Excerpts of The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up Have you caught the "holiday spirit" yet? How do you get into the holiday mood? Do you rely on others or events to spark your "Christmas feeling?" What are your expectations of the season? What do you want from Christmas? It's coming. Christmas is in the air. No matter where we go, we are reminded of holiday cheer. In fact, many rely on the atmosphere-The lights, the sounds, the smells of the holidays to bring us out of our doldrums. We expect people, places, or events to create the mood that Christmas brings. Human nature tempts us to lean on others to bolster our condition. We expect others to "fix" us when we are down, sustain us when we are "up." We are tempted to treat God the same way. God, the Mr. Fix-it for our souls. What happens when God doesn't "fix" us? How many times have we been disappointed when our expectations of God are unfulfilled? How many times have we confused faith with expectation? How many times have we forgotten that God defines himself? John the Baptist had expectations about the One to come. Did Jesus fulfill his expectations? Or, did Jesus define his mission on his own terms? Let's look at our text. What was going on 100 years ago? It's December, the year is 1904. Japan was beating up on Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. The World's Fair was wrapping up in 8t. Louis, after a visit from President Theodore Roosevelt. The Wright Brothers' flight, performed a year earlier, had not received much coverage, so people were still wondering if air travel would ever get off the ground.....then, all of a sudden, a flying boy appears. His name? Peter Pan. In December 1904, this classic character pops up on a London stage in a play called Peter Pan, Or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. The play is turned into a novel in 1911, and the rest they say is history. Peter now shows up in an animated film a television musical and action movie versions. The short summary is that Peter invites a girl named Wendy to travel via fairy dust to Neverland, to be a mother to his gang of Lost Boys. Many adventures unfold, including battles with Peter's archenemy Captain Hook, but in the end Wendy decides that the best place for her is back at home with her family. Peter never really develops as a person because he stubbornly holds on to his Neverland view of reality. He shuts out grown-up thoughts, feelings and responsibilities, and as a result never experiences mature human emotion. He does not come to know the joy - but also the heartbreak - of falling in love, marrying, having children, raising a family, holding down a job, experiencing success, enduring failure, growing old. He's a victim of his own' "Peter Pan Syndrome" - a refusal to grow up, settle down and commit. Do you ever suspect that we, too, at times would prefer that Jesus be the boy who doesn't grow up, to be the baby who stays in the manger? We would rather hold on to a soft, cuddly, manageable Messiah who breathes sweet baby breath and coos at the sound of lowing cattle. We love the Christ child in the creche, the shepherds kneeling, the angel chorus singing, the magi worshiping, camels trekking across a midnight desert under the light of a brilliant nova-star leading the way, the holy family gathered. We love this. We wish it could be this way all year. After all, this is a magical time of year. There are jolly elves, Santa's sleigh, flying reindeer. The lights, and carols, and decorations, all combine to evoke the memory of Christmases past, of good times and better years. It fills us with what one observer has called a sort of "Peterpandemonium," in which we long for that which will escort us back to simpler and cherished times. We're not really too enthused or enthralled with the idea that this child will leave the crib for the cross. This child will grow up, and call us all to pick up our crosses and follow him. Ouch. There doesn't seem to be much magic in maturity. The Peter Pan syndrome didn't afflict Jesus in any way, which is why we should look at him as The Boy Who Did Grow Up - even as we celebrate his birth. Unlike Peter Pan, Jesus did grow up ... and it is only through the lens of his maturation, ministry, death and resurrection that we can truly appreciate the wonder of his birth. Luke tells us that the child Jesus "grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him". At age 12, he went with his parents to the festival of the Passover in Jerusalem, and then he slipped off to the temple without his parents' knowledge. His disappearance frightened and frustrated his mother and father, but Jesus simply took this time of separation as a sign of his maturation. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked them. "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" For Jesus, growing up meant breaking out of a sentimental Christmas-card world of family togetherness. It meant discovering for himself, for the very first time, just exactly what God was calling him to be and to do. Jesus settled down, but not with a wife and kids. Contrary to what The Da Vinci Code would say, the family of Jesus did not begin with a marriage to Mary Magdalene, but instead it started with the calling of 12 disciples and a number of other faithful followers. When pressed to describe his family, Jesus said, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it" (8:21). In our text this morning, we have a grown up Jesus. His ministry has swelled in popularity, and we find him discovering what God was calling him to. What is God calling you to? What ministries are you involved in, now that you are grown up? So, the first point is that we need to grow up in our faith so that: We realize who Christ is. The Bible encourages us to "in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ" (Ephesians 4:15). Christmas is a wonderful thing. It is a good beginning. But at some point in time we have to let Jesus out of the cradle. We have to allow him to grow up, and we must grow up with him. We have to go from thinking of him as a baby and understand that he is God who came and wrapped himself in human flesh for a time. We have to go from wonder to worship. We have to understand that there is more to the story than a baby in the hay. In that cradle lay the hope of the ages. In that stall was the salvation of the world. The story about a child being born is true and it is wonderful, but we have to go beyond being charmed by it and be changed by it. We have to see beyond the tradition and be transformed. We have to go beyond the admiration of a child to the adoration of a Savior. You do not truly understand Christmas until you find yourself on your knees in worship. If Christmas was only a baby being born, there is the temporary joy of a new birth, but if it was God coming to the world then it is an everlasting joy that does not fade with the passing of time. As the Bible says, we have "an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1 :3-4). This, then. is truly Good News. It is real hope, and life can be eternally different. Jesus avoided the Peter Pan Syndrome by being a person who made a commitment. At his baptism, he received the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God. In his temptation, he allowed himself to be protected and guided by the word of God. In his ministry, he followed the Spirit and brought good news to the poor, release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he submitted himself completely to the will of God. On the cross, he cried out, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" (23:46). Jesus was all about commitment, and keeping the promises he had made to God. HIs growth took him far beyond the narrow world of self-interest and personal pleasure, and his maturation led him through sacrifice and suffering to a place that could be reached only by total faith in the power of God. Jesus never stopped growing until he was nailed to the cross, and then God carried him into the glory of resurrection life. So. how are you growing? Are your expectations different than where you find yourself in your faith walk. Is it time for us to grow up in our faith and commitment? That's a place that Peter Pan can never reach. The kingdom of God is an Everland - not a Neverland - waiting for those who grow up in the faith, not for those who insist on staying behind. So let's celebrate the birth of Jesus, and join the shepherds and angels in praising God for the gift of the Christ child. To us is "born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord" (2:11). He's the Boy Who Will Grow Up. |