Marvel at His First Words!

1st Sunday after Christmas, 12/30/12
Luke 2:41-52


Marvel at His First Words!


Parenting. Some people say parenting is harder today than ever before. I’m not so sure about that. It’s never been easy. That’s all the more true when you’re trying to instill your Christian values in your child. In every age of history Satan has used every possible means to try to pry God’s children away from God. That means our parenting efforts are being attacked by a power much higher than we possess and that will always bring problems.

But parenting also brings blessings. When a couple is blessed with a second child, they don’t cut their love for their first child in half and give one half to each. Their love doubles. They now have two children they love deeply. And whether it’s one child or many, every child creates precious memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Parenting isn’t easy, but it brings blessings. I’d like to think that’s true of every parenting situation. Imagine how true that was as the parent of the world’s only Savior from sin! You might think it was easy being the earthly parent of the world’s only perfect child. But I’m here to tell you this morning that it most certainly was not. Imagine being me, Jesus’ earthly father, in the event you heard about earlier this morning. Imagine the huge responsibility of being entrusted with the upbringing of the world’s only Savior from sin. Imagine how I felt when holding him in my arms—here’s the Savior that the Lord had promised to send for centuries. Now he’s here and I’m holding the Son of God in my arms. How will I ever be up to the task of raising the Savior?

Certainly there were aspects of parenting Jesus that were easy. Jesus never got into trouble. He was the perfect Child in every way. Mary and I quickly learned that we didn’t have to worry that Jesus was getting into trouble. He never did. He always obeyed us—perfectly and willingly.

That was the case on the days you have described for you by Luke. It was the spring of the year and Mary and I were making the trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Jesus was with us as in years past. And even though the trip wasn’t easy and the accommodations weren’t great and the city was crowded with people, Jesus always went along willingly and gladly. He loved celebrating the Passover. It seemed to mean so much more to him than the other children his age.

This year it was even more special for Jesus. You see, he was now 12 years old. Under Jewish tradition that meant he was now a son of the law. He was responsible for knowing Jewish religious laws and for keeping them. He knew what the Passover commemorated and how the Lord demanded that it be celebrated and he participated in that celebration gladly and willingly. I couldn’t have been more proud of him!

We spent that entire week in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover. You’ll recall that the Passover involved selecting a year-old male lamb without defect on Sunday of that week. It was then slaughtered on Thursday of that week and we ate it with family members. The leader of the meal led us in recalling how the Lord had led our people out of Egypt and how the blood of the lamb painted on the doorposts caused the angel of death to pass over every Jewish household.

Once the Passover celebration was completed, Mary and I made preparations for the trip home to Nazareth. As we had in years past, we would travel home with the same group of people that we had traveled with to Jerusalem. It was made up of relatives and friends, people whom we had known for years. Jesus knew them well. He had grown up with the children. Mary and I were completely comfortable with Jesus spending as much time with them as he wanted.

Maybe that’s the reason we didn’t think much of the fact that he wasn’t be our side when Mary and I started our journey home. There was a small crowd of us traveling together. We had seen Jesus right after he woke up and got dressed for the journey that morning. And then we started walking, thinking that he was with the group. What’s more, we got involved in many conversations with our friends as we walked home and didn’t give much thought to Jesus. We knew he wasn’t getting into trouble. He never did. He always obeyed us. We had no reason to think he wasn’t with us.

But when we stopped and looked for a place to sleep that night, we couldn’t find him. We asked his friends about him, but they hadn’t seen him all day. And then panic struck us. Jesus wasn’t anywhere to be found! In fact, no one had seen him at all! He had vanished! We not only had we lost our son, we had lost the world’s only Savior from sin! Where could he be? What could have happened to him?

Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much that night. At first we were angry with Jesus. He should have known better. But the anger didn’t last long. It was soon replaced by parental guilt. Jesus was our responsibility. He wasn’t yet an adult. It was up to us to make sure we knew where he was and what he was doing, to be absolutely sure that he was safe. Mary and I had failed that responsibility miserably.

Before dawn we tried to eat some breakfast and, as soon as it was light enough, we made the trip back to Jerusalem. Along the way we asked as many people as possible if they had seen a 12-year-old boy by himself. No one had. Our panic increased. We began imagining the terrible things that could have happened to him. We walked in silence as fast as we could. Exhausted, we reached Jerusalem as the sun was setting. We found a place to spend the night. We didn’t sleep much that night either. I think I did a little more than Mary. I could tell her heart was breaking. Tears often stained her face. We hadn’t seen Jesus for two days. Where could he be?

Again, we were up before dawn and, as soon as it was light we began searching for Jesus. We checked all the places where we had been that week. We must have asked a 1,000 people the same question, “Have you seen our son? He’s a 12-year-old boy named Jesus.” But again, no one had. I didn’t tell Mary, but I was beginning to think that Jesus was gone for good.

Our frantic search for him led us close to the Temple. And I don’t know why, but we decided to go inside and see if anyone there had seen Jesus. As we entered into one of the courts that were outside of the main Temple area, there he was! He was sitting on the floor and the rabbis were around him, asking him questions and listening to his answers.

Mary spoke for both us when she said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” The unbearable anxiety we had felt for three days was replaced by relief the instant we laid our eyes on him and could see that he was unharmed. But then the anger set in. How could he do this to us? He was old enough to know how we would feel about losing him for three days. He seemed to think nothing of it, when it had nearly killed his mother and me with grief and guilt.

And then he replied in a way that was beyond his 12 years. They are the first words of Jesus recorded in the Bible. He said, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” That last phrase he spoke is a little difficult to translate. The Greek text literally says, “Didn’t you know that I must be in the of my Father?” That doesn’t make much sense in English. The KJV translates it “That I must be about my Father’s business.” The NIV supplies the word “house.” Regardless, we get the idea now.

But I didn’t quite understand them at first. Luke makes mention of that. Neither Mary nor I understood what he meant.

But you and I know now. Jesus had to be there, in his Father’s house. Already at age 12 he was aware of his relationship with his heavenly Father. It wasn’t the same as our relationship with the Father. It was far more profound, eternal, as one who had come from the Father. In these first words of Jesus recorded in the Bible Jesus was stating that he knew who he was, the eternal Son of God, come from the Father to this earth. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

But these first words go deeper than that. He not only knew who he was, he also knew why he was here. He was here to do the things of his Father, not his own things. He was here to do his Father’s business. That business was none other than the salvation of every sinner. At an age in which most boys and girls are dreaming of what they want to do with their life, Jesus was not only aware of what he had come to do, he was already doing it!

In staying there at the Temple Jesus was placing his Father’s will above the will of his earthly parents, as much as he loved and respected those parents. The Father wanted Jesus to be there in the Temple those three days instead of with his parents. Jesus knew that and he obeyed. And then he went with his parents and obeyed them perfectly.

What comfort, people, this event gives us! Jesus didn’t do his work kicking and screaming against his Father. He obeyed his Father gladly and willingly. He had to, because we don’t, not a day of our lives. If it’s not our selfishness, then it’s our doubt and worry. If it’s not our materialism, then it’s our inability to trust the Lord to care for us. But where we fail, Jesus succeeded. From his first words he indicates that he is perfectly carrying out his work as our Savior in obeying his Father and his parents perfectly. Twenty years later he would finish that work by sacrificing himself for the sins of the world. We have a Savior who would let nothing prevent him from being our substitute. Marvel at his first words! Amen.