Based on Luke 2:41-52

Recently I made a trip to 29 Palms Marine Corps base to meet with some of our Wisconsin Synod members who live there, but also to meet with a military chaplain who is stationed there. He’s a Navy chaplain that serves the Marine Corps there. I had the opportunity to sit down and have breakfast with him and listen to his story.

He’s about 54 years old, and he’s only been in the Navy for two years. He had to get a waiver for that, but this wasn’t on his radar at all. He had been a teacher, he had been a pastor in the Missouri Synod, and then some of the Missouri Synod recruiters for the chaplaincy started talking to him, and he said, “You know what? I think this is something that I could do.” Just listening to his story, you can tell he is right where he needs to be.

What about you? Do you feel that you are right where you need to be? And have you always felt that way? Are you one of those people who knew from the time you were little or maybe in high school that you wanted to serve your country in our nation’s military?

Or maybe you’re someone who has always desired to serve in that honorable vocation of being a stay-at-home mom or dad while your spouse continues their military career.

Or are you someone who struggles with where you are right now, and you ask this question: Is this where I need to be right now? That is a question that I often get from our warfighters and from those who support them, and especially from the Marine recruits at MCRD in San Diego.

Now just imagine as a 12-year-old knowing exactly where you needed to be and what you needed to do with your life. That seems incredible, but that’s exactly what we see when we read Luke chapter 2. It contains the story of Mary and Joseph and their family as they travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. They offer sacrifices there in the temple and then head home to Nazareth, but Jesus remains and stays in the temple in Jerusalem.

As you read the story, you see that Jesus schools the religious teachers in the Old Testament Scriptures—the prophecies that point to him and his work, which are a clear roadmap of his life, his death, and even his resurrection.

Jesus allows his family to travel one day north toward Nazareth. Mary and Joseph do a frantic search, realizing that Jesus isn’t with them. They run back to Jerusalem, and after three days find their 12-year-old boy, not cowering in some alleyway, but in the temple, with a full understanding of where he needed to be.

He says to Mary his mother, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). He was, of course, speaking of his heavenly Father, begotten from eternity. And his house was that temple, which was a picture of God’s presence among his people.

But now God himself stood among his people in the flesh. That’s where he needed to be. And this temple was where sacrifices were brought and offered by the priest, which was a picture of what Jesus came to be—your High Priest, to bring that one sacrifice of himself for the sins of all people, for you and for me.

During this time between Christmas and New Year’s, it’s good for us to ponder these things just as Mary did and to marvel that a 12-year-old knew exactly where he needed to be. Not for his benefit, but for yours—knowing that this roadmap of his life that he saw in the Scriptures, his life and death and resurrection, would benefit you eternally.

That puts a proper perspective on your life right now here on this earth. Because maybe you don’t have life figured out. You’re not exactly sure this is where you want to be or what you want to do with your life.

On the other hand, maybe your life is like that chaplain at 29 Palms who is flourishing in his vocation. Maybe that’s you. Praise and thank God for that!

Either way, right now Jesus has you right where he needs you to be, and know that it’s going to be okay. Jesus has it all figured out for you. He has you where you need to be right now, and you are where you are right now to love and serve and respect those around you and to be a blessing to someone else.

Thank God that you are right where you need to be.

Prayer:
Almighty God, in mercy you sent your one and only Son to take upon himself our human nature. By his gracious coming, deliver us from the corruption of our sin, and transform us into the likeness of his glory.

Tomorrow on December 28th, the Army Chaplain assistants, a Religious Affairs Specialist, celebrate their anniversary. Since the time of the Revolutionary War, soldiers of exceptional quality have served alongside our United States Army Chaplains, providing spiritual care and facilitating spiritual care, so that all might have the freedom to practice their religion, and caring for all. We thank you especially that through Religious Affairs Specialists, faithful Christians in our nation’s military have had the freedom to worship the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and without hindrance.

We pray that you continue to keep those doors open in our nation’s military so that your faithful people might continue to hear the good news of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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