In Synod with Jesus?
The following is a sermon for the First Sunday after Epiphany, preached at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Greenwich, CT on January 11, 2026.
“When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.” (Lk 2:42–45)
I suppose every parent here has known that moment of panic, turning around in a public place and not seeing your child who was just there a few seconds ago. In almost every case, we find our child a moment or two later. But Saints Mary and Joseph lived this dread for three solid days. I doubt they got much sleep during those three days. How could they?
And however parents might chastise a child who isn’t where he is expected to be, it is the parents who have been careless in their God-given duty to protect and care for their child at all times. It is a sin to neglect this duty. Contrary to the claims of the Roman Church, this passage gives us clear evidence that Mary too was a sinner in need of a Savior—a Savior who, at that moment, was lost to her.
Mary and Joseph assumed that Jesus was in the company. The Greek word here is literally “synod”, which means “to walk together.” They assumed that Jesus was in synod with them. That’s what the original text says.
Well, in case you thought “Missouri Synod” makes for a strange name, at least one of those words comes from the Bible. We are a synod because, on paper, at least, we are all walking together—walking in the same direction, headed toward a common goal, believing and confessing the same faith.
But you know what’s more important than being in synod with each other? Being in synod with Jesus. People get obsessed with numbers. “The church across the street has more members than we do.” “The synod over there is much larger than we are.” Oh, yes? That doesn’t matter—where’s Jesus? Joseph and Mary were walking along with a great many people. And they assumed that they were in synod with Jesus. But He wasn’t there. In fact, since they set out on their journey, Jesus had never been walking with them.
I’m glad that we are a member congregation of the Missouri Synod. I’m glad to be walking along with thousands of other pastors and congregations. But if the day ever comes that we discover that our synod is not in synod with Jesus, then we’re out. It’s written into our constitution: If the Missouri Synod ever loses its pure confession, if it ever embraces false doctrine as official teaching—whether in the form of women’s ordination, or the rainbow flag, or whatever the current demonic fad is—that is the day that we sever ties with the synod and go searching for Jesus.
Let’s give Joseph and Mary some credit. The moment they discovered that they were not in synod with Jesus, they immediately turned around and went back to where they’d seen Him last. Remember the biblical word that means “to turn around”? Repent. Joseph and Mary repented. They turned around. They went back to where they came from.
Today, many Christians are walking in synod with groups that haven’t seen Jesus in years. “I’m a fifth-generation member of this congregation.” That’s great! But where’s Jesus? “We’ve got a great music program, and an amazing youth group, and a food bank, and comfort dogs…” All good things, perhaps, but where’s Jesus?
The longer one has traveled without Jesus in a particular direction, the harder it is to turn around, to repent, and to go back to the place Jesus was last seen. The longer a congregation has been engaged with a hundred programs about everything except the Word of God, the harder it is to see that all of these mean nothing if the Incarnate Word is not present in our midst.
Let me ask you: Why are you here? I mean this literally. Why are you in this building? Why are you a member of this congregation and not another? I hope there is more to your answer than, “I was born here,” “This was my parents’ church,” or, “This church is close to my house.” I hope that you are here because you want to be in synod with Jesus. And I hope that if it turned out that Jesus was no longer walking with us, or more accurately, that we were no longer walking with Jesus, you’d be willing to do what Joseph and Mary did. I hope that you would immediately repent, leave behind all familial attachments, and go to the place where Jesus is.
It took Joseph and Mary three days to find Jesus. And when they did, Mary chides Him, saying, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” (Lk 2:48) If you discovered that Jesus was not walking with you, you might be tempted to be upset with Him too. But the fault is never with Jesus. Mary and Joseph headed off in a direction without Him. What did it matter that everybody was traveling together when Jesus was not there?
We can say the same today. If the doctrine of Jesus makes you uncomfortable, it’s not hard at all to find traveling companions away from it. Whether it’s gender theory, birth control, feminism, materialism, Marxism—you name it—you can be sure to find a great company moving together away from the truths of God’s Word. Sometimes it seems to happen overnight, as it did a year ago, when the Lutheran Church of Australia voted to begin ordaining women. (Of course, this departure had been in the works for decades.) Other times the journey is so gradual that no one notices at first that Jesus is not part of the synod. And when questions first begin to surface, “Where’s Jesus? Has anyone seen Jesus in our church? When is the last time we heard His Word?” it’s easy to quiet these doubts when everyone seems to be going along with it.
This is why we do not vote on matters of doctrine. The majority is often wrong. Those who remain faithful to Scripture are often few. But numbers don’t matter; holding fast to Jesus and His words matters. The moment that Joseph and Mary realized that Jesus was not part of the synod, they left their friends, their families, the majority, and they went looking for Him. It took them three days before they found Him, and when they did, Jesus gave His mother a mild rebuke, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about the things of My Father?” (Lk 2:49) In other words, people often spend a lot of time looking for Jesus, but they needn’t wonder where He is. Jesus is never lost. If we can’t find Him, it’s because we aren’t looking for Him where He has told us He to be—in His Father’s house, about His Father’s business.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name,” Jesus says, “there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20) Mary and Joseph sought Jesus anxiously for days. At least they sought Him, and so should you. But Jesus has already told you where to find Him: among those gathered in His name. He is in the midst of His temple, His Church. He comes to us in the ordinary means of water and Word, bread and wine. These are so very ordinary that some people think Jesus must be lost. He must be somewhere else. Surely the Church is built on something other than the Word of God, purely preached, and the Sacraments, rightly administered! But no, Jesus must be about the things of His Father, however plain and ordinary they may appear to us. Jesus is not lost. He is exactly where He has promised to be, and by God’s grace, we have been led to find Him here. Amen.