Lord Jesus and Mary in the Temple
June 8, 2014 | Pastor Ma Zhi

I thank God for his grace that let us gather together here. My visit to Canada is for me to learn and to dialogue, and during my stay here in Saskatoon I want to particularly thank Nutana Park Mennonite Church congregation and Pastor Patrick for your wonderful hospitality. You have been providing me with places to stay, amazing food to enjoy; you have also been walking along with me as I try to better understand and learn your abundant experience in areas such as church ministry, administration and community services. My experience these days have benefited me a lot.

During the worship service on last Sunday, I felt fortunate to listen to the great sermon preached by Pastor Patrick. I can tell Pastor Patrick is a knowledgeable and experienced minister. Therefore, while this congregation is letting me preach here right now, a pastor like me with very limited talent does feel a lot of pressure. Fortunately the Bible teaches us that in God’s family, “in a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay (2Tim 2:20)”, therefore comparing to Pastor Patrick an article of clay like me – though with much fear and trembling – I still want to offer a tiny little inspiration from my scripture reading and share with you brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage one another in our faith journey.

The passage that we have read from the Gospel of Luke narrates a special experience of our Lord Jesus in his childhood. Due to the amount of time I have here I will pick two points to reflect on with you briefly.   The contents that we are discussing about are from the first half of the text, which is Luke 2:41-45

From the passage that we read from Luke, you may also have noticed and sensed that the physical parents of Jesus: Joseph and Mary, are two devout believers. For example, every year they observed Passover at the temple in Jerusalem. When our Lord Jesus was twelve years old, they took Jesus to Jerusalem to observe Passover according to the Law. And twelve years old is a very important age for a Jewish boy at Passover festival, because after this particular day this Jewish boy will be considered a son of the Law, and at the same time it is the starting point of an intimate relationship between the boy and God.  Therefore, up to this point we see that for the devoted Joseph and Mary, everything in their faith life was following routines.

And then something interesting happened. After they finished observing Passover according to the instructions, just like having accomplished a series of faith practice activities, they happily left the temple and were on their way back. After one day of walk all the sudden they realized that they lost Jesus, which made them return to the temple to look for our Lord Jesus.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this text in the Bible ought to be speaking about one incident in Jesus’s family life that happened as a result of a mistake made by Mary. And there is no problem to perceive that way. Yet we should be willing and we could reflect on this incident from a faith perspective.

With no doubt, Mary had a very intimate relationship with Jesus. She is the biological mother of the body of Jesus, and through her body Jesus came to this world. On the day when angels proclaimed the good news to Mary they clearly told her that Jesus is the Son of God. The name Jesus carries the meaning of saving God’s people from evil. That also means, Mary should know very well that her relationship with Jesus is a relationship between a blessed vessel and Lord the Savior.

However, it was because the relationship between Mary and Jesus was so close that she thought she understood Jesus so well that she could to some extent control Jesus. Such an intimacy made her forget that she would always be a person who was blessed while Jesus the Lord is the very source of all grace and blessings. Therefore, we see that with this intimacy and familiarity Mary entered the temple, followed the instructions and procedures, and completed her faith practice. Nonetheless it was after the very moment of worship and after she seemed to have finished observing the festival, she lost Jesus, who was so important for he is the Savior of all life. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a really good reminder for us in our faith practice and in our worship services. In our worship and fellowship day after day and year after year, we may also have developed many devoted habits like Mary, such as attending fellowship gathering every time, being constantly in prayer, regularly reading the Scripture, and offering and serving in the church. After we have developed these many devoted habits, we may as well appear to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. But it can be a very dangerous moment, because just like the devout believer Mary we may also suddenly lost Jesus in our routine faith life.

My fellow believers, at this moment every one of us can think quietly, about what the ultimate goal is for us to come to this sanctuary and observe Lord’s day. Is it to accomplish a task for our faith, to complete a series of faith related ceremonies, to meet Pastor Patrick, to listen to hymns, or to meet certain Christian friends from the community…? Is it possible that we could lose Jesus in our seemingly close relationship with Jesus?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must be careful, as our Lord Jesus is not someone we can control with our hands, someone who can be limited in the worship ceremonies, or someone who stays in some rigid rules. He is our Master and our Lord. We can all think about this: is our relationship with Jesus alive? Is he still in our life and living? Is he in charge of us?

Lord Jesus says: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”(Matthew 16:24) “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38) So, what is our cross? When the calling of the Lord and ministries of the church come to us, what changes are we making in our life and living because of Jesus?

I am deeply touched by the story of one lady from our church in Beijing. In 2008 when the severe earthquake took place in Wenchuan region in Sichuan Province of China, this lady had the opportunity of serving as one of the Christian volunteers who joined the disaster relief work. She only planned to join the early stage of work and return after a short period of time. However, as the work was being carried out she could hardly have any chance to remove herself from there. So she wrestled with God in her prayers. Finally a voice came into her mind, saying “you take care of my business and I will take care of yours”. Having this message with her, the lady was still afraid and not willing to trust that while she was serving over there God would take care of her business.

That lady said that in her life she had a great challenge. She had always been praying for her father who is ill. She always wished that her father, who had been a Communist Party member for many years, would follow Jesus. It seemed very difficult to her, and she thought that if she could stay closely with her father perhaps through her influence on him he would have the opportunity to believe in Jesus. But if she followed the arrangement of her church by staying in Sichuan to continue serving, her father may never come to know the Lord.

Later on, this lady wanted to try out doing more and became more involved in her work there. She told me that during her several short visits back to Beijing she tried very hard to talk about faith with her father, yet he said he would wait. After that she almost gave up. But it turned out that later when she visited her father again, suddenly her father said to her, “please lead me for a prayer, as I want to become a Christian.” She was astounded. She did not know why suddenly her father would have such a request. So without any preparation she led her father to confess to God. After she left Beijing, the next time when she returned it was for her father’s funeral.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I believe there are many testimonies like this among you that are led and blessed by God. In my interacting and learning experiences these days I can tell that people from this church not only closely connect to Jesus in their church life, but also pass on the love of the Lord through their life in the society. You not only love fellow believers but also love your family, your neighbors and your enemies. You let people in your life see the glory of the Lord manifested in your living. I truly wish Lord Jesus keeps taking charge of our life and living, and may every one of us keep enjoying more the grace and blessings of Jesus. May every member of the body of Nutana Park Mennonite Church keep growing both your wisdom and your measure of the statue in Christ.