January 13, 2019
Puppies are filled with energy and life. They just don’t know how to harness it. They chew our shoes and anything else they can put in their mouths. They have to learn when and where to go to the bathroom. It takes time. But in time they mature and they can even carry themselves with gravitas.
Children are not all that different. It’s all wonderful until they start crawling and walking. Everything goes into their mouths. They can do a lot of damage. Parent sometimes shake their heads. “Will this child ever grow up?” But in time they do grow up.
After the magi left Bethlehem, the Lord warned Joseph in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod was looking to kill Jesus. Joseph immediately obeyed. Perhaps they were in Egypt for a year and then Herod died and God told them to return and the family lived in Nazareth in the north of Israel. And we come to Lk.2:41-52. It’s the first time we hear Jesus speak. From these verses I want to suggest that the growth of Jesus is a model for our own Christian development.
I. SELF-UNDERSTANDING IS ROOTED IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. Lk.2:41-50
It is very clear that Jesus was raised in a devout Jewish home. According to the Jewish law men were to appear at the temple in Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. But after the Exile and by the time of Jesus, it was common for devout men who lived a distance away from the temple to only appear once a year, at the feast of Passover. From v.41 we learn that Joseph and Mary went to this feast every year. The fact that Mary went with Joseph says something about her devotion to God. The trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem was about 80 miles. Extended families often made the journey in caravans for protection on the roads.
When Jesus was 12 years old they took him along. Perhaps it was in preparation for when he would turn 13 and become a son of the covenant. This is when a Jewish boy became accountable before God for his actions. Out of this practice came what we call the Bar Mitzvah.
They celebrated the feast of Passover and set out for Nazareth. Thinking Jesus was in the caravan with relatives, it wasn’t until they stopped for the day that they realized Jesus was nowhere to be found. Of course they were alarmed. In v.45 we see that they immediately returned to Jerusalem to search for Jesus. On the third day they found him in the temple. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. In v.47 it says, “And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” I do not think Jesus was teaching the teachers. Rather I think he was asking perceptive questions and making insightful observations about the scriptures. He was way ahead of other boys his age when it came to the scripture. His parents took it all in but they were upset because they did not know why Jesus had done this. Mary said, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” There are any number of speculative observations one might make here. But we need to focus our attention on Jesus’ response. It’s found in v.49. “And he said to them, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
These are the first words spoken by Jesus in Luke’s gospel. In this statement Jesus reveals something important about his own self-understanding. He calls God his father.
While Jesus had a biological mother, he did not have a biological father. God is his father. Jesus’ understanding of who he is was rooted in his relationship with God. What is Jesus’ relationship to God? Jesus is the son of God, God’s firstborn son. But we must not think in terms of biology. Rather we must think in terms of relationship. Think about Israel. In Ex.4:22, Israel is also called God’s firstborn son. How can a nation be a son? The phrase refers to a close filial relationship, like that of a father and son. David was the last born of 8 sons, but in Ps.89, it says about David, “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” Do you see my point? The idea of sonship describes an important relationship, not always having to do with biology. In the case of Jesus he was with God from the beginning and he is God in all of God’s fullness. He is God the Son. Confident of who he is, he was able to humbly serve others and give his life for us.
Consider Jn.13:3-4. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.” Jesus’ self-understanding was rooted in his relationship with God.
What about your self-understanding? Many things work together to help us understand who we are. We all have unique physical traits. We all have some kind of family relationship, whether through natural birth or adoption. We all have friends and acquaintances. We all have experiences that shape our identity. It’s important to be aware of all these things because they help us learn about who we are. But Christians are those who have entered into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Through Christ we are adopted into the family of God. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts. We value what God values. We listen to what God says. When God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you,” we rejoice in the knowledge that God loves us. What is more, God’s family, seen in the church helps to shape our self-understanding as we point each other to Jesus and seek to encourage one another.
So as we live out our lives in this world we live in the confidence that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. We live in the confidence that we will not lack for anything that we need. We live in the confidence that God is with us to the end of the age. We are children of God. He will never leave us or forsake us. Do you believe it? Does it shape your self-understanding? God is for you. God’s word to you is “Yes,” and “Amen.” You are God’s child.
II. VOCATION IS SHAPED BY THE WORK OF GOD. Lk.2:41-50
In v.49, Jesus said, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” And Mary and Joseph said, “What are you even talking about?” You know I love the old King James translation. “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? Probably the better translation is what we have in the ESV. “I must be in my Father’s house.”
This is important for a couple of reasons. One reason is that sometimes we have a tendency to limit the work of Jesus to his cross. We say, “The mission of Jesus was to die on the cross. He came to die.” And while that is certainly true, the cross does not convey the full scope of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus came to show us what a “with-God” life looks like. He came to reveal the power and presence of the kingdom of God on earth. He came to reveal God in all his fullness. He came to save us from our sins. He came to rise from the dead that we might have eternal resurrection life. He came to reign in power and great glory. He came to put all things right and make all things new. He came to transform our lives into his likeness.
And then, more specifically, Jesus had to be in his Father’s house because the temple was thought to be the place where God’s presence dwelt. The temple was a place for instruction and worship. I’m reminded of the time Jesus cleansed the temple from the moneychangers and merchants who were taking up the space allotted for Gentiles to come and worship the God of Israel. It’s as if Jesus owned the place. Well, he did! Jesus quoted from Is.56:7 where God refers to the temple as his house of prayer. Being in the temple was the natural place for Jesus to be. His sense of vocation was shaped by the work of God in this world. Jesus came to carry out God’s work in the world. In John’s gospel Jesus tells us that he only said and did what the Father told him to say and do. Jesus lived in submission to the will of the Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Not my will but yours be done.”
As Christians, we are followers of Jesus. We seek to live according to the will of God as revealed in Scripture. So what does this mean for us? Well, it means that when we think about our life and work, we recognize that we are not living to please ourselves. We are not working to just advance our position, status, and wealth in the world. There is nothing wrong with getting a promotion and a raise and other kinds of recognition, but never at the expense of our allegiance to Jesus Christ. When we have vocational decisions to make, we lay them before the Lord in prayer. Our primary vocation is to promote the life and character of Jesus in what we say and do.
III. MATURITY COMES BY OBEDIENCE TO GOD. Lk.2:51-52
In v.51-52 we read, “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”
We know that Jesus never committed sin of any kind. But he had to grow up. Did Jesus have to learn to not go too near the fire for fear of getting burned? I would say so. I can imagine Mary or Joseph saying, “Jesus, get away from that fire!” I can imagine Joseph saying, “No Jesus that is not the way to hold the saw.” Of course we could imagine all sorts of scenarios. I’m just trying point out that Jesus had to grow up like all children do.
This verse tells us that Jesus was submissive to his parents. He was obedient. In numerous places in the Old Testament children are called to honor and obey their parents. That’s what Jesus did. And we are told in v.52 that he increased in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.
But there’s something else to consider. Jesus was 12 years old, but it would be another 17 or 18 years before Jesus would begin his public ministry. As far as we know he lived at home until he was 30. There are no shortcuts to maturity. And there are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. It isn’t unusual to hear a young seminarian or Bible college student say something like, “I’m tired of all these books. I just want to get on with ministry.” You don’t get the sense that Jesus was thinking like that. God moved his Son into the sphere of public ministry at the right time.
The process of physical maturity requires patience. You can’t speed up the process of becoming an adult. The process of gaining emotional and social maturity takes time. It takes time and many experiences to learn how to keep our emotions in check and how to navigate our interactions with others. And it takes time to learn how to live like Jesus in this world. Learning to die to self is not easy in a world that teaches us to give in to ourselves and promote our selves.
Our parents usually have our best interest at heart. They try to teach us how to live in this world from their own experiences in life. We are wise to listen to our parents. As Christians we are wise to live in obedience to God and his ways. It’s not just a matter of keeping rules. It’s a matter of learning how to live a God centered life. It takes time and patience.
So I want to urge us to not become impatient. Do you take 3 steps forward and two steps backwards in your Christian growth? Welcome to the church. The church of Jesus Christ is where we learn together and encourage one another in holy, godly, obedient living, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
This past Tuesday, Angie and I watched the live stream of the funeral service for Tyler Trent. Tyler died on Jan.1 from bone cancer at the age of 20. His cancer was first diagnosed at the age of 15. He entered Purdue in 2017 and gained national attention during 2018 by becoming the adopted captain of the Boilermakers football team. Tyler was quite intelligent and through the platform given to him he has raised a great deal of money for cancer research. The most important part of the story is that Tyler was a committed follower of Jesus Christ. When he was interviewed by prominent sports writers and commentators he was very public about his faith in Jesus. I mention Tyler because here was a young man whose self-understanding was rooted in his relationship with God. His vocation was shaped by his sense of what God could do through him. Though a young man, his Christian maturity was years ahead of many professing believers because he sought to live his life in obedience to God no matter the cost. He kept his eyes on Jesus. The growth of Jesus is a model for our own Christian development. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus. Amen.