The boy Jesus in the temple

From this Gospel we learn that ordinary appearances can be deceiving, for the ordinary looking twelve-year-old in the temple was in fact the Son of God, and it was the word which proceeded out of his mouth that made that clear. So let us learn that ordinary appearing places, such as this church, also hide extraordinary things: here is the Son of God, where his word also sounds forth, and where we find his Sacrament. Not only so, but the dreadful experience of his parents, and their undoubted panic on realizing that they had lost him and could not find him for three days, was ill-informed: he was about his Father's business. So also let us learn that panic is never warranted, for Jesus, about his Father's business also for us, must sometimes bring us through trouble, and tribulation, that we might enter by grace the kingdom of God. Sermon for Epiphany I.