Getting to Know Jesus Series,
#1 – Jesus grows up Jan. 10, 2010
Luke 2:39-52 (New International Version)
39When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
The Boy Jesus at the Temple
41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
1) Jesus grew up in a family that held to the Law of the Lord. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. 33 days after He was born, His parents brought Jesus to the temple to present their son to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice for Mary’s cleansing, also according to the Law, as after giving birth to a child a woman was considered ‘unclean for 33 days; unless she gave birth to a girl, then it was 66 day. Leviticus 12 gives the details.
They brought with them two young pigeons or doves, which bird we do not know. The requirement was for a yearling lamb and a pigeon or dove. But, if they could not afford a lamb, then the two birds would be acceptable. Obviously, we learn here that Jesus’ earthly parents were poor, of simple means, not well-off.
This would also then mean that Jesus was poor, living a simple life, and was not wealthy or rich by man’s standards. Isaiah 53 foretells of what the Messiah, Jesus, would be like. ‘Despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.’
Being poor or ‘different’ then is the same as it is today in many societies. People tend to look down on the poor, those who are ‘lower’ than they are. Jesus was likely looked down on. I can hear the children in Jerusalem, ‘Look at that poor little boy, must be so awful to live like him. Look at his lowly parents, they can’t afford the latest clothes, the coolest sandals, the nice home. They live in Na-za-reth….’ Teasing and joking, put-downs and slander; Jesus was familiar with these things.
Hometown of Nazareth – ABC's Simon McGregor-Wood reports from Jerusalem:
Just a few days before millions of Christians worldwide celebrate Christmas, Israeli archaeologists say they have discovered the first remains of a house in the town of Nazareth dating from the time of Jesus.
According to the New Testament Jesus grew up in Nazareth, which at the time was a small village of no more than 50 homes. Similar buildings have been uncovered elsewhere in the surrounding Galilee region but never in Jesus’ home town itself.
Yardena Alexandre, head of the team that discovered the remains of the house told ABC News Monday, “This would have been a small house with several rooms and a courtyard. Since it was built on a hillside it may have been terraced and had more than one level.”
The remains were found during building work on a museum. They include a wall, a hideout and a cistern. Archaeologists also found clay and chalk pots used by Jews in the area at the time. From that the team deduced the home belonged to what they referred to as a “simple Jewish family.”
“This is an important find because it is the first dwelling place from the early Roman period found in Nazareth itself. It helps give us a clearer picture of what the place was like when Jesus was alive” Alexandre said.
Archaeologists and present-day residents of Nazareth imagined Jesus as a youngster, playing with other children in the isolated village, not far from the spot where the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to the boy.
Today the ornate Basilica of the Annunciation marks that spot, and Nazareth is the largest Arab city in northern Israel, with about 65,000 residents. Muslims now outnumber Christians two to one in the noisy, crowded city.
The archaeologists believe that since Nazareth at the time was such a small place, Jesus and his friends would probably have known the newly uncovered house.
The remains will be preserved as an exhibit in the new museum once it is completed.
So Joseph and Mary offer the burnt offering and sin offering, and everything required of the Law; then they headed home.
And Jesus grew, and became strong. What must it have been like for Jesus’ parents, knowing they were raising the Son of the Living God? Talk about a challenge! Are we doing things right? Can we let Him play with the other kids? What if He gets hurt? Are we able to teach Him anything? The pressure of being first-time parents, in a very small community, still looked at as parents of a wrongly-conceived child…M&J were probably under a lot of stress.
But life must go on. Joseph was a carpenter by trade, and so his son would learn that trade. Jesus would have helped carrying wood and tools, watching his father work and create and shape the wood into all sorts of things; furniture, carts, homes, maybe even crosses.
He grew into a strong young man in this little tiny town. He’d have to be physically strong for the hard years of ministry that lay ahead of Him…Jesus was prepared for what lay ahead of Him in life.
He was also filled with wisdom. What must it have been like to teach the books of the Law to a young boy who helped to write that Law? Yet this is what Jesus’ parents did. They would have home-schooled Him in the way their parents raised them, learning the Pentateuch, memorizing it.
How are we doing with putting scripture to memory? I must admit, this is a tough thing for me. I know a lot of scriptures; I have read and heard them for most of my life. But being able to place scripture with its location in the bible is a little harder. Maybe it’s like that for you too? I am encouraging us to take up a little challenge to learn 62 different passages of scripture over the course of this year. Why 62? Because that’s the list I was given by a very dear friend of mine. I look at it this way…52 verses for the year, plus 10 more for good measure! The first one is Matthew 6:33 – but seek first…you fill in the rest.
Do we raise our families in a similar way to Jesus’ upbringing? Do we structure our lives around the Word of God or the rules of men? Do we see the importance of learning scripture, or do we treat it as something that only gets peeked at a few times a week?
I like to see Bibles that are really worked over; full of underlining, highlighting, notes, and pages dog-eared and worn at the edges. What that tells me is that person is using their bible, getting into it regularly. I pray that we teach that to our kids, and do so by example. Our homes should be places where God is worshipped, not anything else…
I hope our lives reflect a desire to learn more and more about God and His character, His love and His will for our lives.
2) Jesus knew what God wanted Him to do. Have you ever gotten lost in a crowd? I remember when I was a young kid, maybe 5-7 years old; my parents had taken me to the mall along with my little brother. Somehow, through the maze of clothing racks and toy aisles, I lost sight of my parents. I looked for a few minutes, but could not see them anywhere. So, in my not-so-smart thinking, I figured the best thing to do was to head back to a place where I would be sure to find them…our car, parked out in the busy, full-of-moving-cars parking lot. Was it a good choice, probably not? A better one would have been to find an employee of the store, but fortunately, I didn’t get run over, and my parents did eventually find me. But man, were they upset, maybe even scared about what happened, or could have happened to me.
Jesus folks probably felt the same as they took the usual trip to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast as they did every year. They travelled with family and friends, perhaps the whole community, to Jerusalem to remember and celebrate the time when God freed the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. So they, and many others would travel to the Holy City to take part in the festival. They would stay with family there, or camp out in tents. Yay, camping!
And after the celebrations, the walk back home would begin. Now, Jesus is 12 years old, and his parents figured that he was old enough not to have to have his hand held in the crowd, perhaps they didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his friends. So they packed their things and began the walk back to Nazareth, in Galilee.
They walked, for a whole day, not knowing that Jesus had not even started this trek with them. After a day, when my kids aren’t seen anywhere, I begin to wonder where they are too. And if I can’t find them…I start to worry. Thoughts start spinning around in my head, ‘are they ok? Where could they be? They should be here, but they’re not! What could have happened? What have we done?!’ And we’d start to look…everywhere. Calling friends, asking neighbours, maybe even involving the police…a child is missing…amber alert!
Well my guess is there was a pretty big panic setting in on Joseph and Mary…’we’ve lost the Son of God!’ What’s going to happen to Him…to US?!
So, they do the logical thing, retrace their steps back to Jerusalem. But they can’t find him. Jerusalem is a bustling city, people from all over the area are milling about, and compared to little Nazareth, this city is huge! Where do you find a young boy in such a crowd? For 3 days they look for Jesus; for three days they searched, asked if anyone’s seen him, knocked on doors, spoke to complete strangers, all in the search for Christ.
Then, they end up in the temple. Was this the last place to look? Maybe they wanted to ask the priests to pray? Maybe they decided to stop worrying and start praying themselves?
Whatever the reason, this is where they finally found Jesus…sitting among the scriptural scholars of the day, listening to their understanding of history and prophecy, asking questions about what they were teaching.
Oh how I would live to hear those questions…what do think he asked them? I find it cool that it says everyone was amazed at his answers. Maybe the scholars couldn’t answer Jesus’ questions, so he answered them himself?
And into this Q&A time, come Mary and Joseph, and the first thing they say, which is SO typical of human nature, is why did YOU do THIS to US!? Selfishness pokes up its head right in the midst of what should have simply been a joyous reunion. They think about their feelings, rather than Jesus purpose for being there.
He knew what he was supposed to be doing, teaching about the Kingdom of God, revealing the nature of the FATHER to a people who needed him more than anything else in this world. Opening the scriptures and teaching about HIMSELF to those who thought it was all about them. This was the perfect place for the Messiah of the World, in his Father’s house, teaching about His Father to people who need to come HOME.
Jesus knew what his purpose was, and he did it, without fear of what others may think of him. He did it, without asking permission from those who may have held him back (You’re too young Jesus, wait a while longer). He did what He was appointed to do, because He knew that getting the good news of salvation out to everyone was the most important thing in his life.
What is our purpose? Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? According to the Word of God, the words of Jesus Himself, we as disciples of Christ are to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are to teach them EVERYTHING to obey the commandments of Christ. These were Jesus’ final words before He ascended into Heaven. We, every one of us, who call ourselves Christians, are to tell others about Jesus; who He is, what He’s done, and how we can know Him. THAT is our purpose…how are we doing?
3) Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favour with God and with men.
Jesus was an obedient child. His parents wanted him to come home with them, so he did. Was it wrong of them? No. If it was, Jesus would have said that it was more important that he begin teaching seminary now at the age of 12 rather than be with his family. But that was not the plan of God, so Jesus went home, and grew up.
He grew in wisdom. He continued his study of people, places and relationships. He got to know his brothers and sisters. Can you imagine having Jesus as your oldest brother? He likely continued to ask questions of people’s understanding of the scriptures in his neighbourhood.
He grew into a man. For 18 more years, Jesus worked with his father as a carpenter. He grew strong from doing daily chores in and around the home. His voice deepened, he grew taller, and became well-known in the area.
He gained the favour of those who knew him. I would propose that Jesus was always ready to help anyone who had need. He was reliable, accountable, trustworthy, honest, caring, tender and loving. People liked him; he was obviously a nice guy. But what would Jesus do or say if people were to take the Lord’s Name in vain, lie, steal, cheat, worship idols, put sown their parents…I would guess that He would be resolute in pointing out that such things violated the Law of God, the 10 Commandments. This may have rubbed some people wrong. But Jesus was not out to make people feel good about themselves, he wanted to point people to God and their need for salvation, and he did so by earning a good reputation in the community.
Are doing the same? How is our ‘name’ doing around here? What do people think of Christ’s followers today? What are we doing to earn their attention to the message we have to share? What have we done to gain favour in the eyes of our neighbours, our co-workers, our boss, our employees, our friends, our spouse, or our kids?
We need to exemplify the character of Christ in EVERYTHING that we do. If I am to ask someone to put their faith in Jesus, I had better be living up to what I am talking about. My life MUST be a reflection of Jesus and not just a spotlight on myself.
We are to be obedient children of our heavenly Father, just as Jesus was obedient to his parents and to the Father’s will. If God puts on our heart to do something for him, should we not do it?! How many opportunities have we blown because we didn’t feel like being a servant of God’s? How many people have we passed by because we were too busy to lend a hand? How many chances are we going to get to tell someone that God loves them before our chances are gone?
What are we going to DO that makes a difference for someone TODAY, tomorrow, and every day that we are blessed to have? How am I going to be more like Jesus?
