The Gospel of Luke: Temple Travels

Transcript

JRNT 77
02/23/25
The Gospel of Luke: Temple Travels
Luke 2:41-52
Jesse Randolph


This morning we pick up our study in the Gospel of Luke. And today we're going to move into the only account given to us in any of the four Gospels, and for that matter the Bible, about the youth, the boyhood, the growing up years of our Lord, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the account involves Jesus' family's travels to and from the temple in Jerusalem, their temple travels when He was 12 years old. And in doing some reading on this passage this week I came across a commentator who noted that the boyhood of Jesus is “like a walled garden from which we have been given but a single flower.” And that's right, and today in this passage we're going to look at that flower—stem, roots, petals and all.

Please turn with me in your Bibles, if you would, to Luke 2:41. And if you can believe it, we're going to make it all the way down to verse 52 with the Lord's help. Luke 2:41, God's Word reads, “And His parents would go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became 12 years old, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast. And as they were returning after finishing the days of the Feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but His parents did not know. But supposing Him to be in the caravan, they went a day's journey, and they began searching for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for Him. And it happened that after three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished. And His mother said to Him, ‘Child, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.’ And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were searching for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?’ But they did not understand the statement which He had spoken to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them. And His mother was treasuring all these things in her heart. And Jesus was advancing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”

What we have in this passage is this lone glimpse into that thirty-year period between the birth of Jesus and the beginning of His public ministry. All we have, biblically speaking, is this single record of this single incident which took place as Jesus was, in human terms and according to Jewish standards, on the verge of starting His life as an adult. Let's start peeling back some of the petals of this flower as we take this line upon line and verse upon verse. I've broken it down according to six points as we work through these 12 verses, starting with, here's our first heading, “The Ride”. Look at verses 41-42 again, “And His parents would go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became 12 years old, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast.” Now one thing to mention right away with that first mention of the words “His parents,” is that in this account we're going to see references both to Jesus as He related to His earthly parents and as He related to God the Father; Jesus, both as He related to His mother Mary and His adoptive father Joseph, and Jesus as He related to His actual Father, the Eternal Father, God the Father, with whom He has shared deity and glory going back all the way to eternity past. In other words, Luke the human author here, is tugging at these threads of these twin realities that Jesus is both truly and fully God, and He's truly and fully man. In His humanity Jesus related to Joseph and Mary as His parents, while in His deity Jesus was the One who actually formed Joseph and Mary while they were in their mother's womb. So that's a little bit about this “His parents” language, beginning of verse 41.

“His parents,” we're told, “would go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.” Now the Feast of the Passover, that traced all the way back to those days of deliverance of God's people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. You may recall how God commissioned Moses to deliver the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. In fac, if you would, turn with me over to Exodus 7. We won't be doing much flipping today because this is such an isolated passage here in Luke's Gospel, but I'm going to give you a chance to flip and see some of Exodus and Leviticus here to get us going and ramp us up to the Passover Festival. Exodus 7, why don't we start there giving you some background. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, really wasn't a big fan of the idea of the Israelites leaving his jurisdiction, and that's because the Israelites were slave laborers, and that comes in handy quite a bit when you've got some major building projects on your docket. So God gave Moses this assignment by way of his brother Aaron to speak to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:2, and insist that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Now then we know that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. And then we know that God said this to Moses in Exodus 7:4. He says, “I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.” Then Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh (this was the Charlton Heston let-my-people-go moment) speaking to him, to Pharaoh, all that God had commanded him. But Pharaoh, we know, wouldn't let the people of Israel go. So then came the plagues—the plague of water turning to blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats (I'm working through 8, 9 and 10 of Exodus right now), the plague of flies, the plague of dying livestock, the plague of boils, the plague of hail, the plague of locusts, the plague of darkness. And then one more plague, the plague of the death of every firstborn in Egypt from Pharaoh's house on down.

Look at Exodus 11:4, “So Moses said, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, and all the firstborn of the cattle.’” So death was coming on the land of Egypt. But for the Israelites who still lived in the land of Egypt there was the offer of reprieve, of respite. If they were to slaughter a lamb, a male lamb without blemish, if they were to take some of the blood of that lamb and apply it to the doorpost of their house and to the doorstep of their house, the lintel, then Exodus 12:13 says, this is God saying, “And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And I will see the blood, and I will pass over you. And there shall be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Well, God then follows through on His promises as He always does. Look at Exodus 12:29, “Now it happened at midnight that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Then Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night,” this is Pharaoh speaking, “and said, ‘Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go serve Yahweh as you have spoken. Take both your flocks and your herds as you have spoken, and go,’” and then I love this, “’bless me also.’” After I've kept you in captivity all these years, will you give me a blessing? Thanks so much.

Well, to commemorate and to remember all that God had done in passing over, in sparing His people the Israelites, in bringing judgment and death on the firstborn of Egypt, the people of Israel now were to celebrate this Passover Feast every single year. And then that was to be followed immediately by this event called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In fact, go over with me to Leviticus 23, very next book here in the Old Testament, Leviticus 23, and this will showcase for us how the people of Israel were to commemorate the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, these back-to-back events. Leviticus 23:4 says, “These are the appointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month, there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yahweh. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation, You shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day as a holy convocation, you shall not do any laborious work.”

Now these events, the exodus out of Egypt, God's passing over the Israelites, they all happened around 1446 BC, nearly 1500 years before the birth of our Lord, nearly 1500 years before our Lord ministered in Judea. Now all these years later, 1446 years later, there were various rabbinical rules and regulations which had developed around what's actually stated here in Exodus and Leviticus. I don't have time to get into all these rabbinical rules this morning, but there are a few worth noting. For instance, one of these rabbinical rules indicated by Jesus' time that a Jewish male living more than 15 miles from Jerusalem, he didn't have to make the trip to the Holy City, he didn't have to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He could do it from his own home or his own village at least.

Further, there were rabbinical rules by Jesus' time that said that women were no longer required to go all the way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. In fact, under those rabbinical rules and at this time in culture women more typically would have stayed at home caring for the young ones and the home. So I bring that up because what Luke is signaling for us here in verse 41 by saying (back to Luke, by the way, Luke 2:41), “and His parents would go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover,” Luke is indicating for us yet again, as he has over and over in the Gospel account that Jesus' earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, were devoted and devout.

They were devoted and devout followers of Yahweh. Under these rabbinical regulations of their day, they didn't have to make this journey all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, which was more than 15 miles. Mary didn't have to go at all as a woman. Yet, they were both determined to make this journey, they were both determined to make it all the way to Jerusalem to commemorate God's deliverance of His people out of Egypt. Again, these two were deeply devoted to the Lord, they were grateful for the redemption that God had given His people, the favor he had shown His people when He brought them out of Egypt.

Putting ourselves now in Joseph and Mary's context, into their shoes for just a moment, as they're going now to Jerusalem, they're leaving Nazareth in Galilee and going up to Jerusalem, what would they have seen? What they would have seen would have been streets packed in the Holy City with countless thousands, who like them, were there to celebrate the Passover. They would have seen alleyways lined with various vendors and merchants selling supplies. They would have seen Roman soldiers jostling with the crowds trying to maintain some level of control in this swollen city. They would have seen encampments around the city to accommodate those who couldn't fit within the city walls or the city limits. And of course they would have seen sheep stalls. According to many estimates, there were some 200,000 sheep that were slaughtered on any given Passover in Jerusalem. So there are these stalls everywhere. Can you imagine the sounds and the smells of the city at this time? And it was from those sheep stalls that thousands of Jewish pilgrims would find that ideal, white-wooled, four-legged creature, and they would haggle over the price for that lamb. Then they would lead that newly purchased lamb to the temple, and then whatever priest happened to be on duty that day would slaughter that newly purchased lamb. They would splash blood on the altar in the temple, and then the lamb would be roasted. And then the meat of that lamb would be enjoyed by the family as they remembered their national deliverance out of Egypt as Israelites. So Passover was this very high point on the national calendar. It was a celebration, it was seen as a feast. It was joyful because this was evidence of God's blessing on His chosen people. And the point here, back to the context of Luke 2:41, is that Joseph and Mary didn't want to miss any of it. They wanted to be a part of it.

Well, this description of this young couple's devotion continues on in verse 42 where Luke says, “And when He became 12 years old, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast.” Now the “He” there, of course, is referring to Jesus. And those words “12 years old,” that's significant, because at this point in Jewish history a young boy wasn't considered a son of the law, a son of the commandment, until he turned 13. It was at age 13 that an Israelite boy would be called a Bar (that means son in Hebrew), Mitzvah (commandment), a son of the commandment. A 13-year-old was the one who was considered a son of the commandment meaning, when he turned 13 then he would be subject to the Law. Then he would be able to participate in his own right in the various religious activities in his local synagogue. Then he would be considered to those around him as having entered manhood. Up until the age of 13 it was the boy's parents, and namely his father, who would carry those burdens on his behalf, but once that little young man turned 13, he was considered to be a Bar Mitzvah, a son of the commandment.

Well, according to Luke's narrative here Jesus wasn't 13. No, He was still 12. It says, “When He became 12, they went up there,” and “up there” of course means Jerusalem, “according,” it says, “to the custom of the Feast.” So what are we to make of that? Why were Joseph and Mary bringing Jesus to Jerusalem? And why is it highlighted here as it's being highlighted by Luke when He's 12 rather than when He is 13? Why are they taking Him and why is this being highlighted that they're taking Him on this pilgrimage when there was no requirement that they do so at this point? Well again, and consistent with what Luke has been expressing to us over and over in his Gospel is that Joseph and Mary were these pious, righteous people. Though He was not yet 13, though their Son was not yet 13, though He was not a son of the commandment, though He was not a Bar Mitzvah, His parents apparently brought Him to Jerusalem for the Passover a full year early to expose Him, to teach Him, to prepare Him. They wanted their Son, though He wasn't yet of age but He's getting close, to experience and get a taste for this Feast, this joyful Feast, for Himself. That's what's meant by those words, “according to the custom of the Feast.” They wanted Him to take in all of it. And so they went up. They went up from Nazareth to Jerusalem with their 12-year-old son in tow, and as we're about to see, as part of a caravan. I like to think of them singing the first verse of Psalm 122, one of the songs of ascent that the Jewish pilgrims would sing on their way to Jerusalem, where it says, “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of Yahweh.”

Now, where the family stayed when they got to Jerusalem, we're not told. The size of their lamb that they purchased, the price they paid for the lamb, we're not told. Which priest was on duty as he slaughtered their Passover lamb, we're not told. Rather, the next detail Luke gives us about this family's pilgrimage to Jerusalem is actually about their return from the Holy City. And that takes us to our second point, which is “The Return”. Look at verses 43-45, it says, “And as they were returning, after finishing the days of the Feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but His parents did not know. But supposing Him to be in the caravan, they went a day's journey and they began searching for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for Him.” Now for any child of the '80s or '90s, and/or any fan of classic Christmas movies, our minds immediately go to the movie “Home Alone”. Right? We immediately, as we look at this passage, think of little Kevin McAllister, who is accidentally left behind by his parents, not for just one Christmas holiday, but for two in back-to-back years. I'm confident in saying that Luke, as he wrote this account to Theophilus, had not seen either “Home Alone” movie. But now that I put that thought in your mind, I actually want to get it out of your mind. Let's not think of “Home Alone” as we read this account. There are some obvious differences between Kevin McAllister and his vacation travails in Chicago in 1990 and Jesus in the first century.

But Luke begins, verse 43, by again noting the piety of Joseph and Mary. Note the language here. This entire scene that's about to unfold happened as they were returning after finishing the days of the Feast. So we just looked at Leviticus 23, where we saw how the Passover Feast was coupled with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it lasted a full seven days. That's what was decreed in the Law 1446 years before all of this. But not everybody stayed for the Feast. Some 1500 years later now, not everybody was staying for the full seven days. Rather, some would leave one day after. They would stay for the Passover portion and then go home. Some might stay for a day and a half or two days.

Not Joseph and Mary. They stayed and they completed the full seven days of the Feast. That's what's indicated here when it says, “after finishing the days of the Feast,” meaning these were committed, devout, faithful worshipers of Yahweh. But then, and this is where we really get into the heart of this account, as they left Jerusalem to return to their hometown of Nazareth, as they headed downward in elevation and northward in direction, they realized there's somebody missing, there's somebody in their party who's not there. Look at the end of verse 43, it says though Joseph and Mary were returning, “the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.”

Now I should pause just for a minute and give some brief commentary on that use of the word “boy” there, because what I think Luke is doing ever so carefully and ever so intentionally, that's the way Luke was, is he's tracing out for Theophilus through these very intentional word choices these stages of development that Jesus went through in His humanity. Note back at Luke 2:16 how Jesus is described, pretty simple statement here, it says, “They went in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.” Now go down to verse 40 which we covered last time, it says, “The Child continued to grow and become strong, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.” Now that word for Child is the word from which we get our word “pediatrician” or “pediatric”. It means a little child, a little one. But then by the time we get to our passage in verse 43, Luke is referring to our Lord as the boy Jesus. And that word “boy” means an older, more developed child. So Luke here very subtly but intentionally is tracing out the fact that Jesus went from baby to little one to strapping young boy. In His humanity, in other words, He grew.

Now back to verse 43 and what it says about the boy Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem. One might read that and think or assume that Jesus was acting in rebellion here, that He's somehow being disobedient to His parents, He's acting out here. But that can't be so because what the Scriptures testify to consistently is that our Lord was holy and sinless and perfect in every respect during His life. There is no reason to believe that He was anything other than a perfectly compliant child all the way through. And what that means practically is that that statement there in verse 43, that “the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem,” that cannot be taken as referring to some act of rebellion or sin. Instead, when we get down to verse 49 in a few minutes here, we'll see that He had very good reason to stay behind. We're not there yet, verse 49, rather we're still in verse 43 where Luke says, “But His parents did not know.” So Jesus stays behind, “But His parents,” it says, “did not know,” meaning they did not know that He was still in Jerusalem.

And we see why in verse 44, “They were supposing Him to be in the caravan.” And not only that, they made a day's journey with that thought in mind, meaning they made it a day's journey, something like 20 miles, maybe 25 miles if they were moving fast, without realizing that their 12-year-old Son was not with them. Now I imagine there will be some who are going to have that temptation to think as you read that, as you hear me articulate that, “What were they thinking? How could this be? How could they possibly leave their 12-year-old Son behind? How could they go a full day's journey, 20 miles, 25 miles, and not realize Jesus wasn't there? I would never do such a thing. I could never do such a thing. I'm an A-plus parent. What were they? B minus?” That's if we're not careful how we can read the Bible at times, not just of this account but of others, where we look at the Bible less as a boomerang and more as a blunt-edged instrument, less as a mirror and more as a machete. Right? Where we all say things like, “I can't believe Peter was always so rash with his words. I can't believe Jesus's disciples never got it on the first time. I can't believe Nebuchadnezzar was so prideful. I can't believe the Israelites were so stiff necked. I can't believe that Adam and Eve actually fell for it.” Or here, “I can't believe that Joseph and Mary actually left Jesus behind.”

Well, let's maybe slow our roll on that one, let's maybe see the Word for the mirror that it actually is. And let's think about what's actually happening here and get a lay of the land here. Note the words of verse 44, which right away inform what's happening. It says, “but supposing Him to be in,” what? “the caravan.” See, it wasn't that it was Joseph and Mary and Jesus, just the three of them wandering along a road and they go 20 miles and they're like, “Oh, where did Jesus go?” It wasn't that. No, this little family was part of this large caravan of travelers that was going down from Jerusalem to Nazareth in Galilee. There may have been hundreds of people in this traveling party and they're all going in the same direction. So they're all going to the same general territory, maybe Nazareth specifically, where Jesus and the family was from, meaning Joseph and Mary, as they're traveling with these hundreds of people, would have had some sense of familiarity with those with whom they were traveling. In fact, if you get to the end of verse 44, Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary later would “begin searching for Him,” what? “among their relatives and acquaintances.” Meaning they're not only traveling with people who are geographically alike, they're traveling with kin, they're traveling with their clan, they're traveling with family. So there are lots of people in the caravan, there are lots of familiar familial faces within the caravan.

And then there's this additional detail that's more of a historical one to point out, which is that men and women, when they would travel this way in these ancient times, were more typically separated in these caravans. You would usually have the women and the young children at the front of the caravan, and then the men and the older boys would bring it up from the rear. And for a child like Jesus, at the age of 12, standing right on that threshold of boyhood and manhood, He conceivably could have traveled with either group. He was still young enough to be in the front of the caravan with His mother, yet He was old enough to be in the back of the caravan with Joseph. And so Joseph and Mary could conceivably have thought that each had Him. Mary could have been in the front thinking, “Well, He's in the back with Joseph, and Joseph could have been in the back thinking, “He's in the front with Mary.” And they could have easily, given how large this party was and that the fact that there was family around, gone an entire day, 20 miles even, not realizing that their son wasn't with them. And He wasn't. No. After journeying for a day and then settling in in their encampment for the night, Joseph and Mary then realize, whoops, they're wrong. They thought the other one had Him, but that wasn't true, neither one of them had Jesus. This was, if I can say it this way, the home alone moment, as they look around, (I'm not going to say Kevin right now, don't worry) but they start searching. Into verse 44, they “began searching for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.” So not finding Him, they searched for Him with the friends, the relatives, the acquaintances, and then they have to make their way back to Jerusalem.

Verse 45, “When they did not find Him,” it says, “they returned to Jerusalem searching for Him.” So already travel-worn and now terrified, Joseph and Mary make probably the most famous u-turn in history and head back to Jerusalem. But this time, as they're going back to the Holy City, they're going now back upward in elevation back to Jerusalem. They're not in the market for a sacrificial lamb. They're not singing a psalm of ascent. They have a singular purpose, which is to find their Son.

And they found Him. Verse 46 says, “And it happened that after three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.” If you're taking notes, that's our third point this morning, “The Restraint”. Verse 46, “And it happened,” that language, “and it happened” is already familiar to us. We've seen it over and over already in Luke's Gospel. This is the common expression, whether it's “and it happened” or “now it happened,” that Luke will use to signal that the scene is about to shift. And that's exactly what's happening here. The scene is shifting from Joseph and Mary going down from Jerusalem back to Nazareth, now going back up to Jerusalem to retrieve their son. And then note the time reference to how long it took them to find Him. It says, “And it happened that after three days, they found Him in the temple.”

Now three days there does not mean that they got back to Jerusalem and then it took them three days once they were in Jerusalem to find Jesus. This is a summary statement of the entirety of their travels. Day one was when they left Jerusalem, when they descended from Jerusalem heading back to Nazareth. And day one was when they assumed that Jesus was in the caravan with them. Day two was their trip back up to Jerusalem as they went to go find Jesus. And then day three, their first day back in Jerusalem, is when they looked for Him. And it was on that day, the third day, they found Him.

And note where they found Him, still in verse 46 here, “They found Him,” it says, “in the temple.” And that word “temple” is referring to the entire temple complex. It's not merely referring to the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, the holy place where animals were sacrificed. But this word that's used for temple here describes the whole compound, which would have included the sanctuary, but also would have had teaching areas, rooms, and porticoes where teachers could teach what God's Law had revealed. Luke doesn't tell us which room or which area in the temple Jesus was found, but it would have been in one of these teaching areas in the temple complex.

And then note what He's doing, end of verse 46. He was “sitting in the midst of the teachers,” it says, “both listening to them and asking them questions.” Now we do know that during the Passover leading teachers in Israel would come to Jerusalem, and they would sit in these areas, these teaching areas of the temple complex. And they would offer an opportunity to sit with the people there and answer their questions based on what was revealed in the Law. Well, that's where Joseph and Mary found their Son. He wasn't playing with kids His age. He wasn't throwing a ball around. He wasn't running around. He was attaching himself to this circle of teachers. “He was sitting,” it says, “in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.” If you've ever had one of those kids who always has a knack for sitting at the adult table, if you were one of those kids who always sat at the adult table, if you've been around one of those kids who sits at the adult table -- you get the sense here that at 12 years old Jesus was comfortable being around adults. He would have been comfortable sitting at the adult table.

But not just adults. These were those who were considered quite highly ranked in Israel. These were the teachers of the Law in Israel. And it's interesting. You'll sometimes look at some of the old artwork that depicts a scene like this, whether it be an oil painting or a fresco from ancient art history, and you'll see this scene and more often than not the scene that's depicted is Jesus here debating these teachers or Jesus teaching these teachers, even pointing the finger at the teachers. But that's not what the text is indicating is happening here. Note the three words there. Jesus was “sitting” in the midst of the teachers, He was “listening,” keeping his ears open to what they were teaching, and He was “asking” them questions. There's no indication here that He's being unruly or difficult or a thorn in the teacher's side. Rather, what's pictured here is He's learning, He's learning humbly and respectfully from these teachers. He's acting with restraint as He took on the role of a student.

Although Jesus, when His parents found Him, was mostly listening and was mostly asking questions, at some point in the middle of these events things must have turned where He began fielding questions and providing answers, because look what it says in verse 47. It says, “And all who heard Him were astounded at His understanding,” and then look at these words, “and His answers.” Here's our next point if you're taking notes, “The Reaction”. So while Jesus is mainly sitting, as it says, and listening, learning, and asking questions, apparently the questions He asked would have revealed that He had very deep spiritual insight. And those questions He was asking would have prompted the teachers in the temple to start asking Him some questions like, “Where is this guy coming from?” And then when He provided His answers to their questions, it caused the reaction we see here in verse 47, that “all who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers.” That word, “astounded,” means literally to remove oneself from one's mind, to remove oneself from one's mind. To go out of one's mind. We would say it more like, they were blown away, they were overcome with amazement. And rightfully so. See, these teachers here, as He's providing the answers He's providing in this temple scene, they didn't realize that the boy who is in front of them is God. They don't realize at this point that the boy that's in front of them is the Messiah, the long promised Messiah of Israel. So they are just stunned and shocked that this adolescent is before them, not only listening to them respectfully, but asking these very thoughtful questions. And not only asking thoughtful questions, but when they asked Him questions, demonstrating this grasp on the Scriptures that just absolutely blew them away. So they were astounded, it says.

Well, it wasn't only these temple teachers who had a strong reaction. So too did His own parents when they walk in on this scene. Look at verse 48. It says, “When they,” here now we're talking about Joseph and Mary, “When they saw Him, they were,” it says, “astonished.” Now that word “astonished,” it looks very similar to our word “astounded,” but it's a totally different word in the underlying Greek text. The word “astounded” teachers, is different than what Mary and Joseph experienced in being astonished. And the word “astonished” is far more powerful than the word astounded. The word astonished here means they were struck out of their senses. Smoothing that out a little bit, it would be like they got hit upside their heads with what they just witnessed, what they encountered. They got hit upside their heads when they saw their 12-year-old Son in the temple with all eyes and ears fixed on Him with these teachers of the Law hanging on His every word. They were stunned. They were in a state of shock to see what they were seeing.

But it wasn't just shock, and it wasn't just shock that Mary specifically was feeling, she was worried sick. And she was more than a little annoyed. Look at the rest of verse 48. So they're astonished, and then “His mother said to him, Child, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.” Now consider the setting here, remember what's taking place here. We're in a temple setting. Mary didn't really read the room here. I mean, this is Mary, a woman, asking to come in. Actually, she's not asking. She's just coming in to an all male gathering. She's not saying anything like, “Excuse me, Rabbi,” or “Pardon me, teacher,” as she goes to pull on the ear of her Son and bring Him out. No, she comes right in and she inserts herself into a gathering where at this time women would have no authority or permission to speak.

And she sees her missing Son and she asks Him that question right in the middle of verse 48, “Child, why have You treated us this way?” This was a question that blended both exasperation with rebuke. This was a question that highlighted that Mary was a very motherly mother. She had a natural mother's concern. She'd been worried sick. She'd been traveling all night trying to get back to Him. But baked into her question there is also some scolding, as she addresses her Son there as Child. Remember, we just saw a few verses ago that He was already considered a boy, He was growing. But now with that word “Child,” she's putting Him in His place and saying, why would You do this to us?

And then these words, still in verse 48, she says, “Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.” Now, there have been some more liberal scholars who have had an absolute field day with those words where she says, “Your father and I,” because they'll say that undercuts the idea that Jesus was supernaturally conceived. And the argument goes, Mary here is referring to Joseph as Jesus' father. And because Joseph was a mere mortal man, Jesus could not have been virgin conceived. Well, that argument is, if I can use a really technical term, dumb. It's silly. Joseph was Jesus' adoptive father. Joseph was Jesus's legal father. And every day Jesus spent up to this point in His earthly life was spent with Joseph. So in her moment of worry and anxiety and upset, are we really to expect that Mary, as a way to refute later liberal scholars who would undercut the notion of a virgin conception and a virgin birth, would think clearly enough to say, “Jesus, Your adoptive father and I were looking for you.” Or “Jesus, Your legal father and I were looking for you.” No, of course not. No one talks that way. If we were in that position, we wouldn't talk that way. No. No, Mary in this situation, when she says, “Your father and I,” these aren't words that are undermining the fact that Jesus is God incarnate. They're words, rather, that very naturally encapsulate the worries of a very anxious mother, a worried mother. And not only that, as we'll now see, those words when she says, “Your father and I,” they tee up who Jesus's actual Father was and is.

Here's our next point, point five, “The Reply”. Look at verse 49, it says, “Then He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were searching for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?’” Now, if you happen to have a red letter Bible where the words of Jesus are in red, you will notice that these are the very first red letters in the Gospel of Luke, right here in verse 49. And Jesus asks two questions here. First is the question, “Why is it that you were searching for Me?” Those aren't words of rebuke or accusation or some smartalecky teen response. This is an expression of surprise in light of what Joseph and Mary had experienced from angelic visitations, to the experience with Elizabeth who had also supernaturally conceived, to the pronouncements of Simeon and Anna right after Jesus was born, to Jesus' twelve perfect years of living up to that point. How was it that Joseph and Mary still failed to understand who He was and where He needed to be? Then there's this second question where He says, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?”

Now there are a couple of interesting things to note there. First, there's a clear contrast between Mary's words, verse 48, when she says, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You,” and Jesus' words where He says, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?” So Mary says, “Your father,” speaking of Joseph, Jesus says, “My father,” speaking of God the Father. And why is that significant? Well, what Luke is showcasing for us here, as he'll do throughout his Gospel, is that Jesus in His humanity is fully aware at this point of His identity as the Son of God. Remember what we covered last time in Luke 2:40, that in His earliest years, “the Child,” it says, “continued to grow and become strong, being filled with wisdom.” And as I laid out for you last time, being filled with wisdom included His growth in knowledge in His humanity. Now, He didn't grow in His divine nature in any sense. God cannot grow. God cannot develop. God cannot learn. God cannot change. But in His humanity He could learn and He could grow, and He did. And what Jesus' questions to Mary and Joseph in verse 49 tell us is that by the age of 12, He knew in every sense, even in His humanity, who He was. He knew at this point that He was and is the eternal Son of God., that He is and was God the Son, and He was and is the Son of God the Father. He was clearly conscious of His identity. And He said to His mother, ”Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?” So, he's not referring to Joseph's house back in Nazareth, He's referring to God the Father.

That brings up another key issue though, that we need to work through here in verse 49. What did He mean? What did Jesus mean when He said, “I had to be in My Father's house?” That is where it gets really interesting and I would say fascinating. See, in the original Greek manuscripts of this text, all you see are the words, “in the of my Father,” it just says, “in the of my Father.” There's no word “house” there. You have the definite article, that means the word “the,” the is there, but then whatever the is supposed to attach to isn't there, there's no noun. So what's happened is over the centuries as the English translations have attempted to kind of fill in the gap, what was the meaning there? What was Luke getting after there? You'll have some that insert the word house, like the LSB, the NASB, the ESV, and you get why they would do that, where it says, “I had to be in My Father's house.” The idea behind that translation decision is that the word “house” makes the most sense in the temple context. He's literally at that moment in His Father's earthly dwelling place, the temple. So the idea would be that Jesus is saying, “I need to be where My Father dwells, in His house, His temple here on earth.” It's a good option, it's a good translation. The other option, and this is what you'll find in like the New King James and the King James translations, is to take the missing noun there where it says, “I have to be in the of My Father,” they'll take not a noun of place and put it there, like a house, they'll instead insert a noun of activity. So the translation will be something like, “Did you not know that I have to be about the things of My Father?” Or “Did you not know I need to be about the activity of My Father?” Or “Did you not know I need to be about the business of My Father?”

Now I do appreciate the “house of My Father” translation, I do think it's a faithful rendering of what's happening here and what Jesus was, where He was locationally. But I actually don't think that's the focus of the passage. As He's replying to His mother's question where she says, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You. Why have You treated us this way,” I don't think He's limiting His answer to a location or a place. Rather, I think what He's doing is He's contrasting the two usages of the word “father.” Mary says, “Your father,” He says, “My Father.” And I think what He's doing is making a much broader, much greater statement that He not only knew who He was as the eternal Son of God, but He also knew what His mission was to be all about in doing the work of His Father, the business of His Father, not only in the temple on that day, but for the remainder of His life on earth. So, yeah, in that moment, He did need to be in the temple. He did need to be in that earthly dwelling place of God. But more broadly speaking, and this would cover His whole earthly ministry, He needed to be about His Father's business. That even informs what He would say to His disciples later in Luke 14, where He says, “If anyone comes after me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, even in his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” In other words, Jesus knew He had to be, as He called on his disciples to be, all about His Father's business.

Although they were astonished, His parents were astonished about all they'd seen up to this point, we're going to see in verse 50 that they still had a hard time processing all they had seen. Verse 50, “But they did not understand,” it says, “this statement which He had spoken to them.” So their 12-year-old Son, having just been told by His mother that she and her husband, His father, had been anxiously searching for Him, He's now telling them that He needs to prioritize the work of His Father, His Father in heaven. And Joseph and Mary are having a hard time understanding, it says in verse 50. But how? And in what sense? Had they suddenly forgotten who He was? Had they suddenly forgotten the angelic visitations that they'd received a dozen years prior? I don't think that's what's happening here. They knew who He was, they knew He was virgin conceived, they knew He was the Son of the Most High God, they knew He was the Messiah, the Son of David, they knew He was God in human flesh. And remember, they had witnessed up to that point twelve years of perfect living. They knew what kind of child He was.

So what I actually think is happening here in verse 50 when it says, “They did not understand,” and with whatever it was they were confused about, I think the confusion stems from what He had just said in verse 49 about needing to be in His Father's house. I think their confusion had to do with, well, if He's saying He has to stay here in Jerusalem, does that mean He's not coming back with us? Does that mean He's not going back down to Nazareth with us? He's 12 years old, is He now officially independent from us? Is this His emancipation proclamation, like He's out of the house now? That's what I think was causing their confusion, their lack of understanding. They were wondering if He was going to come back home with them.

But as we're going to see right now, He wasn't declaring His independence from them. He wasn't saying, “I'm not going back home with you.” He was recognizing, as we'll see in verses 51-52, that He still had to grow in wisdom, stature, as a real child in true human form. Now here's our sixth point, by the way, as we look at verses 51-52. This would be “The Rest”, as in the rest of his childhood as recorded in Luke's Gospel. Verse 51, “And He went down with them and came to Nazareth. And He continued in subjection to them, and His mother was treasuring all these things in her heart. And Jesus was advancing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”
Now first of all note how that confusion that Mary and Joseph expressed in verse 50 is resolved right away in verse 51, as their Son went down with them and came to Nazareth. So as a 12-year-old boy, He's not declaring His independence. He's coming home. Not only that, it says. “He continued in subjection to them.” And as the sinless Son of God, He could do no less. He obeyed His earthly parents, He honored them, He did what He was told. That temple incident in Jerusalem, where He was suddenly with the teachers there, that didn't awaken some new rebellious streak in Jesus. No.

He went back to being an obedient 12-year-old child, submitting to the authority of Mary and Joseph as their obedient Son. He's the Creator of the universe and in these very years of his childhood, this is where that humanity/deity thing causes us to fall down and worship. Right? In His deity, though a 12-year-old child, He is causing the hearts of His own parents to beat, He's causing the blood that's in their veins to circulate, He's causing the rods and cones in their eyeballs to function. But in His humanity, at that very same time, He's obeying His parents, He's following the fifth commandment, He's honoring His parents, He's continuing on with His spotless, sinless life.

And aware of this, His mother Mary, you see it there at the end of verse 51, says she “was treasuring all these things in her heart.” And we've already seen what a pensive, reflective young woman Mary was. Back in Luke 2:19, after being visited by the shepherds, it says “Mary was treasuring all these things, pondering them in her heart.” And now here she is twelve years later doing it all over again, treasuring all these things in her heart. The mystery and the wonder surrounding her Son was beyond her ability to comprehend intellectually, but that didn't turn her into some hardened skeptical rationalist. Quite the opposite. The things she couldn't figure out about her Son, the things she couldn't wrap her mind around intellectually are the very things which drove her to this place of wonderment and marvel and praise. She was treasuring it all in her heart.

Then we get to verse 52, this final verse, Luke tells us that from age 12 on until really about the age of 30 when He began His public ministry, He “was advancing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” Now that word “advancing” literally means to cut one's way forward. It's like the snow plow, like a few days ago, He's advancing, He's growing. As we saw last time back in verse 40 where it says, “Now the Child continued to grow and become strong, being filled with wisdom,” well, Luke is now saying in verse 52, as He got older the same thing was happening—He was advancing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. He wasn't advancing or growing in His deity—again, God can't grow, God can't learn, God can't change—but He was advancing in His humanity and doing so in every way. In His wisdom, as He grew not only in His knowledge of divine truth but how to apply it. As He grew in stature, meaning physically. As He grew in favor with God, meaning spiritually. As He experienced a perfect track record of triumph over sin and temptation. As He grew in favor with men, meaning relationally, where everybody around Him could witness His moral excellence, His perfection. He grew “in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.”

Well, that brings us to the end of Luke 2. Took us nearly a year to get here, but it's been a worthy study. Next week we'll look at “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” as we turn to the account of John the Baptist and his announcement, “make ready the way of the Lord” “and all flesh will see the salvation of God.” It's a good place to end.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for this time together this morning. We thank You for the privilege that we have had to worship You, the living God. We thank You again for the wonderful testimonies of grace in the waters of baptism from both Tristan and Ashlynn. We thank You for saving them, for redeeming them, purchasing them, and placing on their heart the command to be obedient in the waters of baptism. We thank You for those who are here this morning who are searching and looking for answers to various things in life. God, if they don't know You, if they have not put their faith in Jesus Christ, I pray that today would be the day that they do so, that they would turn from their sin, that they would turn to You, the living God, they would stop placing their hope or their faith or their trust in themselves or in other people or in worldly wisdom, but instead would put their trust in what Jesus Christ has done on the cross through His death and resurrection. We thank You for this day. We thank You for the privilege of worshiping. May You be glorified the rest of this day in our lives. In Christ’s name, amen. glorified You be glorified the rest of this day in our