Last Sunday, we heard our Lord's first visit to the temple as He was taken there as an infant to be "presented to the Lord" according to the Law of Moses. Now on this Second Sunday after Christmas, we are told of the Lord as a boy of twelve going to Jerusalem's temple to listen to the rabbis and ask of them questions. This is the only glimpse we are given into the childhood of our Lord. The fact that the Holy Scriptures are silent in regard to the childhood and youth of Jesus has given rise to speculation and legend. For example, in one apocryphal gospel, the story is told that on a Sabbath day, the young Jesus was out playing in the mud. He fashions pigeons out of clay and as he throws them into the air, they become living birds and fly away. A local rabbi ventures upon the scene and is terrfied to see this young boy breaking Sabbath laws and so he begins to crush the clay pigeons as he rebukes Jesus for His disregard of the Law. Jesus turns to the rabbi and says "finish thy course" and the rabbi falls over dead. In the early church, the Gnostics could not imagine that Jesus lived a normal childhood. In contrast to these Gnostic tales, Luke doesn't tell us much of Jesus' childhood because for the most part it was ordinary and uneventful. After His baptism, when Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth, the citizens of that city are amazed at His words and miracles, saying isn't this the son of Mary and Joseph?
The truth of the matter is that Jesus grew up much like any other Jewish boy of His day. He learned His bedtime prayers from Mary.He worked with Joseph in the carpenter's shop. He studied the Torah, memorizing His Catechism. But there is one event that stands out in the growing up years of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit saw fit to have Luke record this incident in his Gospel. This episode shows us who Jesus is and what He came to do for us as our Savior.
Luke tells us that it was Passover time. Mary and Joseph took Jesus as was their custom to Jerusalem to celebrate this holy season. After the holidays were over, they returned to Jerusalem. They didn'y have to contend with long lines at the ticket counters and crowed planes, but with throngs of people on foot heading back to their homes after Passover. En route back to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph discover that Jesus is not with them. Neither is He among their kinfolk or friends. Mary and Joseph do what any parents would do; they begin looking for a child that they presume is lost. They turn around and go back to Jerusalem.
We may wonder what thoughts filled their hearts and minds for the three days in which they searched for their son. Was He kidnapped? Was He hurt or worse? Would they ever find Him?
Mary and Joseph did find their Son. He was in the temple. Jesus was in the temple, the house of God. And there within its holy courts, He was listening to the Word of God and engaging the doctors of the Law in a discussion of that Word. Luke tells us that those who heard Him "were astonished at His understanding and answers."
Mary says to her son: "Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I ave sought You anxiously." Then Jesus says to Mary "Why is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" What is Jesus saying here? First, He is revealing who He is. By these words, He shows us that He is God's Son. It is the Father who sent Him to be born of the Virgin Mary. He is born of Mary and He is entrusted in the care of Mary and Joseph, but He is the Son of God. Second, He has come to do His Father's business. That is, He was sent from heaven above to this earth to be our Savior. It is the Father's work, the Father's business to forgive sins. This is the business for which Jesus was send. And He will accomplish it by suffering and dying as the Passover Lamb whose blood frees us from sin and death.
Notice the urgency of the Lord's words. He says "I must be about My Father's business." This is the "must" of divine necessity. Throughout His ministry Jesus says to His disciples that "that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and be handed over to death and after three days rise again." After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus speaks to the disciples on the road to Emmaus saying to them "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" (Lk. 24:26). All of our Lord's life was lived toward Calvary where He is the sacrifice for the world's sin.
To that end, He is obedient to His Father. He is in His House, gladly hearing and learning His Word. But He is also obedient to His human parents. He goes with them back to their home in Nazareth and "is subject to them." This is part of His humiliation as He is born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the curse of the law. The Lord puts Himself under the Fourth Commandment, "You shall honor your father and your mother."
Now Mary and Joseph did not undertsand the things they had heard and seen that day in the temple just as 30 years later the disciples would not understand when Jesus spoke of destroying the temple and building it again in three days. We can only understand these words of Jesus in light of His death and resurrection. For in view of the cross and empty tomb, we see the reason for Christmas. That baby born to Mary was born to suffer and die as our redeemer. That young boy in the temple, is the Lamb of God who presents Himself as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
For the world, Christmas begins and ends with the story of a baby in manger. We know the rest of the story. We know that the Christ Child increased in wisdom and stature, and grew in favor with God and men. We know that the sweet little baby Jesus went on to cross and that He was raised again on the third day to give life to all who trust in Him. It is in that confidence that we move into this new year of grace. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.