Luke 2:40-52[i]
Luke 2
gives the account of the childhood of Jesus.
Verse 21 starts with the account of His circumcision, and then the
purification offering as required by the Law of Moses. As an infant of only eight days old, Jesus
was taken to the temple and dedicated to God as was required by the Law. The offering would have been a pair of
turtledoves or two young pigeons.
While Mary,
Joseph and baby Jesus were in the temple, a man named Simeon prophesied over
Jesus. Simeon was full of the Holy
Spirit, and the Lord had promised him that he would not die until he had seen
the Lord’s anointed One.
Simeon said
of Jesus:
He is a light to reveal God to the
nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel! (Luke 2:32)
Luke 2:33
says, “Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him.”
Everything
about Jesus’ birth was unusual.
Jesus’
birth was announced by angels to both Mary and Joseph. Then on the night He was born, shepherds came
in talking about angels announcing His birth to them.
Mary and
Joseph marveled at all that was happening.
After His
birth, Matthew 2 tells us that wise men from the east came to visit Jesus. Matthew 2:13-23 tells us that when the wise
men had returned to their home countries, Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt
to protect the baby Jesus from King Herod, who was trying to kill Him.
Mary and
Joseph knew that Jesus was no ordinary child.
The angel
told Mary, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
(Luke 1:32, ESV)[ii]
His birth
and the events of His infancy were extraordinary.
Luke 2:40
tells us about the young childhood of Jesus with two sentences. “And the child grew and became strong, filled
with wisdom. And the favor of God was
upon him.” (ESV)
Luke
2:41-51 gives an account of an incident out of the life of Jesus from when He
was twelve years old. Then verse 52
says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and
man.” (ESV)
Verse 40
and verse 52 of Luke 2 summarize the childhood of Jesus as growing. He grew in three areas: Physically, Mentally
and Spiritually. These, of course,
correspond to the three parts of the human person: Body, Soul and Spirit.
As
extraordinary as He was, Jesus also had ordinary aspects to His life.
Isaiah 53:2
says of Him, “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out
of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no
beauty that we should desire him.” (ESV) This describes an ordinary childhood. However, we must qualify this by saying He
never sinned. He was normal except
without sin, which is, of course, not normal.
In fact, He is the only one who never sinned. I realize that I am contradicting myself by
saying He was normal but not normal.
However, it is important to understand that Jesus was fully human. While we understand that Jesus is fully God
and fully man, how this can be is a mystery.
One of the
normal things in Jesus’ early life was an annual trip to Jerusalem. Luke 2:41 says, “Now his parents went to
Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.”
This
reference lets us know that Jesus grew up with Jewish traditions under the Law
of Moses.
Luke 2:42
tells us, “When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as
usual.” (NLT)
This visit
proved to be different from the previous eleven trips. Verse 43 tells us that after the festival was
over, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
The expression “stayed behind in Jerusalem” leads me to believe it was
intentional on the part of Jesus. His
response to Mary reinforces me in this opinion when Jesus says, “But why did
you need to search?” However, there is
much speculation on this point since Jesus apparently did not inform Mary and
Joseph of His intentions.
When they
found Jesus, after searching for three days, they found Him in the Temple
“sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking
questions.” (Luke 2:46, NLT)
Luke 2:47
gives us insight when it says, “All who heard him were amazed at his
understanding and his answers.”
Throughout
His ministry, Jesus amazed people with His understanding, wisdom and
teaching. At the age of 12, He is
showing the beginning of the wisdom and understanding that drew large crowds to
follow Him. However, this understanding
and wisdom were something that grew. Up
to the point of this visit to the temple, Mary and Joseph had come to view Jesus
as their child. Luke tells us that when
Mary and Joseph found Jesus they were astonished. (verse 48, ESV) The NLT translates this “they did not know
what to think.” They were seeing a side
of Jesus that they had never seen.
Jesus
progressed from an infant to a twelve-year-old and then from a twelve-year-old
to adulthood growing all the way.
In the
process of growing up under the care of Mary and Joseph, a parent/child relationship
had developed. When they found Jesus,
Mary’s first word to Jesus was “why?” Jesus
turns her inquiry on its head and begins His answer with “why?” Because Jesus was going through the normal
growing process, Mary and Joseph came to view Him as a normal child. Therefore, when Jesus said, “Didn’t you realize
that I should be involved with my Father’s affairs,” (verse 49 NLT marginal
reading) they did not understand what he meant.
This was a transition in their relationship. Jesus was no longer the little boy, but the
growing young man. He had reached the
age where Jewish boys were accepted as full members of the religious community.
Verse 51
says, “Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” (NLT)
We do not know how long Jesus continued in subjection to Mary and
Joseph. The only comment the Scriptures
give on the ensuing years is that He continued to grow in wisdom, stature and
favor with God and man.
The next
time we meet Jesus in the gospels, He is around 30 years old beginning His
public ministry. There is an interesting
side note on the life of Jesus contained in Hebrews 5:8, which says, “Even
though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.”
Growing and
learning is a natural part of life.
Jesus displays for us growth consistent with and appropriate to the
various ages he passed through. We also
need to demonstrate growth appropriate to our age. However, it is very easy to grow in stature,
i.e. physically, but not demonstrate corresponding growth in wisdom or in favor
with God and man.
Paul
chastised the Corinthians about their lack of growth when he said:
Dear brothers and sisters, when I
was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this
world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid
food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still
controlled by your sinful nature. You
are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your
sinful nature? Aren’t you living like
people of the world? (1 Corinthians
3:1-3, NLT)
If my life
or your life is characterized by quarrels, then we need to reflect on whether
or not we have grown in wisdom and favor to the place we need to be.
I do not
believe we ever reach perfection. Paul
said, “I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I
have already reached perfection. But I
press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
(Philippians 3:12, NLT) The only One who
reached perfection was Jesus Himself.
However, we
should fear lest people are amazed by us, not like they were amazed by Jesus
and His wisdom, but by our lack of wisdom. We should fear lest we are like the
Hebrews of whom Paul said:
12You have
been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again
the basic things about God’s word. You
are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13For someone who lives on milk is
still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14Solid food is for those who are
mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between
right and wrong. (Hebrews 5:12-14, NLT)
Jesus shows
us how true growth progresses. When He
matured to the point of understanding, He put the things of God first. Then when He became an adult, He took on the
Devil in the wilderness.
1 John
shows us an interesting picture of Christian growth stages. He says:
12I am
writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s
sake. 13I am writing to you,
fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you
have overcome the evil one. (1 John
2:12-13, ESV)
Little
children in the faith know God as the Father who loves them and forgives their
sins. Young people, adults but still
young, have grown to the point where they know what the spiritual battle
is. The mature believer has come to know
Him who is from the beginning. The
spiritual infant knows the Father, but does not know His ways. Maturity comes with time and knowing God’s
ways comes from walking with Him through battles.
Moses had
an interesting request of God. In Exodus
33:13 he says:
Now therefore, if I have found
favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order
to find favor in your sight. (ESV)
Moses did
learn to know God’s ways, and he did this by leading God’s people through the
desert for 40 years. Just like Jesus, he
learned obedience by the things he suffered.
Time grows
us physically. We feed our bodies and
they grow.
Time also
grows us mentally. We feed our minds and
they grow.
Time grows
us spiritually. We feed our spirits and
they grow.
However, if
we feed our bodies junk, they grow unhealthy.
If we feed our minds junk, they too grow unhealthy. If we feed our spirits junk, they also grow
unhealthy.
Notice what
Jesus was feeding His mind. He was
asking questions and listening to the religious leaders. He apparently knew the Scriptures quite well. Notice what He was feeding His spirit. He was in the Temple.
Friends,
looking at Jesus’ example, we all need to continue growing.
Along with
Paul let us say:
“I don't mean to say that I have
already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for
which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”
(Philippians 3:12, NLT)
[i] Unless
otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living
Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004,
2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois
60188. All rights reserved.
[ii] Scripture
quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.