don’t know” is an acceptable response. Part of growing in faith, or discipleship, is the ability to say, “I don’t know,” and trust that through study, meditation on God’s word, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the questions of faith that keep us up at night will one day be answered.
Jesus’ childhood is riddled with questions. We do not know much about His childhood except for this scene from the Temple. Joseph was a carpenter. Did Jesus work in his father’s shop? We don’t know. Did Jesus ever accompany Mary to the market or Elizabeth and Zechariah’s home to play with his older cousin? We don’t know. The only thing we know about Jesus as a boy is that Mary and Joseph found him in the Temple after being lost for four days.
Imagine a sixth grader standing before the religion department at UVA or Wesley Theological Seminary debating, interpreting, and exegeting. Well, that is where Jesus was, and that is what he was doing. All we know from his childhood is that he would go toe-to-toe with the religious scholars of the Temple. Not only did Jesus hold his own, but Luke tells us, “All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
Even when Jesus was confronted by His parents, he had the correct answer: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This question from Jesus reveals a deep truth about his identity. He is not simply a precocious child or a remarkable student of scripture. He is the Son of God, dwelling in his Father’s house and about his Father’s work. In this moment, Jesus foreshadows the mission that will define his entire life—to make known the presence and purpose of God in the world. His words are a revelation not only to Mary and Joseph but also to us: God’s work is not limited to the expected places. It is found wherever God’s presence dwells—in the Temple, in scripture, in the lives of his people, and ultimately in Christ himself.
There is so much we do not know about Jesus: his upbringing, his preferences, and the company he kept before calling the disciples. Yet, what we do know is that he amazes and confounds us, just as he did the teachers in the Temple. His presence invites us into deeper wonder and faith, even as our questions persist.
The Revised Common Lectionary can sometimes give us whiplash. On Tuesday evening, we welcomed the birth of the newborn Messiah. Today, we are in the Temple with preteen Jesus. Next Sunday, we will be back in Bethlehem with the newborn Jesus as we approach the Epiphany. But this morning, we catch a glimpse of the revelation we will celebrate with the Magi: Jesus is more than we can comprehend, and yet he invites us to know him.
Whether revelation or reminder, Jesus' declaration that he is in his Father’s house is an epiphany for us today. He is not lost but exactly where he should be—dwelling in God’s presence and inviting us to do the same. The one who amazed the Temple scholars is the same Word of God who amazed creation, frees the captives, and extends grace to all.
Questions of the Church will always be present. As a question is raised, theologians and pastors will do their best to make sense of it and provide a faithful and satisfactory answer. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit will be present during that process. Most answered questions usually lead to more questions. Yet, what remains is what was present at the beginning of eternity and is present with us now.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
To the Colossians, Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”
Jesus has a habit of dwelling in the places we least expect: in the manger, with shepherds, in the Temple, at a well, at the table of a tax collector. And the question we are faced with is why. Why these places? Why those people? Why us?
The Good News is that while we search for Jesus, we do not have to look further than our Holy Scriptures, bread and wine, and a community where whenever two or three are gathered, He promises to be with us.
May the Word that predated time, sent by the Father, that extends grace to all, dwell in you. The same Word that amazed and amazes, freed and frees. Your questions may remain, and they might even grow in number. And the Good News is that even amid questions (and yes, even doubts), if Jesus feels lost from your life, the living Word of God does not abandon. The babe laid in a manger is the One who has called us to experience the fullness of the Father’s love and the fullness of His grace.
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