Jesus’ Relational & Missional Priority

INTRO: After the infancy narrative, including key witnesses who testify concerning who this unique baby is, we now have the boy Jesus (nearly a man in their culture) testifying for himself. Luke gives clear evidence of Jesus’ self-awareness, particularly his unique relationship to God and his focus on accomplishing the Father’s will.

Luke 2:39–52 ESV

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Parenting tip #1: The more kids you have, the more critical it is to do a head count! (Jesus had others siblings by now, no doubt.) - Do good parents ever misplace their kids? Come back next week for Aaron Boldman’s series on parenting and find out! ;-)

Parenting tip #2: If one of your kids is the Messiah, not everything will be normal. - Actually, in his humanity Jesus was very normal, except that he was without sin.

This passage is not really about parenting, but it is about how a relationship with God impacts our earthly relationships, and it is about the identity of Jesus and his mission.

Even at age 12, as Jesus expresses his relationship and mission priority, he demonstrates an understanding of his identity.

So I want to tell you up front where I intend to go with this in application for our lives:

Do you have a clear focus in this life of what your relationship priority should and can be? Is your practice matching the priority you claim?

Do you have a clear understanding of what God’s mission is for you as his child? Does your practice match this priority?

The Background: His parents are faithful as Jesus matures. (vv. 39-42)

As we’ve already seen, Luke is careful to note that Jesus’ earthly parents are faithful to the Law and the expectations of their faith in the God of Israel. - V. 39 looks back at their faithfulness in naming this child Jesus at his circumcision, and of them performing their duties in terms of Mary’s purification and the presentation of their firstborn at the temple. (which provided the backdrop for Simeon and Anna’s testimonies concerning Jesus) Now too in v. 41 we also see that these faithful parents have the custom of making a yearly journey to Jerusalem for the Passover (a one-day feast which then inaugurated a week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread… Often the two combined feasts were simply called one or the other. The family was probably in town for at least those full eight days).

Now their stated return to Nazareth overlooks what Matthew records concerning their flight to Egypt when Herod aims to kill the babies in Bethlehem, and their later return to Nazareth. - Here we will note simply that there’s no reason to assume a contradiction. As far as Luke’s omission, it is likely that he either was not yet familiar with Matthew’s tradition or didn’t include it because his emphasis for a Gentile audience is not on this early rejection of Jesus. (My preference is that Matthew had information that Luke did not, but I can’t be dogmatic on it to say the least.)

The mention of Jesus’ growth (here in v. 40 as well as in v. 52) parallels that of John the Baptist, but with added emphasis on being filled with wisdom and special favor from God. - As Luke continues now and later in the gospel, the reason for these emphases becomes self-evident: Jesus is the unique Son of God.

Here are some other helpful background notes about this episode in Christ’s life:

It is the last mention of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, leading us to surmise that it’s quite possible (perhaps even likely?) that Joseph dies sometime in the interim before Jesus’ public ministry.

This is the only inspired account of something from the Lord’s youth -

(Cole) Some of the apocryphal gospels that circulated in the early centuries of the church contain fanciful and miraculous legends from Jesus’ childhood. He touches some clay birds and they come to life and fly away. He touches a plow that Joseph had botched up and it is instantly made right. Some other legends are more disturbing: The young Jesus curses some bothersome children who immediately wither up or drop dead.

After such fanciful tales, the account in Luke of Jesus getting left behind at the temple sounds pretty tame! But that argues for its authenticity. Most likely Luke got this material from Mary (2:51).

Luke includes the story primarily to show us who Jesus is as the unique Son of God, but also so that we will imitate Him in our conduct.

As the episode unfolds, a problem develops that results in a conflict of sorts with his faithful earthly parents.

The Problem: Jesus is missing! (vv. 43-48)

“Hey, has anybody seen Jesus?”

Maybe you wonder how they supposed him to be in the group without being certain. (First of all, every parent has a story about leaving or very nearly leaving a kid behind.) But besides this:

Caravans, which afforded protection from robbers, were common on pilgrimages for the feasts in Jerusalem. Traveling with a caravan, in which neighbors from their town would watch the community children together, Mary and Joseph might assume that the near-adult Jesus was with companions, especially if by now they had younger children to attend to. - Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 2:43–45.

Along with this is the possibility that… “If the [caravan] practice was followed, the women and small children went ahead and the men followed with the bigger boys. Joseph and Mary may each have thought that Jesus was with the other.” - Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 108.

Whatever the case, they get a full day’s journey away, probably something like 20 miles, before they realize their error. “Oh dude, we just left our son alone in the capital city.” It takes them 3 days total to recover him from the time they left him: the one day traveling on without him, the one day it took to get back, and one day searching and finally finding him.

And listen, we might tend to look at this as the parents’ error, but really Mary is correct to also put some responsibility on Jesus (as she responds like a normal mother: “Why have you treated us so? We’ve been searching for you in great distress.”). - Jesus is twelve years old, only one year from being 13, when he would come of age in their culture and be old enough to take responsibility for himself in terms of keeping the Law. In their culture, he’s not a child now but becoming a responsible young man. So that’s all part of what creates the situation, actually.

Kids, don’t try this at home. Jesus’ sinlessness is why we know that he was not irresponsible or disrespectful. If you do something similar, you’ll be lucky if your parents interpret it as a misunderstanding rather than rebellion! :-)

What response does Jesus give to Mary’s disbelief that Jesus didn’t travel with them and seems un-phased by their searching for him?

The Point: “I must be in my Father’s house.” (vv. 49-50)

Luke gives us Jesus first recorded words, and the key to the passage is found in these words to his earthly parents: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Here we have…

= Jesus’ clear understanding of his identity and stated priority

More than simply being exceptionally smart and spiritually sensitive and astute (which they certainly note of him in v. 47), Jesus is aware of his unique relationship to God the Father. (BTW, I believe that this is a developing understanding, which is consistent with the text (in vv. 39&52)... and which makes sense with his true humanity in conjunction with his full deity.

Are you following why I say that this phrase gives us both his relational priority as well has his priority to accomplish the mission for which the Father sent him? AND it demonstrates his recognition of his identity in terms of having a special relationship to God the Father?

In answering Mary the way that he does (with another question), he essentially presents a contrast to her amazement that he could put her and his earthly Father thru such despair. He contrasts her concern over that with his primary and prior relationship emphasis in connection to the Heavenly Father.

Secondly, when he says “I must be in my Father’s house,” you don’t have to work too hard to read between the lines and hear “my life is (and will be) about doing my Father’s will.”

Finally, the reference to God as “my” Father is even more personal than simply being a reflection of a Messiah who is pious and faithful and close to God. This is more familiar than Jews were with God in normal usage. What was common was to say “our Father” or at the very least to add “in heaven” when speaking of or to this heavenly Father. Jesus addresses God the Father as a son addresses his own Father. - Here we have recognition of a unique relationship to God, a relationship shared by no other. This is the unique Son of God.

Not surprisingly, Joseph and Mary don’t yet grasp the point that Jesus is making. Luke seems to deliberately begin this side by side thread of Jesus knowing his identity and mission while it is difficult for others to fully comprehend these truths. Although this lack of understanding remains unresolved for the time being, the immediate situation does have a resolution.

The Resolution and Transition: Jesus submits to his parents and grows into his ministry. (vv. 51-52)

If we didn’t have a full picture concerning Jesus, his actions appear wrong or irresponsible, and we can tell what Mary and Joseph think, as Mary rebukes him (albeit mildly). What makes this different is indeed that it is Jesus.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 2:41–52—The Boy in the Temple

The commandment to honor one’s father and mother was regarded as one of the most important in the law, and children not yet considered adults were to express this honoring in part by obedience.

So Luke does give evidence of Jesus’ submissive obedience in v. 51, probably to clarify this very thing so that we should not think he was disrespecting his earthly parents even in prioritizing his relationship to God the Father and prioritizing His will.

Jesus growth is an interesting thing for us to ponder, although we certainly don’t have our questions fully answered. To what degree at varying ages is Jesus aware in more complete measure of his deity and purpose for coming? - We don’t know. We see here an early sign of some very real recognition that his relationship to God was unique, that his identity was unique, and that his mission was unique. And then the text says that he continued to grow in wisdom (insight) at the same time as maturing physically, to me indicating that in the interim years this understanding would become more fully developed (18 or more before the days of his public ministry). Again, we do know that his full deity and true humanity are made even more clear through his own ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection, and later through the teaching of the Apostles (in the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit).

Before we leave this text for today, let’s be sure we’re allowing the significance of Christ’s identity and relationship to God the Father sink in.

Conclusion & Application:

Because of Christ’s coming and accomplishing the Father’s will, we too have opportunity for a parent-child relationship with the Heavenly Father.

How does it work? How does that happen? - If fully understanding Jesus’ task and person is challenging for you, don’t feel badly. Welcome to the club of finite humanity. Even his own parents were struggling with it. However, we have a great deal more perspective than what they had at the time, and God is in the business of revealing the truth of Jesus and changing our hearts to accept Him. That means with his help you can understand and believe. ***

Let’s take a look at your relationship and mission priorities:

Do you have a clear focus in this life of what relationship to prioritize? Is your practice matching the priority you claim?

-Admittedly, this application is not perfectly easy in relating to a God that we cannot see… but he has and does communicate with us through his Word, and he desires that we should pray to pour out our hearts in dependence on him, and has given us his Holy Spirit to indwell us and guide us when we listen.

-All other relationships in our lives can come under and be served through our primary relationship to God, to Christ. Our relational goal then becomes to know Christ more in intimacy with him on our own, to know him more through our relationships with others, and to make him known in those relationships. [that begins to give away the answer to the next question]

Do you have a clear understanding of what God’s mission is for you as his child? Does your practice match this priority? (Consider your schedule, use of money, and where you invest the most energy.)

…To know Him and to make Him known. We Are His. Him We Proclaim.

Do you have to be an adult to comprehend and practice these priorities? Do you have to reach a particular level of spiritual maturity?