“Divine Catechesis”
Text: Luke 2:40-52
1-5-2025
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Many, many years ago a church member down at Quimby gave me a book that detailed the different learning styles of children. It explained how some learn visually, some audibly, and others through writing things out. This is the reason why certain kids can read the textbook and ace the test while others will struggle to get a passing grade. However, the same child that failed with this method will excel on an exam after simply listening to a lecture. Knowing that was very helpful for me with teaching my Confirmation students.
But all of those learning styles benefit from an effective teaching practice that goes back thousands of years, yes, even all the way to the beginning of mankind. It’s called “catechesis." If you think that sounds like catechism you’d be right because it uses the ancient learning tool of catechesis. Basically, it’s a series of questions and answers along with explanations that teach the subject matter. And if you’re familiar with Luther’s Small Catechism you’ll know that’s the whole format. Over and over again we hear the familiar Lutheran phrase, “What does this mean?” along with numerous other questions and answers. All of it is designed to teach the faith.
But I would add that it isn’t just religious teachers that use this tool. Secular instructors use it too. Why? Because it works! And it works because it forces students to discover the answer themselves rather than having it spoon fed to them. That tends to stick in our minds and have a greater impact since we take ownership as we struggle to come up with the answer using the information that the instructor has already given. I use this teaching tool quite a bit in sermons and Bible Class. Not just to keep you from falling asleep, but to get you to take ownership of the truth we’re learning from God’s Word.
Well, in our Gospel lesson for today we got to peek inside of a Catechism Class. Jesus is in the Temple trading questions and answers with the learned rabbis there. He also has an instructive exchange between Him and His mother, Mary. And there was a lot of learning going on in this text. As we dig deeper into it, I’d encourage you to use the Catechesis model as you approach it. In other words, let’s ask some questions of this passage and allow God’s Word to lead us to the truths that can be discovered in it.
First off, both the opening and closing verse indicate that Jesus grew and increased in wisdom. Does that strike you as odd? We’re talking about the Second Person of the Trinity here. God is all knowing. How then could the Son of God have a need to be taught anything? Well, let’s not forget that when He humbled Himself and took on human flesh, He denied Himself access to the power, knowledge, and privilege that was His. He still possessed it but intentionally didn’t allow Himself to use it. So, in a sense you could say that as He was taught, He wasn’t learning anything new. Rather, He was exploring the depths of the infinite knowledge that was already His. And this gradual growing process was necessary so that He could experience life the same way as you and me, with the exception that He was without sin.
That’s an important factor as we look at the scene unfolding there at the Temple. We’re told that Jesus was 12 years old. We’re also told that His parents took Him to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Feast of Passover. Let’s do a little inductive reasoning with those facts. Obviously, His parents were devout and faithful believers, so how do you suppose they handled His religious instruction back in Nazareth? You can be sure that Jesus was deeply immersed in the Scriptures both at home and at the local synagogue. He absorbed the Word of God perfectly and without any hindrances since His mind was not tainted by sin. Well, it’s no wonder, then, that everyone was amazed at His depth of understanding as He sat in Catechism Class there at the Temple. Yes, it was Catechism class because the text says there were questions and answers being exchanged. {Side note to all my Confirmation students: If Catechism Class was good enough for Jesus then it must be good for you. And He never complained about it… hint, hint!}
Okay. But let me ask you, who was doing the teaching in the text? Our knee-jerk response might be to say that Jesus was the one being taught since He was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Ah, but do you remember what we said earlier? Sometimes the person asking is using the questions as a teaching tool. Also, look at what verse 47 says. People were amazed “at His understanding and His answers.” That means the teachers must have asked Jesus some questions too. So, who was teaching who? Well, I submit to you that it was a two-way street. As Jesus explored the Word of God with these aged gentlemen, His depth of understanding grew. And He in turn, plied them with questions that forced them to rethink the pat answers they had always given which is what had been leading them into a wrong understanding of God’s Word.
By the way, if you look at the teaching of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, you’ll find that catechesis was often the style He would use. By asking a question to be pondered He led people to discover a deeper truth of faith. My favorite example is when Jesus healed the paralyzed man in Luke 5. First, He forgives the man’s sins. And right away, the Jewish leaders start to question under their breath, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The interesting thing is that within their own self-righteous question was the answer. If God alone can forgive sins, and Jesus just forgave this man’s sin, then what’s the ultimate conclusion it leads you to? Jesus must be God.
Ah, but that’s not the answer that the scribes and Pharisees wanted to come up with. And so, in order to teach this important truth, Jesus responded with a question. “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” Now as you work through that question, the obvious answer is that healing someone’s body is the easier miracle. That’s because it’s a temporal action, affecting life only here on earth. Forgiving sins, on the other hand, has eternal consequences. But rather than leave them any wiggle room or a chance to answer incorrectly, Jesus healed the man’s body to show that He truly did have the authority to forgive sins.
It wasn’t just when He was facing resistance or rejection that Jesus used Catechesis to teach people about Himself and God’s plan of salvation. Look at how He gently employed it with His own mother in our text. We can all sympathize with Mary. She and Joseph spent 3 frantic days searching for Jesus and they finally located Him in the Temple. Well, you know what they say: Whenever you’re searching for something you’ve lost, you’ll always find it in the last place you look. All kidding aside, why was the Temple the last place Mary and Joseph looked? Remember, an angel had told them before His birth that He was Son of God and they believed it. Considering what they knew about Jesus, the Temple should have been the first place they looked. However, doubts and emotions had clouded the truth about Christ that they possessed. When Mary asked Jesus why He treated them with such disregard, He answered her with a couple of instructive questions: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”
Actually, a better translation of that second question is, “Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?” Yes, of course they knew it, but they had somehow forgotten or failed to remember it. With these questions, Jesus was forcing Mary and Joseph to work through them in their own minds and take ownership of the answer. That answer would dispel all their doubts and calm their overwhelming emotions.
Sisters and brothers in Christ, God still uses His Divine Catechesis to teach and lead people to His saving truth even yet today. For those who question or deny the existence of God as the Creator, passages like Romans 1 force them to work through an instructive question. If God didn’t create this world, and it’s obviously too complex to have come together by chance, then where did it come from? Or in answer to those who deny sin and its damnable consequences, St. Paul says that the wages of sin is death. All humans die, so what does that tell you? That all of us are sinners who are condemned because of our transgressions. Once a person comes to that realization then they can see their need of a Savior. And that’s right where God wants us.
Like Mary, though, we may have faith but our doubts and emotions have clouded the truth of God’s Word and promise to us. We get worried when money is tight and wonder if God cares or is paying attention to our plight. To this kind of question Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26) The answer is pretty obvious. Or what about when we might question whether God still loves us after we’ve done something really terrible, something we think is unforgivable? God’s answer is seen in the cross. And He says in His eternal, unbreakable Word: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17) If God would do that for you, do you think He really loves and forgives you? Again, the answer is obvious.
Now that God has led you to the correct answer, all that’s left is for you to take ownership of it by faith. If you’ll believe it, He promises that you’ll be saved. May we, like Mary, treasure up all these things in our hearts knowing that God has given us His only Son as the answer to our need for a Savior. May that then strengthen our faith and give us confidence to believe in the mysteries of God and His wondrous plan of salvation. And by the power of the Holy Spirit working within us may He keep us in the one true faith until He calls us to our eternal home in heaven. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!