Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Audio Transcript
And I’m the pastor here, and I would love to meet you. So at the end of the service, if you can come find me, I would really love to meet you and just to know how I can be a friend and how I might be able to serve you and the church might be able to serve you. But, you know, we’re glad that you’re with us today. So if you have a Bible with you, which I hope you do, if you don’t, it’s okay. There are pew Bibles scattered throughout.
If you would open up to the Gospel of Luke today, our text to study is going to be Luke 2, 41, 52. And if you’re using one of the pew Bibles, if you’re not quite familiar with the Scriptures, it’s on page 500. And so as you open the Bibles, please do keep them open.
So let me read the secret text and then I’ll pray again. And then we’re going to work through this passage. So Luke 2, verses 41 through 52. And this morning I’m reading out of the ESV, the English standard Version. So please hear the words of our God.
Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know it, but supposing to be in the group, they went a day’s journey, but then began to search for him among the relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.
After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your Father and I have been searching for you in great distress.
He said to them, why are you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? They don’t understand the saying that he spoke to them. They went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was submissive to them. His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. So that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me?
Lord, it’s good to be here. And Lord, we want to hear from you, from your Word. So God, we pray through the Power of your Holy Spirit, you indeed open up your scriptures.
Please help me to communicate your word correctly properly. Please help the listeners to listen well, to really lean into your word.
Lord, pray, use this time just to lead us to all truth. Use this time to also fill us with much joy in Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. So near the conclusion of the Gospel of John, the author of John famously wrote this.
So now there are many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Meaning for John, with divine inspiration, he actually had to do some editing to include the most central information for his readers to know. And this editing of John surely was something that Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke, had to do as well as he wrote the Gospel of Luke as well as the book of Acts, as he gave these orderly accounts, orly accounts, as you may remember in our study, he received by speaking with eyewitnesses to the life, to the death, the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. Where in his early accounts, time and space would not allow for Luke to record everything that he learned concerning Jesus Christ.
So likewise, under divine inspiration, Luke had to do some editing to ensure he included information was most central for his readers to know, which had been with us in our study. You know, for Luke was first written to a man named Theophilus. At the start of this gospel account, Luke informed Theophilus was his desire to give this orderly account based on eyewitness testimony, with the hopes that this account would help Theophilus find assurance in the Christian faith. Now I say all of this to you today. So I’ve kind of found it interesting that as Luke did his editing work, as he was trying to decide what to include, what maybe would not have space to be included.
So one of the stories he felt necessary and important to include in this orderly account is our text study today, which is really the only text in Scripture that shares details of the childhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in Scriptures we know about the birth of Christ, including what we learned a couple weeks back at the start of our study of Luke 2. We also know information about the birth of Christ and the other gospel accounts. Even the Old Testament, there’s this passage that tells us details about the birth of Christ. So you do have a decent amount of information about that, the birth of Jesus.
We knew a few things that took place soon after Jesus was born. We learned last week in the sermon that Wes gave about the two stories of Jesus when he was presented at temple after his circumcision. We also know that in his earliest days Jesus actually had to flee. Him and his family had to flee to Egypt because of an edict given to murder the young boys of Israel. So we know about his birth, we know a little bit about some of the earliest days which Jesus lived.
But then outside of our text today we don’t have any information about the life of Jesus as a boy. So some stories of Christmas Jesus baby until his public ministry began, which Luke 3 tells us started when he was 30 years old. So this is it. This is the one story in all scripture of Jesus as a child. Just one.
All other stories about Jesus through divine editing, they’re absent from sacred scripture. So for me I found this kind of interesting. Let’s just kind of sit in this little bit of the many things that took place between the birth and the start of the public ministry of Jesus at 30. Again this is the only story we have. This is the one that Luke found so important that he had to include it in his orderly account.
A time when Jesus was living as a boy approaching manhood. This morning, as we approach this passage, my desire is we do so actually with some like curiosity, some intrigue, some, some, some interest to hopefully help us have a deeper understanding and deeper appreciation of the story. And by Luke ultimately the Lord who under divine inspiration carried the pen of Luke. Why we include this one story for Theophilus to know, for us to know as well. Okay, so that is introduction.
Please look back with me. Start verse 41 as mentioned earlier. Please do keep your bibles open. So we do a style preaching here called expository preaching. So I’m just going to walk us right back through the text, just try to explain what the text says.
So verse 41 read the words that now his parents, which parents we already met in our study of Luke. So Mary was Jesus’s mother, although was a virgin, she came with child through the Holy Spirit, right? The child Jesus, the earthly father. Jesus was a man named Joseph who would have been like his adopted father. As mentioned, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit within our study.
Previously Mary and Joseph, before Jesus was conceived, were betrothed, basically engaged. We married or seems shortly after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were married where Joseph became the adoptive earthly father of our Lord. So in the text the parents of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, every year according to scripture, according that was laid out in the book of Exodus that God gave to Moses ultimately to his people through the law. Every year they took a three to four day trip from Nazareth, which is where they lived, and headed south up the train to the holy city of Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of the Passover. Okay, now just a few things here for first, the Passover.
So there are three major events on the Jewish calendar that call for God’s people to come back to Jerusalem every year, specifically men 13 years of age and older. So men and women were welcome to come, but they were not obligated to come. So three major events that took place in Jerusalem. So one was to celebrate Pentecost, which correlated with the harvest, to celebrate God’s continued provision for his people. Another was the festival of booths, sometimes called like the festival of tents or tabernacles, where God’s people would come back to Jerusalem and they stay in basically makeshift huts to help them remember the Exodus when God provided for them as they wandered in the wilderness.
And then the third event, which was the most important of these early events was the Passover, where God’s people would gather together to celebrate the Passover meal, a meal they first celebrated the night that God freed them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, which God did by sending his spirit to come strike down all the firstborn of the land. That is, unless a blood of the sacrificial lamb was spread over the door frame of one’s house. So as the Spirit came in judgment, as he saw the blood of the lamb, he would pass over the home saved from judgment. So in the text, every year the parents of Jesus would go to Jerusalem to celebrate, to observe the Passover, which by the way, just kind of a side note probably just points to the faith of Mary and Joseph that, that they did this year after year. Now, even though this is the expectation of God’s people to do this, some of the commentaries I read this week wondered how faithful everyone was actually able to keep these observances.
You know, maybe for some, like they could easily go to these things, but they didn’t. Somehow they’re able to justify it in their own minds why they were not going to make this trip. Probably something we all can relate to in our own lives and the various things we know God would have us to do, but for some reason we just don’t do it. But, but maybe for others they would love to go every year to the Passover, but life circumstances made it almost like impossible for them to make it, which I’m sure we also could identify with where we love to like live in this ideal. But sometimes life circumstance makes this almost impossible for us to do.
However in the text, Mary and Joseph, who most likely were poor every year, still made the three to four day journey to celebrate the Passover. Now when it comes to the Lord Jesus, Luke doesn’t tell us if this yearly trip is something he was able to do with his parents like from little on or if this is his first trip. We’re at age 12, so he was in his transitional time of life when he was still a child, but as mentioned at 13, so culturally he would have been viewed as an adult. So perhaps it’s possible this is actually Jesus first time making this trip to celebrate the Passover. And at this trip, Joseph, his earthly father, maybe brought him along just to teach him.
Okay, this is what it looks like to be a man to keep this custom which would include Joseph having to show Jesus a lot of things to do. You know, my mind I can see just Joseph taking 12 year old Jesus kind of walking around Jerusalem for this week long festival to show him, hey, this is like the best place to buy unleavened bread that would be used in the Passover meal. That kicked off the week long celebration. So Jesus suspended over here, this the one you can trust? This the one I use every year.
But you said one over there, like just avoid that one. He’s getting a little shady in business. Also Jesus, there’s a, this is a very full week and there’s a lot going on. You can see that there’s a lot going on. And so if you need some quietness of all the activities, you know, there’s actually this little garden just outside the city.
So if you need a quiet place like to pray just to try to let everything you’re experiencing sink in. So I recommend going there. Jesus, you know the traffic around the temple is going to be crazy. But guess what, there’s this back road that my dad showed me. So I’m going to show you that not only is going to cut off some time for you to get to the temple, but it’s actually going to give you a really good spot.
We’re going to be in the temple courtyard like next to like the best teachers. However, just know that in this area there’s like these money changers and they’re just really trying to get like a prophet out of this holy sacred time. Also, you know, as you eat the meat, Passover meal, Jesus, So this is actually how we sit around the table, this is how we like pass around the bread, how we drink the wine, These are the songs that we sing. This is when we pray now for Me, obviously I don’t know all that Jesus would have taught or Joseph would have taught Jesus considering the Passover meal. But we see in scripture, including what we see in our text, what we do know, that in his human form Jesus actually would have needed to be taught these things, just like every other 12 year old boy would have needed to be taught these things as he got ready to do these things on his own the following year at age 13.
Which leads to. Second thing I just want to mention here, just to press a little bit more so this sec or this yearly trip. So this is like normal life, normal life for Mary, for Joseph, normal, normal for Jesus. And why I want to press the normalcy here is I do think this is one of the reasons why this story is included here by Luke to like maybe like subtly underscore that as the Lord Jesus walked the earth, yes, fully God, God’s eternal Son, where at times as he walked the earth in his life according to his divine nature, Jesus is able to perform miracles like look into people’s hearts. He’s able to command like the winds and the waves to obey him.
However, more often as Jesus walked the earth, he did so with his like divine nature, like restrained, where he did so in ways that he experienced all that we experience fully man. Whereas fully man Jesus lived a very normal life including doing normal childhood things like going to the passover at age 12 as he approached adulthood. Whereas fully man. It just mentioned, Jesus would have been needed to be taught to do these Things like normal 12 year old boys would have been needed to know how to do to celebrate the Passover, just like Jesus would have had to in his human form. We’ll talk about this more kind of as we go, but I do think this is really important for us and central to see in this passage.
Keep going verse 42. You see, that is when Jesus was 12 they did this like they always did according to custom, Jesus family made this Passover trip. Whereas they went through all the traditions and the customs that were handed on to them, including the eating the Passover meal which started the week long celebration as mentioned verse 43. As all the customs, all the traditions of this week long festival finished up, which by the way in the last day tradition tells us they would include like singings of the hallelujahs at the temple, but also eating a meal of anticipation of a Messiah who was to come. But as all these things finished up naturally in the text, the family of Jesus started to make their way back home to go back to the normal life.
In Nazareth, which for Joseph meant going back to work as a carpenter, for Mary probably just going back to doing all the normal things of raising children. However, as the family left, we see the 12 year old boy, Jesus, he stayed behind in Jerusalem. And we see in the text he stayed behind without his parents knowing. And he didn’t, they didn’t know because as the city was all like kind of packing up, everyone’s kind of leaving on the same time, heading back as the caravan, going back to Nazareth, heading out like Mary and Joseph, just simply suppose Jesus was like somewhere in the group, perhaps with a grandparent, with an aunt, uncle, or just like maybe some family friends. Commentaries I read this week suggest that traveling parties often would like segregate to like one group of men and then the other group of like women and children in another group.
So maybe in this transitional time of Jesus being 12, you know, still a child, but also about ready to be recognized as a man. So maybe Mary thought Jesus then simply was with the men, just Joseph assumed he was still with the women and children. So whatever took place, unbeknownst to Mary and Joseph, Jesus was not with them. Rather he’s still in Jerusalem. And by the way, let me also say mention here, so I don’t think this is like pointed to Mary and Joseph like being delinquent parents.
So just like the hustle and the bustle, the commotion of the Passover, where people from all over Israel like were going back, leaving the feast that ended, they just simply assumed that Jesus was somewhere in the party. I mean after all, Jesus was 12, not toddler at this point. I mean he literally, he’s like the perfect child. So you just assume that he’s somewhere within the large group. The text.
I also don’t think this is pointing to like Jesus like simply trying to get away with something that he wasn’t supposed to do. So without trying to be reverent to the story. I think sometimes things just happen where no one was wrong, it just happened in his life. Like we like things like black and white, clear right and wrong, but sometimes life is a little bit more complex and things just don’t work out the way that we think they would work out. We’re necessarily like no one’s wrong.
And I think that’s actually how Luke is presenting the story here. Well, end of verse 44, we see about a day’s journey down the road. Mary and Joseph began to recognize that they haven’t seen Jesus in a little while. In fact, they haven’t seen him since they left Israel or left Jerusalem and so began to worry. They’re clearly troubled.
And so they started to search around the travel party to look for their son, which meant asking relatives to see when’s the last time they’d seen Jesus. They started to inquire with friends and acquaintances and when’s the last time they spotted Jesus. However, as they searched and searched, they didn’t find him. Jesus was like nowhere to be found, which as a parent you can just like feel like the anxiety and the panic and the worry that would have filled their hearts. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to imagine all the things going through the heads of Mary and Joseph at the scene where an entire like range of human emotion I’m sure was running through them.
I’m sure they’re like playing out like worst case scenarios in their mind, afraid what took place, maybe like praying, even bargaining with God to safely return Jesus. We’re about to see in the text they were angry, having anger towards Jesus who in their minds as a 12 year old, right, he should have known better. And because he wasn’t paying attention the way he should have, he’s causing all this frustration, all this inconvenience while all the emotions are running through the heads of Mary and Joseph. The text they did, the only thing they knew to do was to circle back and to go a one day journey back to Jerusalem to search from there with hopes that Jesus would still be in the holy city. Verse 46 we read that after three days I think there’s reference to like the one day out of Jerusalem that they went on and they didn’t realize Jesus was, was gone.
Then the one day back to Jerusalem as they’re gonna start to search for Jesus and then finally one more day of looking all over the city. So after three long extrusionary days they found Jesus and they found him in the temple area. Whereas they found the Lord Jesus. He’s sitting with the teachers and he’s like listening to them and he’s asking them questions. Our text tells us now this year I don’t think we should assume that this is like Jesus as a 12 year old boy asking questions to teachers like with like eye rolling sarcasm, which 10 year old or 12 year olds can tend to do rather I think this is like legitimate questions from Jesus.
Whereas a human boy the age of 12, he’s like seeking information and understanding about the scriptures. But once again in his humanity Jesus actually had to learn these things. He had to be taught the Torah, he had to be taught about that with the prophets foretold, he had to learn the Psalms, he had to learn what the Scriptures said about the promised Messiah. I assume at the scene as he sat down in this conversation, Jesus is actually probably getting like greater and greater understanding that not only is he the Messiah, but in his humanity he’s learning more and more. All that meant, all that would entail part is why I think why he stayed in Jerusalem when others left in his human form as a 12 year old.
Like he’s learning about his future in the Scripture that he came to fulfill in the text. As Jesus had this incredible sit down conversation with the teachers of God’s word and he asked them questions, we see a crowd started to form around him. And all who heard this conversation between Jesus and the teachers, they all were amazed by him. Which is why I don’t think this like eye rolling sarcasm coming from Jesus, he’s asking questions, this is like some type of eye rolling sarcasm. I don’t think the crowd would have been amazed, rather they would have been annoyed at him, right?
He would have viewed like some like bratty kid at 12. But they’re not, they’re amazed. In the text, the crowd was amazed by Jesus not only because of the questions that this 12 year old boy would ask, but also with his understanding was being told to him. The Scriptures being taught he understood. It was clear to him.
So clear that we see that Jesus is able to give answers back to the teachers in this sit down conversation. Perhaps like connecting the dots of Scripture that even the educated teachers are not able to connect on their own. Or perhaps even like the teachers are having their hearts warmed through Jesus as he’s answering the scriptures for them. And this just had to be an incredible sight to behold. A 12 year old boy having this back and forth conversation with like the educated elite, the teachers at the temple.
There’s no wonder why all who heard were amazed, which in the text included actually Mary and Joseph. After frantically searching, they finally found Jesus. Verse 48 as they found him, text tells us they were astonished by what they saw. Scholars point out this word astonished here. And the context not only points to Mary and Joseph being amazed like all others who are at the scene, but also points that they were like exasperated here.
Which also doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand why they were like exasperated. I mean sure, just the entire trip itself would have been exhausting long week, even though it was an encouraging time. It was a long exhausting week and, and then just with the normal exhaustion of what the Passover would Bring year after year, like they lost their 12 year old son, which required them to take a long day’s journey back to town. Whereas you kind of get the sense in the text like they’re like running all over town trying to find Jesus. I’m sure they had like little to no sleep, little to nothing to eat.
I mean, they’re at their wit’s end. So it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand why Mary and Joseph were exasperated by time they found their son. So in their ex expiration we see Mary responds in verse 48 to Jesus with all their emotions coming out. She basically confronts her son. And I think you do feel a little bit of like snippiness here in the tone.
Jesus, son, why have you treated us so? Do you not know your father and I have been searching all over for you, doing so with great distress. Do you not understand all you just put us through the last couple days here? Jesus, you’re 12, you should know when it’s time to go, it’s time to go. We trusted you that you’d be responsible enough, mature enough to pay attention and to join the group as we were heading out.
Jesus, how can you do this to us? How could you treat us like this? Which by the way, this week I kind of thought to myself, how often we question our Lord. Similarly, frustration, confusion when we’re left exasperated by life, when things are happening that we don’t understand. How could you do this to me?
Why would you treat me so? Attacks only for Jesus to respond back. Verse 49, which here is not a tone, I don’t think of yelling back with snippiness. This feels like more a tone of like kindness and compassion towards his parents, but also a tone of like confusion and why he was getting yelled at. The text mom, dad, why were you looking for me, wondering where I was?
Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house? Or also translated, do you not know that I must be about the things of my father, my father’s business, which here Jesus used the term Father as reference to his heavenly Father. Mom, dad, why are you so surprised, so exasperated, so frustrated with me right now? You should know I have come to be about my heavenly father’s business, his mission, which is the mission of salvation that Jesus came to do as the Christ, as the Savior of the world. Mom, dad, you should have known this is where I needed to be.
Now a couple things here. First, this answer Jesus gave back to his parents in confusion. This is also the answer that we get as well in our confusion as we question the Lord and what he’s doing in our own lives, that we also must understand God does all things for His Father’s business. We might not understand in the moment, we might be emotionally raw. Friends, we must trust that God does all things according to his plan, according to his business, which is always what’s best.
Second thing just to mention, just continue to press this. The seeing is gathered in his humanity as Jesus is having a sit down conversation with his teachers. I really do think this is what Jesus learned more and more about his role as the Christ and what that meant for His Father’s business. Or perhaps at 12 Jesus was starting to understand how the Passover that He was celebrating was ultimately about Him. Keep going the text.
Even though Jesus explained all this to his parents, verse 50, Mary and Joseph did understand what he’s saying. Perhaps still just too frustrated, upset to be reasoned with, still not fully grasping who their son was, the mission that he was on. So in verse 51 of our text, ridiculous. There after the back and forth interaction with Jesus and his parents, we see that according to his Father’s business, the interaction with Jesus and the Teacher was now complete. So Jesus got up, he joined his mom and dad and he went down with them with down referring to evaluation.
Jerusalem is up top. He’s going back down with them to Nazareth to take the three or four day journey back home with his mom and dad. As he turned back home, we see in the text that he was submissive to his parents. Which by the way, this also was to fill the scriptures. There’s a call for children to obey their parents in the Lord.
So in his humanity, Jesus did this perfectly in the text for Mary. All of this, this entire scene filled with all the emotions, all the questions, all the confusions, we see in the text that she further treasures these things up in her heart to further ponder all these things concerning her son Jesus. There’s a couple things here. First is something we saw Mary do the beginning of chapter two in the birth narrative of Jesus. She treasured up things pondered in her heart.
So she’s doing this again today in her text, further treasuring, further pondering about the things of Jesus Christ, which is a great model, great example for us to do as well. Second, I want to mention this as we went through the birth marriage, or mentioned this when we went through the birth narrative, but I want to mention this again here. So just treasuring up all these things in your heart. I kind of think this is Luke pointing to Mary being one of the eyewitnesses that he sat down to interview as he sought to give Theophilus this orderly account. And if indeed this is like Mary being an eyewitness, this is pointing to Mary being an eyewitness that Luke interviewed.
I’ve wondered this week if this is like the story, the one story that really stuck out to Mary as she’s telling Luke about all the things about Jesus as a child. So perhaps like she pressed upon Luke how important this story was, where perhaps through hindsight now, Mary recognized this is like a major event in her son’s life, where perhaps Mary understood at the Passover, this year’s Passover, it became clear to Jesus not only indeed he was the Christ, but he very started to clearly understand that he was the true Passover Lamb who one day would shed his blood, so all who put their faith in him would be saved from judgment of sin. I don’t know this, but I have mentioned this throughout the week. And finally we’re going to end our text this morning. Verse 52, where Luke wrote this about the Lord Jesus.
And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and man. Now, just a few things just on this. So this phrasing comes up actually a couple times in Scripture. So something similar is said about the great prophet and priest of the Old Testament, Samuel. So in first Samuel says this now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.
Then if you’ve been with in our study of Luke, remember John, who himself was a prophet, as he was a forerunner of Christ. We learn this about him in chapter one concerning John. And the child grew and became strong in spirit. It was easy in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. And I would argue that both Samuel in the Old Testament and John here, it’s like they’re types, types who are pointing us to Jesus, who come as the true prophet, the true priest.
Second, this phrase is not just something said about Samuel and John, but if you’re with us last week, you may remember this is actually where Wes ended in his passage, verse 40. If you want to take your eyes there, we’re speaking this of Jesus. And the child grew and became strong and filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. And because that’s how the passage ended last week and how it ends this week, very similarly. So I think this is a literary device that Luke is using here called an inclusio, something I think I’ve talked about.
I Know I’ve talked about previously where similar phrases were used in ancient literature at a beginning and an end, almost like pieces of bread that kind of keep information sandwiched together and that information at this inclusio that Luke uses that sandwich together. Is this the story we went through of Jesus growing in his human form as a boy about to become a man, where as he grew, the favor of God was on him in each step of human growth and development that Jesus took. Whereas fully human, Jesus had to go through all the same developments that we had to go through from a baby to a toddler. We had to learn how to like walk and talk. Or from a toddler as he grown to a young child, he had to learn like motor skills like hopping, skipping, jumping, social skills like how to play with others, how to grow in independence.
Today as he’s late childhood about ready to early into early adulthood, he had to learn about the Passover as even Jesus was taught the scriptures and the text. In each step the favor of God was upon Jesus where through the favor of God on Jesus, others found favor from Jesus as well. And that’s we’re going to end our text today. But as we end I do want to leave it just with four things in terms of application. So I’ll go through these kind of quickly here.
So first, so be inquisitive when it comes to scripture. As I mentioned at the start, I’m interested, I’m inquisitive to know why of all the stories that Luke could have told about Jesus as a child, why this one? And the reason why I began to become inquisitive with this text is honestly just trying to follow the model of Jesus and the text. We’re as a 12 year old boy with a human nature like ours, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem to ask questions to the teachers as he was inquisitive about Scripture specifically, I’m sure what scripture foretold about the Christ.
We’re never going to master scripture in ways that there’s like nothing more for us to learn. So be inquisitive as you read God’s word, ask questions, seek answers, interact with God’s word in ways you’re trying to continue to probe the depths of it where you’re seeking to learn more about Jesus the Christ. That’s verse six. So just be inquisitive when it comes to scripture. Second, be humbled by the example of Jesus.
As mentioned multiple times throughout the sermon, even Jesus in his human form, even he was humble and had to learn things. So if I can Start with the kids who are here this morning. Be like Jesus. And as you grow, as you grow up, be humble. Seek to learn, seek to grow.
Sit in good teachers who can help you. Be submissive to your parents like Jesus was. Obviously, it’s not just a call for the kids to be humble. This is a call for all of us to be humble. None of us know it all, so all of us need to follow this example here and be humble so we too might grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man.
Don’t be a prideful know it all. Don’t be someone who doesn’t think you need like help or advice from others. Be humble. Sit under the teachings of others. Seek to learn, seek to grow.
Third, be encouraged that Jesus identifies with you.
So there’s several things that I think I’d really encourage you from this passage, but the primary one I just want to bring our attention to. It’s actually tied to one of my favorite passages in scripture. This is from Hebrews 4 says this. Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession.
Hear this. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Friends, the reason why Jesus the high priest is able to sympathize with us, why he can identify with us is because he became fully man. We’re as fully man.
He experienced all things common to man, from birth to childhood to manhood, where he had to learn and grow, where he too had people, including parents, who didn’t always understand him or identify with him. So for us as we go through life, all the hardships of life that can be really hard at times, times where you feel like isolated or perhaps you feel like no one understands you, no one identifies with you. Friends, be encouraged. The great God man, Jesus, he’s able to fully identify and fully sympathize with you. So be encouraged and be encouraged in ways that you run to him and you seek his help in your times of need.
Last one, one more. Just be amazed at your Christ, which I do think is at the heart of this passage. As the teachers, the crowd, Mary and Joseph, like they stood amazed at the 12 year old boy at that year’s Passover. For us, not only should be amazed at this story of that year’s, Passover, I think even more so. I think we should be amazed at the passover that would come like 20 years later.
We read this in Luke 22, when the hour came, He, Jesus reclined at the table and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. He took a cup, we give him thanks. He said, take this, divide it among yourselves.
For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. He took bread, we gave him thanks. He broke it, gave him, saying, this is my body, which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise the cup after he had eaten, saying, this cup is poured out for you in the new covenant in my blood.
And that year after Jesus ate the Passover with the disciples, perhaps doing so in ways his father taught him when he was 12 years old. We see in Scripture Jesus is betrayed by a friend who led him before teachers of the law. But this time Jesus didn’t sit with them to ask them questions. Rather, that year Jesus stood before them, silent as they hurled slanderous, eye rolling sarcastic questions, false accusations at him, or they would turn him over to Roman authorities. What Scripture tells us, Jesus continued to remain silent, whereas he was beaten to the point of barely being recognizable as a man.
In order to fill the Scriptures to be about the Father’s business, to prove indeed that he was the Christ. Perhaps he did. The things that he learned would happen to him in our text today. When he was 12, Jesus further humbled himself and he was led off to a hill called Calvary, where he’d be nailed to a cross where as a man, Jesus not only would taste death, but as he hung on the cross. It was there that Jesus proved to be the true Passover lamb.
The one who would take on the judgment of God that burns over our sin. Because on the cross that’s where Jesus would shed his blood.
So by faith, whoever would turn to him, they would have the judgment of God pass over. So through Jesus, the great God man, the one who died, their sins would be forgiven. But also according to scripture, what Scripture foretold about the Christ, Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, which is why he is able to save us from judgment and save us to eternal life.
So I don’t pretend to know all the reasons why we get just this one story.
But it does seem clear that this story this amazing story, 12 year old Jesus is there to prepare us for an even more amazing story of the God man Jesus, the Christ crucified and risen for us today always. May we be amazed at Jesus. May we be amazed indeed. He is true God, true man. May we be amazed by all that he has done and as a great High Priest, all that he continues to do for us.
May we trust him and trust the business that he is doing in our own lives even in the moment we don’t understand where. We trust that when we’re with him in our heavenly home, through hindsight it’s all going to make sense. Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus, thank you that in your great love for us that you would send your eternal Son to become one of us, to live the life that we could never live, one that’s perfect without sin, only to die the death that we deserve to die, to be our sacrificial lamb, so that through him, by faith in him we would be forgiven of sin.
And Lord, I do pray that you would help us today just to really be excited, inquisitive concerning your word.
Please encourage our hearts.
Please help us have humble hearts.
Lord, I pray that you would fill our hearts just with great amazement of who Jesus is and what he’s done for us. It’s in his name we pray. Amen.