Batman & the Quest for the Lost Children
Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas – 29 December 2024 – All Saints Kesgrave
Text: Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. (Luke 2v41-42)
God give you peace my sisters and brothers.
The summer of ‘66, though we had heard about World Cup Willie and the quest for something called the Jules Rimet trophy, was memorable for my nine-year-old brother and my ten-year-old self for other reasons. During the summer holidays the very first Batman movie was released and we were determined to watch it. Dad was at sea, mum was at work, we had scraped together some pocket money, so off we went to the Criterion Theatre in Forton Road, Gosport for the matinee showing absolutely certain we’d be home long before either of our parents knew we’d left home. Well that was the plan…
It was a rather good movie and before we left our seats they started showing it again, we weren’t ushered away by any usherette, so we settled down for a second free viewing, and a third. Halfway through the fourth showing we were getting hungry so decided to go home not knowing that mum had got off work early, didn’t find us at home, and had the police out looking for her lost boys. She was so relieved when we got home she didn’t even send us to bed without supper or give us a good hiding bit instead cuddled us and fed us and promised us both Timex wristwatches for Christmas presents. Which were duly received and treasured throughout our teenage years.
She, having worried that we were lost, was overjoyed that we had been found. We, on the other hand weren’t lost at all as we knew where we were the whole time, and were a little mystified about the whole hullabaloo. After all surely everyone knew that the Batman Movie had just been released and watching is exactly where 9 and 10 year old boys would be?
Now my mother, God rest her soul, would never ever lay claim to being the Virgin Mary but she was, like all mothers hope to be, someone who loved her babies and grand babies and walked the tightrope between holding them close and letting them go for all of her life.
Much as Mary and Joseph did over the tweenager Jesus. She and Joseph were sure they had lost the child entrusted to them by the Lord GOD Almighty, Jesus (on the other hand) knew exactly where He was – He was where He was meant to be.
Scratch a little beneath the surface of this story and we can find a lesson to learn from this tale and hopefully be a tad less confused than Jesus’ parents were.
In first Century Palestine Passover was kind of like Christmas before people had worked out what Christmas was. A festival of freedom!
A celebration of God’s blessing! A time for everyone to have a party, eat far too much, share with those who need a little help and perhaps have a long kip in the tent the day afterwards. To be honest I’m surprised that archaeologists have not yet unearthed a scroll by one of Chris Rea’s ancestors of that famous hit song ‘Driving Home for Pesach’…
What seemed to have happened to the Holy family, as we may have noticed amongst our own families this Christmas, is that they got so wrapped up in the feasting they forgot the festival, so involved in the (very yummy) Passover, and for us Christmas, foods[1] they forgot the reason behind the meal! They were so concerned with celebrating they perhaps forget to remember and even went as far as forgetting to remember their child.
But Jesus, in his young years knew where He should be and what He should be doing. And so, not for the last time a child reminds the adults what the real meaning of a celebration is.
Yes, the festival of Christmas is lovely.
Yes, we must celebrate at Christmas – especially in times of darkness.
Yes, at Christmas we must gather together to share meat and drink with those who have little.
But at Christmas we must also remember why we are here.
Which is, simply, to remember.
We are here to remember that God loves us when we take God for granted, when we forget God, when we ignore God or even when we hate God.
We are here to remember that God gives us families, of all shapes and sizes, in which we can grow up not just big but also ‘grow up good’, and to be thankful as best we can for those who live with us.
We are here to remember that no matter how young or old we are, we still need to sit and learn together the ‘Old, Old Story’ of God’s great unwarranted, undeserved love.
So, before Christmas runs away with us – we have time as Twelfth Night is still seven sleeps away – how will we be with the boy Jesus in the Temple?
Are we able to go back to the festival of His Nativity and sit through the story one more time and dive a little deeper into God’s love?
Perhaps now, in this time which some of my friends call ‘Twixtmas, we should, as did two young brothers in the summer of 1966, watch, read, listen to something really important again and again until we finally discover that here, in our Father’s House, is where we should have been spending more and more of our time?
Now is a good time to decide to start attending weekday worship.
Now is a good time to plan to pick up the habit of daily Bible Reading.
Now is a good time to plan a day of Quiet during Lent in time for Easter.
Now is a good time to plan to simply come into this church – which is now open every day – to light a candle, breathe a prayer, sit quietly, and know that you are held in the hand of the One who holds the whole world.
Now is a good time to plan a New Year resolution which includes the One Who Loves us Best at its heart. Join me on this pilgrimage to our Father’s House, the Home of Love.
[This blog ‘Batman & the Quest for the Lost Children’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2024 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged]
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The Boy Jesus at the Temple
Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’
49 ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
(Luke 2v41-52)
[1] The food used in the Passover Meal reflects the journey of the Children of Israel during the Exodus from Egypt to the present day with many foods being added to the Seder plate over the centuries. Jesus also ate these foods and some churches celebrate this with a meal using some of them in Holy Week. If you would like a copy of an Order of Service used for such a meal please get in touch.
Suffolk Vicar 