Growing in Wisdom by Rev. Dr. Jay Marshall Groat – December 29, 2024, at Mount Vernon, Ohio, based on Luke 2: 41-52

This is one of our lectionary readings today that we share with Christian communities all over the world. There are a lot of congregations this morning taking a look at this passage. We got Jesus born on Wednesday; Tuesday night was Christmas Eve. Got Jesus born on Wednesday. Four days later he’s 12 years old, and he’s going off with his parents and another large group on an official trip. They had to make some official trips to the temple – they lived that close – a few times a year. It was typical to go in a large group. It’s easy to lose someone in a large group. It happened to me once. Our son, Jackson, was probably 5 or 6, and we were at Cedar Point, riding the rides and doing all the things you do at Cedar Point. Vicki went to the restroom, it was very crowded, it was summer, so I was in charge of Jackson. I can take you to the spot in the park. For those of you who know Cedar Point, it was in the western part– what’s it called? Frontier Town, right. I turned my back for a second and I turned back around, and he was gone. He was gone. The whole experience of not knowing where he was lasted probably about 10 seconds. Have you heard of this Einstein guy who had this notion that time is relative? You know how long that 10 seconds was? I was in a busy mall once years ago and I witnessed a young mom who couldn’t find her child, and it was horrifying. I never saw the end of that, never saw what the ending of that was. But I lost Jackson for about 10 seconds, and he’s an adult now so I don’t have to worry about losing him. But I got to experience that once.

Luke is the only one that tells us this story. In all of the history of Christianity Luke is the only one. It’s a fascinating story. This morning in our moments together I’m going to focus on how the story ends. I’ve always been fascinated about that. Depending on the translation, Luke tells us the end result of all this conflict between Jesus and his parents and then there’s resolution and then Jesus gets the opportunity as a precocious 12-year-old to say to his parents, “Why were you upset? I was where I was supposed to be.” OK, 12-year-old know-it-all. Luke ends this account saying that Jesus, the young boy, grew in wisdom and in stature. That’s a typical translation. Wisdom is “sophia.” He grew in wisdom and stature. The Greek word for “stature” does not mean height, physical height, it’s spirit and soul. Those words jump off the page to me, and I find it very inspiring, and I want them to be inspiring to you, because we have this notion, traditionally in Christianity, of Jesus being fully God and fully human. I think most of us this morning understands that paradox. Well, if you’re fully God and you’re fully human, if you’re growing in wisdom, it means you don’t know something that you’re going to know tomorrow, right? Am I right on this?

One of my mentors said to me, “Remember, Jay, you never cross the finish line of learning.” The race is never over. As I get older, and as my body gets older – and I’m knocking on wood for good luck – there are mornings when I wake up and say, “What is this? I’ve never experienced this before. This is something I guess I have to learn.” Right? I get to approach the line of learning again. I don’t understand, I need to learn. I love this notion that Jesus had to learn. So, I’m prepared to share with you this morning the concept of faith development. Our faith can develop.

James Fowler, 50-plus years ago – I’m reading now – “was an American theologian who was professor of theology and human development at Emory University. He was director of the Center for Research on Faith and Moral Development” – that sounds like a really interesting place, doesn’t it? “He was a minister in the United Methodist Church, and he wrote a very famous book. The title of the book is ‘Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning.’” He put forth the possibility that we’re able to look at the development of our faith as occurring in stages. He sets it out in a linear fashion, these stages that we can go through. He’s very famous in human development and faith development circles. He’s no longer with us, and if he were here today, I would say, “Dr. Fowler, I have studied your faith development theories. I have studied them on my own, I have studied them in an academic setting, and I’m here to tell you that you almost got it right.” What do you think he’d say? I don’t know, I never met the man. I’d say, “You almost got it right. I really like what you came up with, but it’s not linear, it’s circular.” Here’s where I’m going with this.

The first stage is actually called Stage Zero. Quote – “Stage Zero is primal, undifferentiated faith, ages birth to 2.” You and I probably don’t remember this, and this stage is not going to surprise you. “In the first stage of faith development here a baby acquires experiences from the outer environment that either instill in the child a feeling of trust and assurance from being comforted living in a secure and stable environment and experiencing a sense of consistency and care from parents. These personalized experiences essentially translate into feelings of trust and assurance in a universal harmony with the divine.” In other words, from age 0 to 2 if we as babies are experiencing trust and safety, it’s going to affect, Fowler says, there’s a very good chance it’s going to affect our concept of God and faith later on. Now he goes on to say what happens to babies who do not experience trust and safety. This also affects us later on in life. My image for Stage Zero is a stuffed animal, for a baby. This is a very safe and trusting shark that we got our son on a trip to North Carolina. There’s an aquarium in North Carolina along the coast and we went there and we bought him and we named this shark Terror, and he used to sleep with it. So that’s Stage Zero, Fowler says.

Stage One: Intuitive, subjective faith. This is ages 3 to 7. “Children at this stage have acquired language and the ability to work with symbols to express thoughts. Faith at this stage, ages 3 to 7, is experiential and develops through encounters with stories, images and the influence of others. The child can develop a deeper, intuitive sense of what is right and wrong, and innocent perceptions of how God causes the universe to function.” I’ve shared it with you before, I’m going to share it again – when I was a little kid, and I know it was ages 3 through 7, I used to sit out there in the pews while my dad was up here preaching, and in the church in our pews were Bibles. Every 20 pages or so there were simple line drawings, and Sunday after Sunday I was drawn to the same one. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Everyone who hears and does these words of mine will be like the wise man who built his house upon rock.” Remember that? And there was a very simple line drawing of a wise man building a house on rock. In this stage we can learn through symbols about God and about faith. So, I brought a tape measure because we’re going to look at the line drawing in our imagination of the man building a house on a rock. This is a very small tape measure that you can use to build your house. That’s Stage One. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature.

Stage Two: Mythic, literal faith, ages 7 to 12. “Children at this stage have a belief in justice and fairness in religious matters, a sense of reciprocity in the workings of the universe. Doing good will result in a good result, doing bad will cause a bad thing to happen.” Does this sound familiar? This is why I believe these are circular. We circle back to these. I do. “And we have an anthropomorphic image of God. For example, a man with a long, white beard who lives in the clouds. Religious metaphors are often taken literally.” Do you know any adults who take religious metaphors literally? This is Stage Two, and we circle back to it, and it’s OK, I think. We can circle back to Stage Two a lot of times when we pray, and when we bargain with God. I’m probably the only person here who’s ever bargained with God, said something to God sort of along the lines of, “If X could just happen, if God could make X happen, then I would do be Y, I would be Y.” This is a very common part of the journey of faith development. My image for this stage is praying hands. We’re going to do it later in the service. It’s part of our faith development.

Stage Four: Intuitive, reflective faith, ages mid-20s to late 30s. We’re evolving here. “This stage is often characterized by angst and struggle as the individual takes personal responsibility for their beliefs and feelings. Religious or spiritual beliefs can take on greater complexity and shades of nuance and there’s a greater sense of open-mindedness, which can at the same time open up the individual to potential conflicts as different beliefs or traditions collide.” Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to good people who pray? This is Stage Four. My symbol for Stage Four is – I’ll turn my back. It’s interesting, I’m looking at the cross while I do this. Do you see what I’m making in the sky here? It’s a question mark. I made a question mark, and I’m going to put it here. That’s the stage when we have questions.

Stage Five: Conjunctive faith. By the way, the good news for you, it’s almost 10 after 10. There’re six stages, we’re on five. Conjunctive faith. In parentheses Fowler puts “midlife crisis.” “A person at this stage acknowledges paradoxes and mysteries. Attention on transcendent values. This causes a person to move beyond the conventional religious traditions or beliefs he may have carried from previous stages of development. A resolution of the conflicts at this stage occurs when the person is able to hold a multidimensional perspective that acknowledges truth as something that cannot be articulated through any particular statement of faith.” In the Easter story, Pilate asks Jesus – do you remember the question, one of the questions he asks Jesus, anybody? What is truth? Now this is a trick question. I’m telling you it’s a trick question, my question is. Pilate asks, “What is truth?” The question I have is, “What does Jesus say in response?” Anybody remember? Silence. You would think that a religion and its Bible, you would think we would reach a crescendo point where we’ve got “God made flesh” in attendance with the power of society, and the power of society says, “I really want to know what is truth. We’re waiting, God made flesh.” Frederick Buechner, writer and minister, said that Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” and Jesus gave him the most profound answer of all. Silence.

I think I’ll run for president, and that will be my theme. I’ll stand before the nation and say what we need more is silence. You think I’ll get elected? I’ll bet I get some votes. We need more of it. We need a lot more of it. That’s Stage Five. And then Stage Six, symbolized by the heart. Stage Six – and remember, it’s circular – I like to say on our good days. On our good days there’s a lot of Stage Six going on. On the days when I’m frightened, I’m back at that stage where I’m praying a lot, and here’s the outcome that I want, and I think that’s fine. I think it’s good. There are scientific studies out there that say prayer does help. Stage Six, Fowler’s last stage, “This stage is only rarely achieved by individuals.” I don’t agree with that. “A person at this stage is not hemmed in by differences of religious or spiritual beliefs but regards all beings as worthy of compassion and deep understanding.” That will also be part of my theme when I run for president. All beings are worthy of compassion and deep understanding. “Here, individuals ‘walk the talk’ of the great religious traditions.” For example, the kingdom of God is within us. So, Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature, and we never cross the line of learning. Amen?