Introduction: Once in a Lifetime
Once every three years, the story of the boy Jesus at the temple comes up in the cycle of readings we call the lectionary.
Since it falls up on the Sunday right after Christmas, and pastors
often take that Sunday off, the truth of the matter is that we really
only have to preach on it once every nine or even twelve years—and the
clergy burn-out rate being what it is, I’d say most pastors only preach
on this passage once in their careers… if that often.Though I’ve been through the lectionary cycle about ten times now, I can’t remember the last time I ended up preaching on this text, and so I don’t have any old sermons to fall back on. Unfortunately, It’s not an easy one. But something about it spoke to me when I studied it and meditated on it this week—something important… thought not very theological.
