Luke 2:39-52

 One of the activities I enjoying doing for relaxation and recreation is reading.  I’ve never asked any other avid readers this, but my reading interests tend to go in cycles.  I don’t know if that is normal or not.  Not that I’ve ever worried about being too normal. There are some themes that I always enjoy, like science fiction or fantasy novels.  But every so often I get in the mood for other genres.  And every now and then I’ll cycle around to a mood where I feel like reading biographies.  Sometimes a particular period in history will capture my attention and so I’ll read the biography of a famous person or two from that era.  Other times I just want to find out more about a certain man or woman so I’ll pick up a book about them. 

Most biographies don’t give you a birth till death narrative.  If they did they would end up being way too long.  Generally they focus most of their attention on the significant years during adulthood or whatever age it was they had the greatest impact on society. When it comes to their childhood, the author, or if it is an autobiography the person himself will give some factual information about the time and place and circumstances of his birth.  Then they usually relate an incident or two from childhood that had significant impact on them or maybe foreshadowed the direction their life would go. 

Luke, in his God inspired biography of Jesus does exactly that for us.  We spent a few weeks around Christmas looking at the facts of Jesus’ birth.  Now Luke, and he is the only one of the four gospel writers to do this, provides for us an account from Jesus’ childhood that foreshadows His adult life and ministry.

We find the account in Luke chapter 2 starting at verse 39: 

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.

Both Matthew and Luke have accounts of the birth of Christ.  Matthew then skips right from the birth to the baptism of Jesus and the beginning of His ministry at age 30.  Both Mark and John begin at the time of John the Baptist.  Only Luke gives us any information that falls between Jesus as an infant and the adult Jesus beginning His ministry.  Verses 39 and 40 conclude the section dealing with Jesus birth.  Verse 39 starts by saying Joseph and Mary performed everything according to the law of the Lord. 

There were 3 different rituals they would have had to go through.  The first was Jesus’ circumcision at 8 days old.  Next would have been His dedication.  According to the Law of Moses every firstborn male belonged to the Lord.  Therefore the father and mother would dedicate their boy to the Lord and then they would ransom him or buy him back.  This was done 31 days after the boy was born.  Finally, every woman giving birth was considered ceremonially unclean until she went through the purification ritual, which included giving a special offering to the Lord.  This was done on day 40 after the birth of a son.

Joseph and Mary stayed in Bethlehem long enough to do all these things.  We know from Matthew that before they headed back to Nazareth they had to flee to Egypt to escape the murderous plans of King Herod and that it was from Egypt that they came and settled back down in their hometown.  Luke skips that part and just gets them back in Nazareth.  Like I said earlier, a biography cannot cover every detail of a person’s life and neither Matthew, Mark, Luke or John tried to do that.  In fact John at the end of his gospel in the very last verse states, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books which were written.” 

You just can’t write everything.  So Luke skips the flight into Egypt but he does include something that he felt was very important from Jesus’ childhood.  This is an episode that none of the other gospel writers included in their accounts.  It takes place when Jesus was, according to verse 42, 12 years old.

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.

According to Jewish law it was required for every adult male living within 20 miles of Jerusalem to attend the Passover feast.  Passover was such a supremely important feast that males from much greater distances made it their aim to be in Jerusalem for that week.  In fact, for those Jews dispersed around the world it was their dream to at least once in their lifetime make it to Jerusalem for Passover feast.  And frequently, especially for those who had to travel farther distances, men would bring their whole families to Jerusalem for the Passover making a special spiritual holiday and vacation out of the trip. 

It was almost 60 miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem, about like walking from Hot Springs to the Rushmore Mall in Rapid City.  Even though that put them well beyond the mileage limit that required them to attend, because of their devotion to God Joseph and Mary went every year.  Because of the hardships and dangers from robbers and wild animals on a trip like that it was fairly common for everybody from a certain village to travel in a caravan together.  And, as we will see, this is what the custom was for Joseph and Mary.

 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.

Now you might think this is pretty shoddy parenting going on here.  As a small boy my parents left me a rest stop one time.  We were coming home from a family reunion in Dell Rapids near Sioux Falls.  I was about 7 and small enough to be sleeping on the floor under a big pile of blankets.  They stopped at that rest stop in the middle of the state out by Presho.  When they were all inside I woke up and decided it would be a bad idea for me to make a trip inside as well.  Somehow we must have missed each other because when I came back outside the car was gone. Fortunately my parents realized their error not too many miles down the road when my sister asked, “Where’s Mark?” 

Joseph and Mary didn’t miss Jesus until the end of the day when they were all setting up camp.  Commonly on trips like this the women and children would leave first, early in the day to get a head start since they typically traveled slower.  The men would say their final farewells, perhaps conduct a little business, and make one last trip to the temple before leaving.  They had done this enough years that they knew exactly when they had to leave in order to catch up with the women and children right at the proper time to set up camp.  Apparently Mary thought Jesus was with Joseph and Joseph thought he was with Mary.

When they got together they realized both were mistaken.  They searched among their friends and relatives, as it wouldn’t have been unusual for an older child like that to stick with another family during the trip.  But Jesus was nowhere in the caravan.  It was too late that night to head back, so I am sure at first light the next morning with anxious hearts Joseph and Mary left the caravan and returned to Jerusalem.

After two days of traveling, one out and one back in, and one day of searching they finally found Jesus at the temple sitting with the teachers listening and asking them questions.  Jesus’ understanding of God’s Word was outstanding and all who heard Him were amazed. 

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.

And it is at this point that a very important exchange takes place between Mary and Jesus.  If you ever lost your child, even for a few minutes you can empathize with the emotions Mary must have been feeling.  There is a huge sense of relief knowing your child is found and is safe.  But at the same time there is this anger as you are thinking, “What were you doing?  Don’t you ever wander off like that again!”?   I’m sure Mary had those same kinds of feelings.

 Look at what she said to Jesus:

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."

A pretty normal and appropriate question, don’t you think?  But look at what Jesus said in His answer:

49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

To catch the importance of this exchange we need to look carefully at what each said.  Mary said, “Your father and I…”  Now both Mary and Joseph knew quite well that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father.  They knew that Jesus was divinely conceived.  Nevertheless, it only made practical sense, since Jesus was being raised by him, that Joseph would be referred to as His father.  That happens all the time today with a stepfather, especially if the stepfather is there from when the child was an infant.  

It was very normal and very natural for Mary to say, "Your father and I…”  But Jesus in His response reminded them that this was not a normal situation and Jesus was not just a natural child.  He firsts asks a question back ‘why were you looking for me?”  He is not asking that in a smart-allicky way.  But rather He is saying, “What do you mean ‘looking’ for me?  You should have known exactly where I was."

And how should they have known exactly where He would be?  By remembering who Jesus really was.  Jesus said to Mary, “Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house.”  The temple was uniquely known as God’s house.  Now there is no indication of a response from the teachers with whom Jesus had been talking.  They must have been scratching their heads and going, “What?  What is this kid talking about ‘my Father’s house’?”  But Joseph and Mary, they should have known right away what Jesus was talking about. 

Joseph should have known because the angel came and told him at the very beginning, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”  Mary should have known even before that when the angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.”  After the birth of Jesus both of them would have been reminded of His supernatural origins in the wonder of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men.  They both should have known instantly what Jesus meant when He said “My Father’s house.”

But even though they knew those things I don’t think they really understood what God was doing and how it was that Jesus would be the savior.  That’s why they didn’t understand what Jesus meant in this situation.  They knew God was at work but the didn’t know exactly what that meant for them or for Jesus.

This will seem like kind of a silly question to ask because I already know what the answer is, but I’m going to ask it anyway.  Has anybody here ever been in a situation where you didn’t know what God was doing?  Possibly it had to do with your health.  Maybe it was something going on at work or your career or your future.  Perhaps it had to do with your spouse or your family.  Have you ever faced a situation where you just didn’t know for sure what God was doing? 

Like I said that is actually a fairly silly question because I am quite sure that almost everybody in this room has faced or is currently facing that kind of situation.  Unless, say, you are like 3 years old or younger.  But for the rest of us, the fact is we live much of our lives in a state of not knowing exactly what God is doing.  God does not conveniently drop down a blueprint for everything He is doing in our lives.  He doesn’t consult us in advance when a curve ball is coming our way.  He is not in the habit of explaining the details.

And because of this fact it is all too easy for a Christian who is facing something difficult, or fearful or uncertain to become all discombobulated.  I didn’t even know discombobulated was a real word until I typed it in my sermon and the spell checker accepted it.  I thought it was something my Mom made up.  So I looked it up in the dictionary and discombobulated means to be upset, disconcerted or frustrated.

Do you ever get that way when you don’t know what God is doing?  Well knock it off.  Wait!  Wait!  Wait!  That’s not what I meant to say.  What I meant to say was, “Did you know there is a better way to respond?” 

What did Joseph and Mary do in this situation?  They knew God was doing something but they hadn’t put it all together yet.  They didn’t understand this particular incident with Jesus, or what God’s plans for him would be in the future. So what did they do in the face of uncertainty and the unknown?  They took Jesus home and continued to raise Him!

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.

Increasing in wisdom means they continued to educate Jesus.  Increasing in stature means they took care of him and fed him so he could grow normal and healthy.  ‘In favor with God’ shows that they passed on the habits of love and devotion to God.  In favor with man meant they trained him socially.   They did the things that parents are supposed to do.

When you don’t know what God is doing in your life the very best thing you can do is to continue doing the things you know God wants you to do. 

You may not know what God is doing in your family.  There may be some struggles or hardships.  But you do know God wants you to love your wife or husband.  You know God wants you to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  You do know that God wants you to honor and respect your parents.  Do those things you know God wants you to do.

You may not know what God is doing in a certain relationship in your life but you do know God wants you to forgive.  You know that He wants you speak the truth in love.  You know He wants you to put the interests of others ahead of your own. 

You might not know what God is doing for your future career wise, but you do know He expects you to work hard at whatever you are doing right now, and to do your work as if you are doing it unto the Lord.  You know you are supposed to be honest and work with integrity. 

We get the picture, right?  God’s not going to give us a blueprint for life.  There are going to be times, in fact many times where we don’t know what God is doing.    But walking by faith and not by sight means that you do the things that you know you are supposed to do while trusting God for the rest.  And you know what?  That is a pretty good way to live.