Larry C. Brincefield
larkayb@earthlink.net
1/8/03
Title: Events In the Life of Christ: Jesus Learns His Destiny
Text: Luke 2:41-52
Introduction
Well, here we are at the 1st Wednesday Night service of the New Year...
As I began to think and plan about what to do on these Wednesday Evenings...
I felt that we should study something that relates back to our new vision....Christ 1st
So, we will begin a study of different events from the Life of Jesus Christ.
and, as we look at these events,
it is my hope and prayer that we will get to know Jesus Christ a little better.
and that He will become a little more real...
We’ve recently spent time looking at the birth of Christ (at Christmas)...
so we have a good foundation upon which to build.
If you were going to be the director of a movie about the life of Jesus Christ...
what scenes would you include?
which scenes would you leave out?
perhaps because they weren’t exciting enough?
or perhaps because they distracted the viewer from the main plot?
In the 4 Gospels, we have 4 "movies" about the life of Christ.
all 4 "movies" are similar....
but each "movie" is a little different...
unique in its own way.
3 of the Gospel writers wrote about Jesus’ birth.
Matthew, Mark, & Luke
Which makes quite an exciting beginning to the story.
All 4 of them wrote about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
which is obviously the main point of the story.
But only 1 of the Gospel writers (Luke) included the story about the time Jesus’ parents left Jesus back in Jerusalem and finding Him 3 days later in the Temple.
Let’s read about it in our text: Luke 2:41-52
If the 4 Gospel writers were movie directors...
we’d be inclined to think that perhaps the other 3 writers didn’t feel that the story was important enough to include in the narrative.
or maybe we would think that perhaps they simply hadn’t done the proper research and didn’t know about it.
Of course, these men weren’t movie directors...
they were writers....
and they didn’t write on their own....
they wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So, there must be a reason that this story is in our Bible.
commentators & preachers have some things to say about it.
Some people focus on Jesus’ parents and how they lost Jesus...
the lesson being that we shouldn’t be careless with Jesus.
Some people look at this event as an educational process for Jesus...
His opportunity to learn more about Scripture
Some people focus on Jesus teaching the teachers as if He were some kind of prodigy (which He was).
And while all these are valid points and certainly worth looking at....
But I feel that there is 1 particular reason that this scene is included
This is where Jesus FIRST begins to understand His relationship to God, His Father.
This passage of Scripture is where Jesus FIRST BEGINS TO UNDERSTAND HIS DESTINY
But in spite of this, Jesus also realizes the importance accepting "lowly" duties.
There are several reasons I believe this....
Body
1. First of all, this is true because of what is NOT in the Gospel record.
After Jesus’ birth, there are no other stories about Jesus as a child other than this story.
There are other writings that contain provocative stories about Jesus as a child...but none that are in our Bible.
One story talks about Jesus healing a bird with a broken wing.
Another story talks about Jesus running around and playing with some children when he passed by the workshop of a dyer called Salem.
The story goes that Jesus went into the dyer’s workshop and took all the cloths and put them into a pot full of dark blue dye.
When Salem came and saw that the cloths were ruined,
he began to cry out loud and asked Jesus, "What have you done to me, son of Mary? You have ruined my reputation in the eyes of all the people of the city; for everyone orders a suitable color for himself, but you have come and spoiled everything."
And Jesus replied: "I will change for you the color of any cloth which you wish to be changed"
and he immediately began to take the cloths out of the pot,
and each one of them was dyed just like Salem wished
There are even stories where Jesus got angry at another child and caused him to wither and die.
And while these are interesting stories....
they simply aren’t true,
otherwise they would be in our Bible,
because these stories of early miracles of Jesus would have great theological value.
Another story you don’t find in our Bible....
why didn’t Jesus raise Joseph, His step father, from the dead?
This narrative that we read is the last time that we hear about Joseph.
Commentators generally agree that Joseph died sometime over the next 18 years after this event;
and before Jesus entered into His public ministry.
The reasons these stories AREN’T in our Bible is because they aren’t true....
they didn’t happen.
If they DID happen, they would have been a part of the Scriptural record.
Charles Childers in the Beacon Bible Commentary says, "We must not fall into the error of the writers of the spurious gospels and ascribe toJesus a manifestation of divinity out of harmony with the progressive unfolding of His Messianic character."
2. The second reason that I believe this event is the beginning of Jesus’ understanding about Himself and His relationship to God is because of what IS written in the Gospel record.
And the main thing found in Scripture to verify this are the words of Jesus Himself.
"Why were you searching for Me, didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s House"?
Mary had just said, "Son, why have you treated US like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you".
Mary refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father
which seems natural, since,
even though Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ real father,
Joseph raised Jesus.
And when Jesus responds talking about being in His Father’s house...
meaning that God was His Father...
and so it was only natural that He would be in the Temple...
verse 50 tells us that Mary and Joseph didn’t understand.
If Mary and Joseph had raised Jesus from day 1 telling Him that He was God’s Son....
they would have understood perfectly why Jesus said this.
But you see, it had been 12 years (almost 13, because of the 9 month pregnancy) since Mary had been visited by the angel.
and 13 years is a long time....
perhaps her memory about it had begun to dim somewhat by this time.
Jesus seemed like a normal enough kid.
He was strong from working with His stepfather, Joseph, in the carpenter shop.
He was a good Boy, because He alone was without sin.
But He ate the same food that they ate.
He got hungry....
He hit his thumb with the hammer and lost His fingernail...
just like anyone else would.
But then, Mary sees Jesus in the Temple....
talking with the rabbis.
she hears His reference to His Father’s house...
and it all starts coming back to her.
And Scripture says, Mary "treasured all these things in her heart".
Conclusion
For these reasons, that is why I think this event is pivotal in Jesus’ life...
This is when He 1st begins to realize what He is all about....
that He really is God’s Son....
perhaps He didn’t have a complete understanding of all that implied....
but it was beginning to dawn on Him.
With all that being said, what is the lesson for US in this passage of Scripture?
1. The first lesson is just basically informative...we learn that Jesus learns Who His real Father is!
2. The 2nd Lesson is, Jesus learns His duty to God.
Jesus said, Luke 2:49 "Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?
the NKJV says, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?" Luke 2:49 (NKJV)
Commentators indicate that the real meaning here is "Didn’t you know that it is necessary for Me to be in the things of My Father?"
He didn’t say it like we say something like...
"I really must lose some weight" but then we don’t do it.
When Jesus said "MUST" you get the sense that He really means it.
He was compelled to do what His Father wanted.
He felt that the need was urgent.
Jesus recognized His filial duty....
He realized that as the Son of God....
there were some things He just HAD to do.
But wait a minute....aren’t we all children of God when we get saved?
In many places throughout Scripture, it talks about God being OUR Father.
With that in mind...then in this passage of Scripture, Jesus is serving as our example....
Do we have the same compulsion as Christ to be about our Father’s business?
Do we same sense of great urgency, as Christ did, about our Father’s business?
Those words of Jesus need to become our words also.
During Prayer and Share yesterday....
one of our group mentioned picking a verse for the year...
one verse that God uses to speak to us and using that as "our" verse for the year.
and I think there is great value in that.
If you haven’t picked a verse yet, let me suggest this verse. "I must be about My Father’s business".
In 2003, as we put Christ 1st...Let that thought drive you "I must be about my Father’s business"
3. The 3rd Lesson here is that Jesus was humble and obedient.
Luke 2:51 says,
"Jesus argued and threw a fit about going back to Nazareth"...
No...
"Jesus told His mom, Hey, I’m the Son of God...not Joseph...you just wait until I’m finished"....
No...
Luke 2:51 tells us that Jesus was obedient. The KJV says He was "subject" to them.
After this incredible event in the Temple...
and Jesus is finally beginning to understand His relationship to His Father....
He resumed His position as a normal, obedient Son. (Beacon)
God’s plan included Jesus walking through life just as we do.
And that’s God’s plan for us as well.
as nice as it would be to spend all our time in the Church...
or to dedicate our lives to living in a monastery...
and spending all our time in personal Bible Study...
learning more and more about God...
God wants us to obey Him by going through even the mundane duties of this life.
That includes the way you go about your work...
or if you are retired, how do you go about your retirement?
do you obey God in the little areas?
4. And finally, "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52 (NIV)
In 2003, as we put Christ 1st....it is my hope that WE will grow and become better people:
intellectually...
physically...
socially...
and most importantly, spiritually.
