Luke 2:41-52: When Young Jesus Astonished His Parents

INTRODUCTION

When I was a child our family belonged to an unusual sort of church.

Our belief was the same as other Bible-believing churches, but we had some unusual customs.

One of our unusual customs was that every Christmas, we all went to a Bible conference in Kansas City. People from meetings like ours from maybe 150 miles around came together for this annual Christmas conference.

They really looked forward to this time.

We lived in Lawrence, Kansas, and Kansas City was about 50 miles away.

The conference lasted for three days and included Christmas.

So we got our Christmas presents early because on Christmas Day we would be at the conference.

The program of the Kansas City conference was very simple. We listened to sermons all day long—one preacher after another—and occasionally sang hymns. And we ate together.

I suppose children nowadays would find this boring, but we didn’t mind it. We could see friends who we saw only once a year.

And we had a special responsibility—waiting at tables during the meals.

We children sat in the balcony. We were supposed to listen, and we did listen to some of the speakers—especially when they told stories. But mostly we just sat with our friends, whispered to each other, and drew pictures to while away the time.

Jesus’ family also had a yearly event, something like the Bible conference of my youth.

Every year, at Passover time, Mary and Joseph took their family to Jerusalem.

They would go to the Temple and listen to the prayers, sing psalms together, and watch the priests offer the sacrifices.

They then would gather in small family groups and eat the Passover meal.

It appears that they also took time to gather in small groups under the colonnades and as the rabbis taught them from the Bible.

But Jesus took this Passover trip more seriously than we did the Bible conferences of my youth.

The only story we know about the boy Jesus from the Bible is the account about the time when his family went to Jerusalem to the Passover when he was 12 years old.

It is an interesting story and it not only embodies a truth about who Jesus is, but it also contains some valuable lessons for us.

Here is the story (Luke 2:41-52):

Now Jesus’s parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

And when they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so. Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”

And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

I. Twelve years old was an important time in the life of a Jewish boy.

A. Since his first years Joseph would have been teaching his son the Law as written in the first books of the Old Testament.

We can be sure Mary also had a part in teaching Jesus about love and obedience and the knowledge of God.

Twelve years old: this was the final year of his preparation for assuming the responsibilities of a man in the religious life of the synagogue.

At his 13th birthday he would become a Bar Mitzvah; that means “a son of the law.”

B. I have taught 12-year-olds, and we have had 12-year-old children in our own family. I know about 12-year-olds.

This is an important age, an age when children begin to make decisions for themselves about what kind of people they will grow up to be.

Sometimes it is a time when children begin to behave in ways that leave parents scratching their heads.

Jesus was no different. Even though Joseph and Mary remembered the remarkable events that surrounded the birth of Jesus—the angels and the shepherds and the wise men and the prophecies pronounced over the child by old Simeon and Anna in the Temple, they weren’t prepared for the streak of independence that Jesus showed at this time.

II. Let’s look again at the story.

A. After the festivities at of the Passover the family started home.

In those days the family would have gone up to the Passover in a group with their friends and relatives from Nazareth.

Walking 15 miles a day from Nazareth to Jerusalem—would have taken 4 or 5 days.

It was important to go with a group for relatives and neighbors because traveling was dangerous in those days. Remember the story of the Good Samaritan.

That Joseph and Mary set off for home without checking where Jesus was tells us that Jesus had always been a responsible child. They assumed that he was with his cousins and the other children in the company.

We who are parents can understand how upset Mary and Joseph were. After they had walked for a day, they discovered that their son wasn’t in the company.

So they started back to Jerusalem. That would have taken them a day.

Then they spent at least two days in Jerusalem searching everywhere, wondering and worrying about what might have happened to their precious child. As they searched all the places where they could imagine he might be, they may have wondered if he was even still alive. Maybe he had fallen into a well or been abducted by slave traders!

Can you imagine the anxious thoughts that must have gone through their heads?

We can imagine their relief and their annoyance when they found him in the Temple, oblivious to their anxiety.

B. When his parents found him in the Temple, the boy was sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking questions.

I picture him sitting under one of the colonnades, in the midst of a group of old men, who were both startled and pleased by the interest and insight of the child.

Jesus wasn’t showing off his knowledge or his wit; he was asking questions.

These old rabbis were delighted with this bright, young student. There is nothing that pleases a teacher more than a student who asks intelligent questions.

Jesus knew that we learn by asking questions and by listening.

When I read the Bible my mind is full of questions. Jesus also must have wondered about many things. I can imagine some of he questions he must have asked.

A famous philosopher (Francis Bacon) said, “A wise question is already half the answer.”

That is why, that, though that Jesus was asking questions, the rabbis were surprised by his answers.

C. The distressed parents let Jesus know how put out they were with him:

Mary says, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”

And the boy says, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

Or it may be just as well translated: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” That’s the way it is in the King James Bible.

The Greek simply says, “Did you not know that I must be about the things of my Father?”

I don’t think Jesus was being insensitive or rude. He was genuinely surprised. Jesus was becoming very much aware that he had an uncommon destiny. God called himself the “Father” of his people in the Old Testament, and the boy had taken to heart this truth that he had two fathers, and his heavenly Father was the one who held the greatest claim on his life.

These are the first words Jesus speaks in Luke’s gospel, and they are especially important because they tell us that even at 12-years-old Jesus realized that he had a special relationship with God, his Father, and that God was calling him to a special destiny.

It is a mistake to suppose that God just poured into Jesus’ brain everything he needed to know.

Jesus was a human child. He grew, he learned, he made choices, he learned to love God, he learned to live by faith.

Jesus learned from his teachers, even though soon he would surpass all of them in his insight into the ways of God.

D. Notice how considerate Jesus was with his parents.

Even though the boy recognized his higher loyalty to God, he didn’t presume on that relationship.

I think he took to heart the grief he had caused his parents because, we read, “he went down with his parents and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”

We can be sure that on the many future trips the family took to Jerusalem for Passover, Mary and Joseph were more attentive to where their son was.

And Jesus also would not again have become so absorbed in his opportunities to learn that he was oblivious to the consternation he might cause his parents.

E. And lastly, notice that “his mother kept all these things in her heart.”

When our children were little we kept a notebook in which we recorded the funny or interesting things our children said.

Mary kept her notebook in her heart. We read that after the shepherds returned “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (2.19) And here we read (v51): “…and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”

And that is how we have the story. Mary either told the stories to Luke, who wrote them down, or she told them to someone who told them to Luke, and so they were preserved for us.

III. So what does this story tell us that is so important? I see two things:

A. Jesus loved scripture, and, even as a child, he was hungry to learn more and more.

It is astonishing that so many faithful church-goers have little interest in knowing more of the Bible than they have learned as children in Sunday school.

They think: I know all I need to know; now all I need now is to do the right thing.

They don’t realize that God’s Word is the food for their souls.

But it’s not enough to know what we should do; we need motivation to make us want to do it.

We need God’s Word in our hearts stir our emotions and our wills to love and obey.

Do you remember that when Jesus was tempted by the devil, he resisted each temptation with a saying from scripture?

If Jesus needed a mind stored full of scripture, we do too.

And here we see Jesus—even as a boy—storing away God’s Word in his heart.

B. The second lesson we can take away from this story is the priority Jesus placed on being in the house of his Father: the Temple represented above all the presence of God.

When we pray, when we meditate on scripture, when we worship and give thanks, we are, in a sense, in the Temple of God.

God has left us on this earth to live in his presence and to make it our business to do his will.

We are intended to live in the presence of God, whether we are reading our Bibles, or worshiping in church, or praying, or lying quietly in bed, or sitting in our chair reading a book.

God intends that we are to feel ourselves to be in his presence in our everyday activities—with our friends—in our pleasures—or in our solitude—always in the heavenly temple—always in the presence of God.

The Curé d’Ars was a French saint of the 18th century. Often, when he went into the church he would see an old peasant sitting in the church quietly, seemingly not praying. One day he asked the old peasant what he was doing there.

The peasant answered, “I look at God and he looks at me and we are happy together.”

But whether we are in a cathedral, or in our living room, or in the public dining room, we can always be in “God’s house,” always in the presence of God.

Our Lord has told us, “I will never leave you of forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

So “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

Matthew 2.1-13: Wise Men Meet Jesus

INTRODUCTION

Do you remember when you were a child how fascinating the night sky was?

We slept on a sleeping porch, and I can remember night after night looking out the window above my cot at the Milky Way and the thousands of stars spangling the sky.

I had a book of the constellations and would sometimes go out at night, throw a blanket on the grass, and identify the Big and Little Dippers; Cassiopeia’s Chair; Orion; Leo, the Lion; and Draco, the Serpent.

Ancient people spent a lot of time outdoors, and when it got dark, it got dark.

If there was no moon. the sky was spectacular on a clear night.

So they looked up into the sky a lot and saw the pictures in the sky and made stories about them.

Some of the ancients had the idea the stars were angels shining in the sky. They called the stars “The Host of Heaven.”

In the Book of Job (38:7), God asks Job,

“Were you there when I laid the foundation of the earth?...

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

The “sons of God” was one of the ways they spoke of the stars.

To the ancient people the stars and planets had meanings.

They were sure that whatever important happened on earth, it would be reflected in some way in the heavens.

And if something strange appeared in the sky—a comet, an eclipse, two planets coming together—they were sure it meant that something special was happening—or about to happen—on earth.

Wise men studied the stars. These were the earliest scientists. They studied the stars to try to find out their movements and to trace the movements of the planets among them. They tried to predict the future from the movements of the stars and planets.

They were wrong, of course, about the stars influencing events on earth, but in their studies they learned a great deal about the stars and the planets and the seasons. Babylonians and Chinese astronomers successfully predicted solar eclipses 2500 years before Christ.

We read about some of these men in the second chapter of Matthew. They are called in the Bible “wise men” or more accurately, “magi.”

These magi were members of a priestly caste in the religion of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion of Persia. There are still Zoroastrians today. Most of them live in India. I don’t know whether modern Zoroastrians study the stars or not.

Near the time when Jesus was born, some of these magi were studying the night sky when they saw something new in the constellation that represented the royal house of Judah.

They saw something that told them that a long-awaited king was coming to that land.

So they set off with their gifts to visit that king.

Through the years story has been embellished with many details not found in the Bible.

The idea that they were kings comes from Psalm 72:

“May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!

May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.”

We don’t know actually how many magi came to Bethlehem.

The Bible tells us that they brought three gifts, so it is commonly supposed that there were three wise men.

We don’t know how they traveled. It’s picturesque to suppose they rode on camels. That makes an impressive picture. But they may have ridden on donkeys. Or maybe they walked.

So now I’ll read the story as it is recorded in Matthew’s gospel:

 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him, “In Bethlehem in Judea; for so it is written by the prophet:

‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will govern my people Israel.’”

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared; and he sent them to Bethlehem saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

When they had heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star which they and seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

I think it is remarkable that when God brought the news to humble Jewish shepherds, he sent an angel.

But when God brought the news to sophisticated Gentile scholars, he set a star in the heavens.

God speaks to each in a language he can understand.

I. So the magi traveled, we don’t know how long, and finally they reached Jerusalem

A. They were looking for a newborn king, so they went directly to the capital city of Judah.

We are not to believe that the star guided them the hundreds of miles from Persia to the Holy Land.

They saw the star when they were in the east, and its position in the sky indicated that they were to go to Judah, and so they set out.

Naturally they considered their destination to be Jerusalem, the capital and important city in the country.

No one there had heard about any new king.

But there were scholars who studied their Bible, and they found the prophecy from Micah 5 that told them that a Great Leader would come from Bethlehem, the city of David.

Herod was very interested in this situation.

Herod was the king who ruled Judah under the Romans.

He is called “Herod the Great” because he promoted great building projects, including the magnificent Jerusalem Temple.

Herod was not a Jew but an Idumean, that is a man of Edom, a nation descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother.

The Jews regarded him as a foreigner and resented his rule.

Herod was suspicious and cruel. He had a habit of killing his wives and sons when he got the idea that they were conspiring against him.

So he didn’t welcome the news of a new king and planned to kill him.

We read that “all Jerusalem was troubled with him.” I don’t suppose the people of Jerusalem were afraid of a new baby king. They were afraid of what a murderous Herod might do if he felt threatened.

B. So, after they left Jerusalem, the wise men continued on the six miles to Bethlehem. We read that “the star that they had seen in the east went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.”

I take it that this star that guided them to the house where Jesus was, was a miraculous star. A star several light years away, high in the sky, couldn’t have guided them to a single spot on earth.

We don’t know when they arrived. Tradition has it that it was January 6, which is called The Feast of the Epiphany. Children in some countries open their presents January 6 in honor of the wise men’s visit.

We read, “Going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.” The word now is “child,” not “baby,” as before. And by this time the Holy Family were living in a house. It could have been months or years later.

When Herod sent his troops to kill the babies, he had them kill all the boys two years old and under.

II. Notice that before they presented their gifts, they gave themselves to Jesus. “They fell down and worshiped him.”

A. The wise men are an example to us. All who belong to Jesus must humble themselves before him and worship.

That is one reason why we go to church. But worship should not only be in church. Worship should be in all we do.

Then they presented their gifts.

There is a lesson here for us.

True worship requires more than words and intentions of the heart. True worship requires that we give ourselves to our Christ.

True worship costs—I won’t tell you what it will cost you, but only that it will cost.

It will cost time, possessions, and the effort of honoring God in all we do.

In the letter to the Colossians, Paul writes, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Their gifts were the most precious things they had, gifts suitable to honor a king.

We can guess that they also were practical too, because when Joseph, Mary and the child had to flee to Egypt and live as refugees there, the gold, frankincense, and myrrh could be used to pay some of the expenses.

B. I picture these magi as men of great dignity and wisdom. But they were also humble.

When they didn’t find Jesus among the great and powerful, they followed the star to the little town of Bethlehem, and then to the humble house of a carpenter and his family. And they recognized a most unlikely king lying in his crib—and they worshiped.

Learned as they were, they had simple hearts.

Jesus came for everyone—great and small—but when the great come to him, they come just like everyone else—with faith and love.

C. Then, warned of Herod’s murderous intentions, “they departed to their own country by another way.”

Some see in these words another lesson from the story of the wise men and Jesus.

When we have met Jesus and responded with faith, obedience, and love, we’re never the same again.

Just as the wise men came by one way and went home by another way.

Our life without God takes us on one road, but when we meet Jesus we are directed to another road—God’s road, which ends with Glory.

CONCLUSION

The magi didn’t have any scriptures, but they followed the light they had, and God called them to his Son.

Jesus’s own people had the scriptures and they studied them, but they didn’t come—even the six miles to Bethlehem.

The Magi have a lesson for us. They didn’t just study the star—or admire it—they followed it.

They responded to God’s initiative.

We may not be theologians or scholars of the Bible, but God will nudge us in the right direction. It is up to us to obey those nudgings—to seek God as he calls us to himself.

I heard a preacher say once, “A seeking Savior and a seeking sinner will not long be apart.”

At the end of Matthew’s gospel we read these words of Jesus: “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

So at the beginning of the story and again at the end we have the teaching that Jesus is for the whole world. He came for Jews; he came for Gentiles. He came for the poor. He came for the rich.

He came for you; he came for me.

O come let us adore him;

O come let us adore him;

O come let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

Luke 1:35-38: Mary, Our Lord’s Mother

INTRODUCTION

Mary’s assignment came like a bolt out of the blue.

The time had come for God to become incarnate and begin life on earth.

But God needed a woman to bring his precious gift into the earth.

So God looked around and he looked around and he chose the perfect girl.

She was very young, only a teen-ager, and she was engaged to a good man named Joseph.

This girl had the most common girl’s name in the land of Israel: “Maryam” in the Aramaic language of the Jews, or in English, “Mary.”

In the New Testament we read of 7 different women named “Mary.” All of them were important in the story of the gospel.

But this Mary is the one God chose to be Jesus’s mother, and she’s the one we see pictured on the Christmas cards and kneeling by the manger in the nativity sets.

The Bible says not one word about Mary’s appearance—whether she was tall or short or pretty or plain—but we always imagine her as a radiant young woman, her face lit up with a sort of holy glow. She certainly had a beautiful soul.

Let’s read the familiar story from the beginning, as recorded in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, “Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;

and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,

and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever;

and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

And Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no husband?”

And the angel said to her,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (vv26-35).

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (v38).

I. We are so charmed by the beauty of the story and the way it’s represented in the Christmas paintings and the Christmas pageants and in the Christmas music that we may forget what a huge thing God asked of Mary.

A. Mary was engaged, but not married. Right away, she had a tremendous problem. To be found pregnant before marriage would be to bear the heavy burden of shame. Who was going to believe her story about the angel?

In fact, all through the ages, doubters have questioned Jesus’s miraculous birth.

Even poor Joseph, much as he loved his dear fiancée, had decided, according to Matthew’s Gospel, to break off the engagement quietly.

So God sent the angel to Joseph too, and said, “Do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1.20-21).

When the child was only a few weeks old the Holy Family took the child to the Temple and there an old prophet named Simeon held the baby and predicted his future. Then he told Mary: “A sword will pierce through your own soul!”

Sometimes Mary is called “Our Lady of Sorrows.”

Mary would live to see her Son hang upon the cross. She would experience great grief.

B. But Mary was also granted a huge privilege. That is why the angel said, “Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you.”

Mary rejoiced in God’s grace to her. She said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name” (Luke 1:46-49).

Mary was Jesus’s first teacher. Mary taught little Jesus what love means.

Jesus’s mother taught him right and wrong, how to share his toys, and how to care about others.

Mary was Jesus’s example of purity, and truthfulness, and courage, and generosity, and kindness.

Mary taught Jesus his first prayers.

Joseph was there too. When God chose Mary to be Jesus’s mother, he chose Joseph to be the earthly Father for Jesus. Together Mary and Joseph taught Jesus his Bible stories. They taught him to fear and love and obey God.

They took him to synagogue worship.

II. But what I love most about Mary—and the way she is an example for us—is in her response to the angel’s announcement: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

A. We can see in Mary’s response, why God chose her to be the mother of the Savior.

Mary was a young woman whose heart was open to God.

Her greatest desire was to please God.

The word translated “handmaid” could as be well translated “slave girl.”

The guiding principle of Mary’s life was obedience to God’s will.

God asked of her a hard assignment.

She would often be perplexed. Her life would be full of surprises. Over and over we read: “And Mary pondered these things in her heart” or “Mary treasured up these things in her heart.”

B. So Mary is our example of what it means to belong to God.

Only one person in all the earth could have the privilege Mary had—to be the mother of our Lord.

But God also calls us. He calls us to be his servants.

He calls us to bear Christ in our lives before the world.

I want to read you the story of a little incident that happened in the life of Jesus.

In Mark 3 we read an account of a time when Jesus was with a crowd sitting about him when someone came and said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.”

And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

It doesn’t take anything away from the honor due our Lord’s mother to hear Jesus telling us that those who do the will of God are in the closest relationship possible to him.

The blessing of our Lord’s mother can be ours as well if we take our place before him as his handmaids—his servants.

Notice, he doesn’t say, “Whoever has faith in me is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

He doesn’t say, “Whoever loves me is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Faith and love are wonderful—and they are essential—but it is obedience that proves both our faith and our love: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

CONCLUSION

Some people think that the strongest Christians are the people who have the strongest opinions and are always ready to argue for their faith.

Some people think they are strong believers because they feel their hearts to be full of love. They say, “If only Jesus were here I would throw my arms around him and hug him. I would wash his feet. Nothing would be too good for my Jesus.”

But the strong believer is the one who acts on her faith—who puts her faith to work in practical ways—who serves God by serving others.

If you want to know Jesus better and love him more—then set about to determine what he wants you to do and do it!

The best Christian isn’t the best talker—or even the best Bible reader.

The one who really loves Jesus is the one who knows how spend time in prayer … the one who confesses sins… who knows how to forgive…who has a kind word for everyone… who is willing to help—even if it costs something.

The one who really loves Jesus, who is close to him—the one Jesus calls his “mother,” his “sister,” his “brother”—is the one who is always looking for ways to please Jesus by doing his Word.

At Christmas time, people get all carried away by the music, and the lights, and the trees, and the food, and the cards coming in the mail, and the shopping and gift-giving—and sometimes Jesus gets left behind the tree somewhere.

Here’s the importance of Christmas—Jesus is Christ, the Lord!

Is he your Lord?

Acts 20:35: “It Is More Blessed to Give Than to Receive”

INTRODUCTION

One time when I was teaching sixth grade—it was near Christmas time, and we were talking about Christmas presents—and I remarked to my students, “You know, it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

One of my best students—a girl—said, “Mr. Sommerville, that just makes no sense!”

That it is more blessed to give than to receive made no sense to her because she was so young—she had so little experience in life.

She was a thoughtful child. She was telling it as she saw it.

Now that little girl would be in her 60s, and she has done a lot of giving and receiving; I am pretty sure that she has a different view by now.

Do you know where that saying comes from?

I. It’s in the Bible. Jesus said it. But it’s not in the gospels. It’s in the Book of Acts, in the 20th chapter.

St. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem to be in time for the Festival of Pentecost. What Paul didn’t know, but we know, is that there he would be arrested, spend several years in prison, experience a shipwreck, end up under house arrest in Rome, where he would eventually be executed.

However, at this place in the story, he had made a stop at a town named Miletus, where he sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus because he wanted to bid them farewell.

He would doubtless have preferred to make a visit to Ephesus, which was a few miles inland, but there was no time, so he sent word to the leaders of the church to meet him at Miletus for a visit.

In his speech, as recorded in Acts 20, Paul told these people how he had served them with humility and with tears and with trials. He reminded them that he had been faithful in teaching them in public and from house to house.

He also told them that he was on his way to Jerusalem, knowing that there would be afflictions awaiting him there. But he had no choice, he said, because he felt compelled to finish his work of proclaiming the gospel.

It was a sad speech because, as he told them, this was his farewell. He knew that he would never return to Ephesus.

Paul used himself as an example of what it means to belong to Jesus.

His example would be especially powerful because his listeners knew him well, and they knew that every word he said was the true.

Let me read the last part of the speech in Paul’s own words (Acts 20:31-end):

“Be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. [At this point, we can picture Paul holding up his work-worn hands. He goes on] In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they brought him to the ship.

As I said, one might take these words for boasting, except that these people knew Paul well, and they knew that he was example of everything he taught.

He had taught them and warned them of dangers and wept for them.

He had supported not only himself but also his companions with his own hands. They had seen him hard at work sewing the heavy haircloth of the tents he made for his living.

They knew that he wasn’t interested in their silver or gold, but only in their souls.

They knew that he had taught him daily, in public and house to house.

And he had set them an example. And it is that example that he wants them to remember.

And so he gives us some words of Jesus that are not included in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

II. We all have experienced the embarrassment and awkwardness of receiving. And we have experienced the joy of giving.

A. It’s easier to give than to receive, isn’t it?

So often when someone does a generous action or presents us with a generous gift, it humbles us.

We think, even if we don’t say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have!” Or, “How can I repay you?”

When you receive an unexpected gift, you have a feeling of obligation.

But when you give an unexpected gift you have a feeling of fulfilling your purpose in the world.

The happiest people in the world aren’t those who have the most but those who feel the most useful—the ones who feel like their lives have blessed others.

So, it is important also to be able to receive—and so to let another person feel blessed. We don’t have to feel embarrassed—or obligated—or unworthy—we just have to feel loved.

I want to give you a little warning here. I am not talking about gifts that expected of you—like Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, or wedding gifts.

I am talking about things you do—just because you want to—whether they cost money…or time…or effort…or imagination.

B. There are many ways to give. Money is obvious, but there are other ways to give.

Another way of giving is to give time—the time it takes to listen. If you’re lonely, to have someone spend time with you can be a welcome gift.

Kind words are another way to give. Words of encouragement, or forgiveness, compliments, or words that show you care. Have you ever given a compliment and had the person say, “Thanks, I needed that”? Or, “You’ve made my day”? I have.

Here is a story you can relate to. I found it in an Upper Room devotional booklet, from February 27, 2013. The writer is Charles Axe. Mr. Axe was a convict.

He tells how he was brought to the doctor’s office and was sitting there in his orange prison jump suit, and handcuffed to his two armed guards.

The officers had brought him there because he had just experienced a heart attack.

He understood the reactions of the other patients as they looked him over—the glancing looks, their keeping their distance, their silence.

Here is his account of what happened next:

“An elderly woman walked in, smiled, and said, ‘God bless you. I hope you are doing well.’”

“I replied, ‘I’m fine.’ “Suddenly, my anxious feelings were replaced with calm. ‘Thank you,’ I added.

“Afterwards in the van heading back to the prison, I thought how that one person looked beyond the outward signs of what most consider a second-class citizen and saw a person—a person who, though surely one of God’s own people, was in many ways estranged from the human family. Maybe it was simply that she saw an opportunity to do good.”

Then Mr. Axe writes this,

“The apostle Paul reminds us that as Christians we are called to show consideration and care for others, particularly for those in need and “of low position. While such actions may not always come naturally, that special effort can make a significant and lasting impression on people’s lives. It did for me.”

Never underestimate the importance of a kind word.

Never underestimate the importance of a welcoming smile.

Help is a good gift. That is why so many people get pleasure out of volunteering.

One of our residents has a granddaughter who spent many weeks at St. Luke’s Hospital. Since he was at the hospital so much, he began to volunteer. Now, many years later, his granddaughter is in high school. But our friend still goes to the hospital to work for free as a volunteer every Friday.

I have a friend who goes to the waiting room of the cancer clinic every week to welcome and help the people as they wait for their treatments.

At one time this friend belonged to a group who volunteered to sit with dying patients in shifts, to make sure that no one of them would die alone.

I read a story about a person who was engaged in this kind of hospice ministry. The man he was sitting with slept most of the time, and the volunteer began to wonder whether what he was doing was really worthwhile. One day as he was sitting there, wondering whether he should leave, his patient opened his eyes and said, “I love it when you are here. It’s just so peaceful.”

And the volunteer knew that his time had been well spent.

For a time I used to volunteer at the Mission of Hope, a mission on First Avenue that serves lunch to needy folks, operates a food pantry, and conducts Bible studies and also church services.

I was impressed by the faithfulness of the volunteers who came every day to work for free to help those in need.

In Romans 12 the apostle writes, “Love one another with brotherly and sisterly love. Outdo one another in showing honor” (v10).

Some gifts don’t cost much, but they require imagination. One day we came out of church and went to get into the car, and there on the seat was a beautiful pie. We never learned who had honored us with the pie. We had no one to thank. It made us want to be especially nice to everyone.

C. The verse I read speaks of the blessedness of giving. It’s not only better to give than to get but it brings more happiness.

“Blessed” is really just a stronger word for “happy.” Someone said that “blessedness is happiness with God at the core.

Psychologists have done experiments that reveal that giving stimulates pleasure centers in the brain.

This is one reason why, psychologists say, that most of us find more pleasure in giving than in receiving.

I suspect that as you look back on what were the most satisfying experiences of your life, they may have been times when you gave a gift that cost you something.

A Christian businessman had made a lot of money and then lost it all. Someone said to him, “If you hadn’t given so much away, you’d still be a rich man.”

He answered, “What I gave away was all I kept.”

This is what Jesus meant when he spoke of laying up treasure in heaven.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:38).

A NOTE AT THE END

But I want to add; most of us are better at giving than we are at receiving.

We must be willing to receive as well as give—because when we receive we let others be blessed.

I think with regret times when I was unwilling to accept gifts from others because I was embarrassed at their extravagance. I see now that was wrong.

So when someone offers to do a favor for you, don’t be embarrassed or wonder how you can repay her. Receive the gift gratefully. And if you feel indebted—just pass it on by doing someone else a favor.

That’s the best way to repay a favor—pass it on. If everyone would do that, earth would be like heaven.