INTRODUCTION:

1. In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Charles R. Erdman says, "It has been said that the boyhood of Jesus is like a walled garden from which we have been given but a single flower, but this is so fragrant as to fill our hearts with a longing to enter within the secret enclosure. We have but a single incident of His boyhood days; it is recorded for us only by Luke, a visit to Jerusalem paid by Jesus when he was twelve years old. At about this age a young Jew became a 'son of the law' and began to observe its requirements, among which were the pilgrimages to the holy city to observe the sacred feasts."
2. This single incident is the only record we have of our Lord's boyhood days, and it is only found in the Gospel of Luke.
3. Many strange and improbable stories of our Lord's youth are given in the books of the Apocrypha, but what we have here in Luke 2 is the only authentic record of the life of Christ between His early childhood and when He appears at the Jordan River at the age of 30.
4. Matthew 3:13 says, "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him" (cf. Luke 3:21).

 

I. OUR LORD GREW AND WAXED STRONG IN SPIRIT (2:40).

1. The poet said:

Fair as a beauteous tender flower
Amidst the desert grows,
So slighted by a rebel race
The heav nly Savior rose.

2. Luke 2:40 reminds us of the mystery of the incarnation of Christ -- how the Creator of the universe became a man and "grew and waxed strong" (2:40).
3. According to our text, our Lord's growth was threefold: physical, spiritual, and mental (2:40, 52).
4. This is the Biblical pattern -- children need to grow physically, spiritually, and mentally. Parents should be diligent in cultivating this growth. Parents should encourage their children to pray and to memorize Scripture, to attend Sunday School and church services regularly, to read good books (not bad books), to learn to play musical instruments, to eat healthy food, to get proper exercise, etc.
5. Children need wisdom, and they need God's favor (2:52). "And the grace of God (God's favor) was upon him" (2:40).
6. Deuteronomy 6:6 and 7 says, "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
7. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
8. Our Lord grew up in Nazareth (2:39, cf. 2:4). For some reason, Nazareth had a bad reputation. We read in John 1:46 that Nathanael said to Philip, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
9. "Philip saith unto him, Come and see" (John 1:46).
10. Perhaps Luke 4:29 gives us some idea why Nazareth had a bad reputation. The men of the synagogue in Nazareth tried to kill our Lord by throwing Him off a cliff.

 

II. OUR LORD WAS FOUND IN THE TEMPLE (2:41-47).

1. Our Lord's parents were godly believers, and in obedience to the law of Moses they made annual trips to the temple in Jerusalem (a journey from Nazareth of about 70 miles) at the feast of the passover (2:41).
2. Deuteronomy 16:1, 2 says, "Keep the passover unto the LORD thy God... Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there."
3. "The place which the LORD shall choose to place his name" was the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed by the Romans (as our Lord predicted) in AD 70. Therefore, for 2,000 years the Jews have not properly kept the passover.
4. This is because they have rejected their Messiah. John 1:29 says when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
5. First Corinthians 5:7 says, "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us."
6. At the age of twelve, a Jewish boy became "a son of the law." This meant he would take on new responsibilities, at the local synagogue and at the temple in Jerusalem. Perhaps that is why our Lord's parents felt it was not necessary to watch Him closely in the temple (2:43, 44).
7. As our young people mature, it is good and wise to give them more responsibilities and privileges in the local church. Children should feel at home in church. They should enjoy coming to church.
8. For three days our Lord was missing from His parents (2:42-46). It might seem unusual that Mary and Joseph should not have been assured of our Lord's presence with them when they left Jerusalem, but in traveling to these great feasts, families and neighbours would join together and form a large caravan ("company" -- 2:44).
9. Joseph and Mary probably supposed that our Lord was with the others, until they spoke to some of their relatives and realized He was missing.
10. The word "doctors" (2:46) here means "teachers," and that is how it is often translated. Nicodemus used the same word when He said to our Lord, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God" (John 3:2).
11. Ephesians 4:11 says, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers."
12. Usually the word is translated "master," like in Matthew 19:16 when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"
13. Luke 2:46 is the only place in the Bible where the word is translated "doctor." "Asking them questions" does not mean our Lord was attempting to perplex or confound them.
14. Albert Barnes said, "The questions were doubtless proposed in a respectful manner, and the answers listened to with proper deference to their age and rank."
15. Our Lord amazed the doctors (2:47, 48). They were not accustomed to a boy so young being so wise. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, "Learned men were astonished at His mental powers" (Outline Studies in Luke).

 

III. OUR LORD MUST BE ABOUT HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS (2:49).

1. There are two questions in Luke 2:49. The first was, "How is it that ye sought me?" Barnes said, "Mary should have known that the Son of God was safe; that his heavenly Father would take care of him, and that he could do nothing amiss."
2. The second question is a very familiar one. "Wist (know) ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (2:49).
3. Mary said, "Behold, thy father (referring to Joseph, our Lord's stepfather) and I have sought thee sorrowing" (2:48), and our Lord replied, "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (2:49).
4. The contrast between "thy father" and "my Father" reveal that though a 12-year-old child, our Lord knew He was the Messiah.
5. These are the first recorded words of our Lord. Spurgeon said, "No doubt He said much that was very admirable while yet a Child, but the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to record anything except these two questions... We ought, therefore, to give all the more earnest heed to these words because they stand at the very forefront of our Lord s teaching and are, in some respects, the announcement of His whole life."
6. "And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them" (2:50). Barnes said, "Even his parents, after all that had taken place, did not seem to comprehend that he was to be the Saviour of men, or if they did, they understood it in a very imperfect manner."
7. The word "must" (2:49) is an important word, and is often used by Christ, or by others in reference to Christ. Here are just a few examples:

• Our Lord said to Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).
• Our Lord said in John 3:14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up."
• John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
• John 4:4 says, "And he must needs go through Samaria."
• Our Lord said in John 9:4, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work."
• Mark 8:31 says, "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

8. The Bible does not explain when or how our Lord became conscious of His special relationship to God as His only begotten Son. Hebrews 5:8 says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."
9. This is a mystery beyond our human comprehension. First Timothy 3:16 refers to it as "the mystery of godliness."
10. Our Lord's development as been described as "natural growth, and yet (His) consciousness of supernatural vocation was deepening. (His) development did not mean imperfection at any stage, as with us -- from error to truth, out of greater deficiency into less. But Jesus grew as a plant does (a rod out of the stem of Jesse) -- from shoot to bud to flower to fruit, perfect at each stage. Thus Jesus was perfect as babe, boy, youth, man" (W.H. Griffith Thomas).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. Luke 2:51 says, "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them."
2. Our Lord performed the duty of a faithful and obedient child, and has set an example in this that all children should follow.
3. Barnes said, "Happy are those children who imitate the example of Jesus -- who are obedient to parents -- who increase in wisdom -- who are sober, temperate, and industrious, and who thus increase in favour with God and men."
4. Colossians 3:20 says, "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."