[00:00:06] You're listening to Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell, bringing theology to life.
[00:00:13] So we are on the Life of Messiah series, number 18 now, and we are just about to finish the infancy narratives or the young life of Jesus.
[00:00:21] We've been going through the Gospels simultaneously at this time.
[00:00:26] We've looked at the birth of Jesus.
[00:00:28] We looked at his circumcision when he was eight days old.
[00:00:31] We looked at his presentation in the temple as he was 40 days old.
[00:00:35] And then last week we looked at the visit of the Magi to the home of Mary and Joseph and the episode with Herod and all of that exciting stuff that we looked at there.
[00:00:45] Jesus was probably over a year old at that point.
[00:00:47] Now, we pointed out last time that studying the responses of Herod and all these different people in those infancy narratives,
[00:00:56] you are given a very good pattern for the response that people make to Jesus right up until this day.
[00:01:03] You remember the shepherds?
[00:01:04] We see the faithful remnant of Israel there, praising and worshipping the Lord when they're told about the Messiah.
[00:01:11] We saw the Magi, the Gentiles, seeking out the Messiah and worshipping him when they find him.
[00:01:17] And then we noted, remember the scribes, the religious leaders, when Herod said, where is Messiah to be found?
[00:01:23] They quoted the exact chapter and verse.
[00:01:25] They knew that scripture, yet they were indifferent to the Messiah themselves.
[00:01:29] They did not seek the Messiah.
[00:01:31] They did not ask for information about the Messiah.
[00:01:33] And that was basically because they had their own expectation of what the Messiah should do.
[00:01:38] They wanted the Messiah to meet their needs and fulfil the role that they had crafted for him.
[00:01:43] And a little baby born in a poor town like Bethlehem did not do that.
[00:01:47] And therefore, they were just indifferent to him.
[00:01:50] They could not really care less.
[00:01:51] Yes.
[00:01:52] And then there was Herod.
[00:01:53] You remember Herod.
[00:01:54] On hearing about the news of the Messiah, he was disturbed.
[00:01:58] He was angered by the arrival of Jesus.
[00:02:00] It threw him into a rage.
[00:02:02] In his mind, he was the king.
[00:02:04] He was the head power of that area.
[00:02:07] Jesus was a challenge to his autonomy, to his authority, and was a rebuke to his actions and his life that he'd been living.
[00:02:14] If you remember, we went through all of it.
[00:02:16] Herod was a pretty nasty guy.
[00:02:18] And thus, the mention of Messiah caused Herod to sin.
[00:02:22] He started lying and he tried to then obviously destroy any trace of Jesus.
[00:02:27] And we looked at that last time with the killing of the boys in Bethlehem.
[00:02:30] But what I find fascinating about that is that those three responses are pretty much the same response that Jesus has in this world today.
[00:02:38] People are either indifferent to him.
[00:02:40] They either fall down and worship him or they reject him and they seek to remove any trace from him.
[00:02:45] And now we're going to look at the final event of Jesus' young life.
[00:02:49] We've looked at the baby.
[00:02:50] And now this is actually when Jesus is a boy.
[00:02:52] And it is the only episode we're given of the young life of Jesus in the Gospels.
[00:02:57] Now, firstly, that should stand out to us.
[00:03:00] We're given a lot about Jesus' life from the Gospels, but only one episode of his young childhood.
[00:03:05] Why is that?
[00:03:07] Now, most people, having read huge amounts of commentaries on this, it seems to be almost treated as kind of like a curious anecdote.
[00:03:14] Just a filler story to give you something about his young life.
[00:03:18] But, of course, we must remember, as we looked at in our introduction, all of these Gospels are carefully crafted narratives.
[00:03:25] The themes are selected to show a different purpose for each Gospel.
[00:03:29] Everything is here for a reason.
[00:03:31] So I'm hoping that we can draw out some of the reasons why we have this episode here of Jesus as he's a young boy.
[00:03:37] It serves as a transition from the baby, the infancy narratives, to what we're going to look at really is the beginning of his public ministry in the very next chapter.
[00:03:47] It's interesting that in this passage here, it is the last time that we see Joseph mentioned, his stepfather Joseph.
[00:03:55] This is the last time Joseph just disappears from the narrative after that, and there's a reason for that too.
[00:03:59] And then scholars usually presume that he actually died shortly after this, which is another reason why we don't hear anything of him.
[00:04:05] But we don't know that for sure.
[00:04:07] Also in this passage, we hear the first recorded words of our Lord.
[00:04:12] The first words he ever spoke, obviously recorded for us in the Gospels, so that in itself should be a very significant fact.
[00:04:19] It should cause us to look long and hard at this text.
[00:04:22] And it's also worth noting that because we only have this one story of Jesus as a boy, you may be aware man in his curiosity has attempted to fill that gap many times over.
[00:04:34] And therefore you get these books like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and all these fanciful stories about Jesus' miracles and life that he did as a boy.
[00:04:43] Most of all of those writings are much later in nature.
[00:04:47] They're extremely fanciful.
[00:04:48] They're contradictory to much of what we find in the actual real Gospels, so we reject them straight out.
[00:04:54] We are given one story and one story alone, and it is for a very specific purpose.
[00:05:00] Now if you remember, we're in Luke chapter 2 again this morning.
[00:05:02] We've done the majority of this chapter, but we left it at verse 39.
[00:05:07] So this was straight after the episode where Jesus is presented in the temple as a baby.
[00:05:12] You remember those wonderful characters, Anna and Simeon and the prophecies that they spoke over Jesus.
[00:05:16] And then verse 40 kind of picks up 12 years later, basically.
[00:05:21] But they're in Nazareth.
[00:05:22] Jesus has been growing for the last 12 years in Nazareth.
[00:05:25] So we'll pick it up in Luke chapter 2, verse 40.
[00:05:28] It says,
[00:05:28] The child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
[00:05:36] Now I believe this is a statement that's really meant to just emphasize the normal human growth pattern of the child, Jesus.
[00:05:41] And I say this because it's almost identical to the phrase that is spoken of John the Baptist in the first chapter of Luke.
[00:05:48] In the first chapter of Luke, chapter 1, verse 80, it says this about John the Baptist.
[00:05:52] And the child continued to grow and become strong in spirit.
[00:05:56] He lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance.
[00:05:59] It's very similar language that we see there about the child, the forerunner there.
[00:06:02] I believe that's the emphasis in this text.
[00:06:04] Yes.
[00:06:05] So Luke, remember we spoke of in our introductory sessions, one of the themes of Luke's gospel was to emphasize the humanity of Jesus.
[00:06:13] And therefore we get all this information in Luke's gospel.
[00:06:16] However, we know that the mystery of the incarnation is such that our minds naturally wish we had a bit more.
[00:06:22] It raises a lot of questions.
[00:06:24] But sometimes when the Bible doesn't speak, we must be careful to speculate.
[00:06:28] We trust that God has revealed everything we need to know for this period.
[00:06:32] And this is the only account we get.
[00:06:34] However, I do believe that we can actually furnish a slightly bigger picture by looking at some extra biblical information just from the cultural contracts at the time.
[00:06:43] And we'll learn a lot about the upbringing of Jesus.
[00:06:46] Let me share with you a bit of this.
[00:06:47] We do know quite a lot about Jewish upbringing in the first century.
[00:06:50] It's quite a well-studied area.
[00:06:52] We also know from the gospel narratives, as we've seen many times, Mary and Joseph were very faithful remnant believers at that time.
[00:07:00] And therefore they would have lived in accordance with the word of God.
[00:07:04] We know that in the Jewish world at this time, the education of children was vital to their surviving as a community.
[00:07:10] This is a theme that had developed throughout their history because being persecuted and scattered so many times,
[00:07:16] they knew that if you do not pass on things to the next generation, very quickly you're going to die out.
[00:07:20] So they emphasize this hugely in their world there.
[00:07:24] At five years of age, a child was beginning to study the Torah.
[00:07:29] That was at five years of age you started teaching your children the Torah.
[00:07:33] At 13, they have what they call their bar mitzvah.
[00:07:36] It wasn't called a bar mitzvah then, but it was the same sort of thing.
[00:07:39] That means you become a son of the commandment.
[00:07:40] So that is the age where, therefore, you take on the yoke of the law onto yourself and you are thus responsible for fulfilling the law.
[00:07:49] At age 30, they considered a man to be at full strength.
[00:07:52] And this is why you see Jesus begin his ministry when he's at that age.
[00:07:56] In a first century synagogue, you would have had both kind of similar to what we would call an elementary and a secondary school.
[00:08:02] They would have been the center of education, the bet midrash, the house of study.
[00:08:05] They would have operated out of the synagogue at this time.
[00:08:09] And formal study in these places usually ended at age 13.
[00:08:14] That's when you would leave.
[00:08:15] And at age 13, you would usually go and start your trade, most likely because your family needed your income to help support them at that time.
[00:08:21] That's just how it was in the world for the Jewish people in this time, particularly in a poor town like Nazareth.
[00:08:27] If you were shown to be exceptionally gifted in your studies at that time,
[00:08:31] you would be encouraged not to move into the workforce, but to stay on, attach yourself to a famous rabbi or teacher,
[00:08:38] and you would become his disciple and advance in that area.
[00:08:41] The mindset at the time, though, and this is something that is interesting,
[00:08:44] was that the bet midrash, that means the house of study that was part of the synagogue,
[00:08:49] was considered to be as important as what went on in the main synagogue sanctuary,
[00:08:54] which was considered the place of worship.
[00:08:56] Ancient Judaism does not distinguish between those two things, study and worship.
[00:09:02] You notice in our church, we have huge distinction between those two things.
[00:09:05] We associate worship just with the music and then with the study just with the preaching and that sort of thing.
[00:09:10] Ancient Judaism makes no distinction like that.
[00:09:12] Those two things were considered one and the same.
[00:09:15] Therefore, you will continue worshipping whilst you're saying your liturgy, whilst you're singing your psalms.
[00:09:20] You'll continue to worshipping whilst you're studying the word of God.
[00:09:23] In fact, in their mindset, studying the Torah was considered the highest form of worship because it leads to obedience.
[00:09:29] And living like the Lord was the highest form that they had there.
[00:09:32] That was the mindset that we had there.
[00:09:34] It was the father's responsibility to start teaching a young child the scriptures at age five.
[00:09:39] And the first book that they would study would be the book of Leviticus.
[00:09:42] I think that's still the situation in the Jewish world today, actually.
[00:09:45] It's still the first book that they would study.
[00:09:47] Leviticus deals with the holiness of God.
[00:09:49] It deals with purity.
[00:09:50] It's an unusual book.
[00:09:52] It's funny that for most of us, it's probably the last book we'd study, isn't it?
[00:09:56] Let's just see how that works.
[00:09:57] But I think this was an idea.
[00:09:59] It's a good theory.
[00:10:00] You can understand that.
[00:10:01] Obviously, there's no New Testament at this time.
[00:10:03] But it helped them understand the holiness of God.
[00:10:06] And one of the ways that they studied was by memorization.
[00:10:09] Just because of their culture, because of the limited access to scriptures.
[00:10:13] But the rabbis used to have an expression that if a student learns Torah and does not go over it again and again,
[00:10:18] he's like a man who sows without reaping.
[00:10:20] Even up to a hundred times, they would say.
[00:10:23] This was the idea.
[00:10:24] It was not unusual for many boys within the Jewish community to have memorized huge portions of scripture.
[00:10:31] Many rabbis would remember the whole Old Testament.
[00:10:33] Sounds crazy to us, but this was actually pretty common.
[00:10:36] When Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate, moved to Jerusalem in about the fifth century
[00:10:41] to learn Hebrew so he could study and translate the Bible better.
[00:10:45] He made a comment that he never met a Jewish boy who didn't have vast portions of the scripture memorized.
[00:10:51] It was very useful to him.
[00:10:52] But that was just common in those days.
[00:10:54] Memorization was key, and they were obviously much better at it than us.
[00:10:59] Also, at age 12 in the Jewish world, a son would be apprenticed into a specific profession.
[00:11:06] Obviously, more often than not, that would be the profession of his father.
[00:11:09] And we see this with Jesus, the carpentry of Joseph.
[00:11:13] But remember that fact because that is key to the episode, I believe, that we are going to look at today.
[00:11:18] So that's a sketch of his natural Jewish upbringing.
[00:11:21] It helps fill out a little bit of what we can imagine Jesus was doing in these early years of his life.
[00:11:26] But Jesus was not just a natural Jewish child in the same way that every other child growing up was.
[00:11:32] There was another element, I believe, that is unique to the Messiah.
[00:11:35] And this alone can really account for his special knowledge of the word of God that we're going to see him display in this text this morning.
[00:11:44] And we know that he didn't get this from the Nazareth school system.
[00:11:47] It wasn't a particularly renowned area.
[00:11:49] There would have really been no leading rabbis, and it was not considered a place where you would get good education.
[00:11:54] But we can glean from the Old Testament that Jesus actually had special training from the Father during his young life.
[00:12:03] And you won't find this in the New Testament.
[00:12:04] This is from the Old Testament.
[00:12:06] So if you go to the book of Isaiah, the book of Isaiah has these wonderful passages called the Servant Songs.
[00:12:12] And they're all about the servant of the Lord, who we know is now Jesus.
[00:12:15] We're more familiar with the suffering servant concept, which speaks of his coming death and all these things.
[00:12:20] But there's an unusual text in Isaiah 50, which is one of these servant songs, that speaks about a different element of the Messiah.
[00:12:28] Isaiah 50 verse 4, it says this.
[00:12:31] The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
[00:12:40] He awakens me morning by morning, and he awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.
[00:12:48] That's Jesus he's talking about there, describing that episode in his life.
[00:12:52] Awoken morning by morning to be discipled by the Father in the knowledge of the word of God and in his mission.
[00:12:58] And this is an element that's not often considered.
[00:13:01] It says,
[00:13:01] The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back.
[00:13:06] And then he goes in to describe some of his mission.
[00:13:08] I gave my back to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard.
[00:13:11] I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting, for the Lord God helps me.
[00:13:16] Therefore I am not disgraced.
[00:13:17] Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
[00:13:21] He who vindicates me is near.
[00:13:22] Who will contend with me?
[00:13:24] Let us stand up to each other.
[00:13:26] Who has a case against me, let him draw near.
[00:13:28] Behold, the Lord God helps me.
[00:13:30] Who is he who condemns me?
[00:13:31] And on and on it goes.
[00:13:33] But this is that unusual introduction that we get there that implies that morning by morning,
[00:13:38] the Lord would disciple the servant, who is Jesus, in the word of God, giving him a tongue of a disciple.
[00:13:45] It says that he was obedient to listen.
[00:13:47] And he learned from this his ministry, and I believe he learned his unique role, particularly in that way too.
[00:13:53] And it's because of this training that Jesus knew he was the son of God.
[00:13:57] And we're going to see him tell people that in a roundabout way in this little episode right now.
[00:14:03] And that is another element.
[00:14:05] So you've got both the human element there and this special unique element for the Messiah.
[00:14:09] So let's pick it up again, verse 41 now, back in Luke chapter 2.
[00:14:13] It says,
[00:14:39] So here again in this first line, verse 41,
[00:14:42] we are again immediately confronted with the faithfulness of the household that Jesus grew up in.
[00:14:47] We've seen in these introductory narratives some of the most faithful characters that we get in the New Testament.
[00:14:52] And Mary and Joseph being two of them, Zacharias and Elizabeth being another two.
[00:14:57] But here we are seeing when it says they went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover,
[00:15:02] that they were walking in obedience to the Lord.
[00:15:04] If you know, Passover was one of the three feasts that Jewish people were required to attend.
[00:15:09] And what I love about this also is that the way that this was applied in the world is that actually it was only 100% required of the men to go,
[00:15:18] because usually it would be unpractical, obviously, for the whole household to uproot.
[00:15:22] But what I love here is that you see that Mary was unwilling to let this opportunity slip.
[00:15:26] And she obviously wanted to go up to the house of the Lord herself.
[00:15:29] It's an expression again of Mary's faith at this time that they were obviously doing these things together.
[00:15:34] They walked in obedience to the word.
[00:15:36] The home life of Jesus was obviously structured around the word of God because of these faithful parents that we have here.
[00:15:43] And this is a very good lesson for believing parents today.
[00:15:47] Now, yes, 21st century culture is very different.
[00:15:50] But we must still try to cultivate an environment that places faithfulness to the Lord as the organizing principle of our homes.
[00:15:57] There's a number of studies that have begun.
[00:15:59] I'll spare you the details.
[00:16:02] But the gist of many of these studies is that the home is still the most influential place in a child's life, even more than the school still.
[00:16:11] A lot of studies have come to that.
[00:16:13] And this is crucial for us to get because if you are a Christian parent right now, you've probably had many conversations about the things that are happening in schools,
[00:16:19] the things that your child are being encountered.
[00:16:21] We've had it with our schools.
[00:16:22] And some of it is really bad.
[00:16:24] Some of it is shocking.
[00:16:25] We never thought we'd be here.
[00:16:26] We've all had it.
[00:16:27] But we must remember the home is still more influential than the school.
[00:16:31] The studies prove that.
[00:16:32] The parental influence is still more influential.
[00:16:35] And that should challenge us.
[00:16:37] But I say that's challenging because it reminds us that we should try and make sure that the environment of the home is considerably different to the school.
[00:16:46] That's challenging.
[00:16:47] You know, like Mary and Joseph, they were faithful to the word of God.
[00:16:50] They had a passionate desire to serve the word of God, serve the Lord.
[00:16:54] And they organized their life in their home around that.
[00:16:57] Yet too often, and we're all guilty of this, myself included, it's so easy to allow the world, actually usually through peer pressure or through not wanting to be different or whatever it may be, to shape how we run our houses.
[00:17:10] It comes in from outside.
[00:17:12] Happens without us really knowing, doesn't it?
[00:17:14] We think of these things.
[00:17:15] But that order is backwards.
[00:17:17] And we can learn a good lesson from Mary and Joseph here.
[00:17:19] Mary and Joseph, remember, they're only in their early 20s, really, at this point.
[00:17:23] They're still young, but they are abundantly faithful.
[00:17:26] Verse 42, when he became 12, they went up there according to the custom of the feast.
[00:17:33] So this age is significant in Jewish life, as we already mentioned.
[00:17:38] And most likely, this trip in Jerusalem was in preparation for his bar mitzvah the following year.
[00:17:44] It's this coming of age ceremony that a young Jewish boy would have at age 13.
[00:17:49] Now, the rabbinical law at the time commanded that the year before the bar mitzvah, the child be taken to Jerusalem, to the temple, to observe the Passover rites and rituals.
[00:18:00] Now, I find that fascinating.
[00:18:02] Because this is why, I believe, we get this little episode.
[00:18:05] Because this is his preparation for becoming the son of the commandment himself.
[00:18:10] But also think about this.
[00:18:11] It was required by the law, the rabbinical law, to go and observe the Passover festival in Jerusalem.
[00:18:18] Now, I find this fascinating.
[00:18:20] That festival instituted thousands of years ago, even from this point, for Jesus.
[00:18:25] A festival that really, which as a shadow, pointed to the sacrificial Passover lamb and the redemption that that would bring to his people.
[00:18:32] And now we have here a story of the young lamb, Jesus, at 12 years old, being taken to the temple to observe the ritual that actually points to himself that one day he will properly fulfill.
[00:18:47] It's amazing, really, when you think of that.
[00:18:48] The planning, the divine sovereign planning that must have gone in to all of these things to have that happen.
[00:18:54] Only the Lord does things like that.
[00:18:55] Verse 43, it says,
[00:19:27] We're not 100% sure.
[00:19:28] People argue differently.
[00:19:30] But the idea would be, if you could imagine these feasts that you're required to.
[00:19:34] It was common for a small outlying villages like Nazareth.
[00:19:37] You'd gather together with family and friends.
[00:19:39] And you'd all travel in a big kind of caravan up to the city.
[00:19:42] It was a wonderful time of getting together, seeing family, having fellowship, catching up, children, seeing cousins, and all these sorts of things that would go on as they did that.
[00:19:50] And we know from some of the historical sources, it was typical that the women would be at the front.
[00:19:54] The men would be at the back and the kids would kind of be all over the place at any one time.
[00:19:58] And if you've ever been dragged, I mean, gone on a leisurely walk, that is sort of what happens quite naturally, isn't it?
[00:20:05] Like I've done it many times.
[00:20:07] The women are usually full of pep and they're at the front and they're leading the walk.
[00:20:09] This is what happens in my life anyway.
[00:20:11] And I'm at the back, sort of resenting it.
[00:20:14] And the kids are kind of all over the place.
[00:20:16] So at any one time, you assume the kids are either with the mother or you assume the kids are with the father or they're playing somewhere with their cousins.
[00:20:22] And you're not really worried.
[00:20:23] We could easily see how this could happen when you have a big caravan like that.
[00:20:28] And this is what we have going on here.
[00:20:30] However, this time, the return journey, Jesus had specifically removed himself from the caravan because he was staying in Jerusalem.
[00:20:40] So when Mary and Joseph, after a day's journey, which could be anything from eight miles to 15 on the first day,
[00:20:46] when they actually realized after a while, oh, he's not with dad, he's not with mum, he's not with the kids.
[00:20:51] And you go up and down, you search for him.
[00:20:52] They realized he was not there at this point.
[00:20:55] And if you've ever had that moment, most parents probably have, just that one split second, you're in the supermarket and you turn and they're gone.
[00:21:02] And you get that immediate adrenaline rush.
[00:21:04] Usually a couple of seconds later, you see them.
[00:21:06] But if you don't see them, if it goes on for like three or four minutes, it's a serious panic situation.
[00:21:11] And I kind of really feel for Mary and Joseph in this situation.
[00:21:14] That, I believe, is probably what they were going through there.
[00:21:17] And then verse 46.
[00:21:19] It says,
[00:21:33] So finally they worked their way back to Jerusalem.
[00:21:36] I'd imagine they're retracing their steps, like when you lose something, like people say.
[00:21:39] Just think, where did you go?
[00:21:40] What did you do?
[00:21:41] And you go back and you do this and you go back right to that place in Jerusalem where they were observing the Passover rituals.
[00:21:48] They enter the temple courts.
[00:21:49] The temple refers to the whole precinct, so outside the temple.
[00:21:53] And they see this group of rabbis and leaders, which was very common.
[00:21:56] This is where the teachers and the disciples often would sit in the porticoes of the temple.
[00:22:01] And particularly around the festival times, it was common for students to do this so that other people from outside would come and ask questions.
[00:22:07] This was actually what they were there for at this time.
[00:22:10] But they empty the temple courts and they see this quite amazing sight.
[00:22:15] This young boy, Yeshua, Jesus, sitting in the midst of the teachers.
[00:22:20] And he's listening intently, the word means there, engaging.
[00:22:25] He's asking questions and he's being asked questions in return.
[00:22:28] Now that, again, is nothing unusual.
[00:22:30] That's actually how the rabbis would teach.
[00:22:32] They'd expect their students to ask questions of them.
[00:22:34] And they, to try and show if the student has understood, would then ask a question back.
[00:22:38] It's rabbinic method of teaching there.
[00:22:40] And Jesus was very good at that.
[00:22:42] We see him do that all through the Gospels.
[00:22:44] But this is what he was doing there.
[00:22:46] Now also, many of the commentaries that I read had a slightly kind of anti-Jewish bias.
[00:22:50] And they give you the kind of understanding that Jesus is there to correct all of these misguided Jews who are sitting there learning and studying.
[00:22:58] And again, that's not what the text says remotely at this point.
[00:23:01] You never know.
[00:23:01] This may have been like an Anna and Simeon situation.
[00:23:04] There were many faithful believers at this time.
[00:23:06] And they were wise people.
[00:23:09] But that's not what the text says.
[00:23:10] It says he was hearing them.
[00:23:12] He was listening to them.
[00:23:14] He was listening to the in-depth theological discussions that they were most likely having.
[00:23:18] And this was probably a wonderful time for the boy Yeshua.
[00:23:22] I doubt he got this in Nazareth.
[00:23:24] Like I said, Nazareth was a tiny, tiny place with a very, very tiny old synagogue.
[00:23:28] He wouldn't have had leading rabbis and teachers come to it.
[00:23:30] This was probably quite a fun situation for him.
[00:23:33] It says those around, listening and watching, were amazed at his understanding.
[00:23:39] That means he was asking intelligent questions, probably more than a 12-year-old has ever asked before.
[00:23:44] And then that would bring questions back from the rabbis to him, to which he would then answer their questions.
[00:23:51] I sit there and I think, and I say, I would have loved to witness this interaction,
[00:23:56] just to hear those questions and those answers that we have going on here.
[00:24:00] But I believe at this point you surely have that.
[00:24:03] The wisdom that he's demonstrating here is from those verses that we read in Isaiah.
[00:24:07] Morning by morning the Lord would awake me to disciple me in his word.
[00:24:11] And now he's expressing that word to the leaders and teachers of Israel.
[00:24:15] And interestingly, you don't really see many other times in the Gospels
[00:24:20] where the rabbis and the leaders are referred to as the teachers in this specific sense,
[00:24:24] except maybe in a derogatory sense.
[00:24:25] From the moment that Jesus becomes the teacher, he is the teacher and the teacher alone of Israel.
[00:24:30] And you see that develop through the Gospels, but we'll get into that as we go along.
[00:24:36] Now, also another thing that I love.
[00:24:38] Again here, the text emphasises that people were amazed at Jesus.
[00:24:43] Remember just in the few chapters we've looked at in the early parts of his life,
[00:24:46] there's always been a group of people who are in wonder, in astonishment, in amazement at Jesus.
[00:24:51] Even at his birth, he was doing these sorts of things.
[00:24:54] Throughout the whole Gospels, you'll read that phrase a lot.
[00:24:57] People were amazed at his teaching.
[00:24:58] People were wondering after what he was doing.
[00:25:01] Why? Because simply Jesus is amazing.
[00:25:03] Like, you cannot cease to amaze people when that is part of your character.
[00:25:07] And yes, people hated him, and there was the other side of that coin,
[00:25:10] but Jesus was amazing, and wherever he went, he had this effect on people.
[00:25:15] John 7, 15.
[00:25:16] The Jews were then astonished, saying,
[00:25:19] How has this man become learned, having never been educated?
[00:25:22] We see that brought to him later in life.
[00:25:24] Well, we know now, don't we?
[00:25:26] Hopefully we can sort of get a bit of understanding as to that.
[00:25:29] Verse 48.
[00:25:31] It says,
[00:25:31] When they saw him, they were astonished.
[00:25:34] And his mother said to him,
[00:25:36] Son, why have you treated us this way?
[00:25:38] Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.
[00:25:42] Now, as a parent, I feel for Mary here.
[00:25:45] If you could imagine the panic and adrenaline you get when you think you've lost your child,
[00:25:50] and then she's been running around for three days, frantically searching for him,
[00:25:53] she's probably at the end, you know, probably pretty fired up at this point.
[00:25:58] And then she walks into the temple and sees, just casually sitting there in conversation,
[00:26:02] you realise all this for nothing, he's absolutely fine.
[00:26:05] And you get, well, you probably get a little mad, don't you, on the inside?
[00:26:07] I could imagine this going on here.
[00:26:10] Now, again, we see this.
[00:26:12] It's a human perspective that we have here.
[00:26:13] It's impossible not to get frustrated, I think, if you're in Mary's position right now.
[00:26:18] But then imagine the scene.
[00:26:19] She sees Jesus.
[00:26:21] This is young Jewish mother.
[00:26:23] She marches over to this young boy, past all these leading rabbis and people like that.
[00:26:27] And in typical Jewish fashion, she has another question for Jesus.
[00:26:31] They're asking him questions.
[00:26:32] Now she has a question for Jesus.
[00:26:34] Why have you treated us like this son?
[00:26:37] And it says,
[00:26:38] We've been anxiously searching for you.
[00:26:40] So this is a common parental technique that we call the guilt trip.
[00:26:44] If you know that, you've probably used it.
[00:26:46] This is the, I'm not cross, I'm just disappointed angle.
[00:26:50] It's a very good method that we have there.
[00:26:52] And this is what I see going on.
[00:26:54] And there's many, many jokes in the Jewish world about these sorts of things.
[00:26:57] And that is,
[00:26:59] you can totally imagine how,
[00:27:00] in a human perspective,
[00:27:01] this plays out,
[00:27:02] this whole situation.
[00:27:03] Why have you treated us like this?
[00:27:05] Anxiously.
[00:27:06] And the word anxious there,
[00:27:07] it's a very strong word.
[00:27:08] It means that they were beside themselves,
[00:27:10] looking for Jesus,
[00:27:12] looking for you.
[00:27:13] Now, again,
[00:27:14] I read many commentaries,
[00:27:15] and many people I believe are extremely harsh to Mary here.
[00:27:18] And they say,
[00:27:19] How dare she rebuke the Son of God?
[00:27:20] And things like that.
[00:27:22] My personal opinion reading this text is,
[00:27:24] I don't think we can bring,
[00:27:25] really a shed of blame to Mary for her actions here.
[00:27:28] She had been given the incomparable task of raising the Son of God.
[00:27:34] And she had been faithful at every single step.
[00:27:37] And as we see in the Gospel,
[00:27:38] she continues to be faithful right up to the end,
[00:27:40] more than many other people in Jesus' life.
[00:27:45] So how do we explain this?
[00:27:46] Well, remember,
[00:27:48] a long time had passed since he was a baby
[00:27:52] and she brought him to the temple.
[00:27:53] And all those wonderful things happened
[00:27:55] since Anna and Simeon prophesied over the Lord,
[00:27:57] since all of this wonderful stuff happened.
[00:27:59] Since then, 12 years had elapsed,
[00:28:01] where Jesus really did nothing miraculous,
[00:28:03] as far as we're aware.
[00:28:04] So she would have been in parent mode.
[00:28:06] She has been raising him for the last 12 years.
[00:28:09] So that is really what we see here,
[00:28:11] an expression of that parent mode,
[00:28:12] of what she has been doing for the last 12 years,
[00:28:15] just coming out at the end here.
[00:28:18] That's what we see.
[00:28:18] However, it is an extremely important reminder to Mary here
[00:28:24] that soon things are going to change.
[00:28:26] Like, that job of hers is almost over at this point.
[00:28:29] Jesus is about to become a son of the commandment.
[00:28:32] That's why this whole portion of text is here, I believe.
[00:28:34] It's a crucial transition phase.
[00:28:36] And it's also a reminder to all of us
[00:28:38] that there is something different, divine.
[00:28:41] Jesus is the Messiah and it is different.
[00:28:43] So then he says, and he said to them, verse 49,
[00:28:47] why is it that you were looking for me?
[00:28:49] Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house?
[00:28:54] Probably the key verse in this whole text here.
[00:28:56] Why did you not know I had to be in my father's house?
[00:28:59] Your Bible might read, it might read,
[00:29:01] be about my father's business,
[00:29:02] if you're reading an older Bible.
[00:29:04] The Greek can be read both ways.
[00:29:05] It's kind of meaning the same thing.
[00:29:08] Now, this is important.
[00:29:09] Don't just read over these verses.
[00:29:11] We've read a lot of the gospels so far.
[00:29:13] These are the first recorded words of Jesus Christ that we have.
[00:29:18] And therefore, the Bible,
[00:29:18] that means they're significant in some serious ways.
[00:29:21] That should grab our attention.
[00:29:23] So here, Jesus's response.
[00:29:25] He responds, I believe, by firstly,
[00:29:27] gently reminding her that Joseph is not his real father.
[00:29:30] Remember, she said,
[00:29:31] me and your father have been looking anxiously for you.
[00:29:34] And this was maybe a mistake.
[00:29:36] And he is saying, remember,
[00:29:37] Joseph is not my real father.
[00:29:39] The God of heaven is.
[00:29:41] And thus, because of that,
[00:29:43] the logical place to look for him
[00:29:45] would have been in the house of his father.
[00:29:49] And it's interesting that from this moment now
[00:29:51] in the narrative,
[00:29:52] Joseph is gone.
[00:29:53] You see, that purpose has been served.
[00:29:55] The mission that he called Joseph to
[00:29:57] seems to be ended at this point now.
[00:29:59] Maybe for a few years after that,
[00:30:01] we don't exactly know when he left the scene.
[00:30:02] But this is, in the narrative at least,
[00:30:05] we don't really hear from him again.
[00:30:07] So we see here that Jesus does acknowledge
[00:30:10] this kind of unique relationship that he has,
[00:30:13] that his father's mission is also his mission.
[00:30:16] It's showing you that he had that understanding
[00:30:18] even at 12 years old, I believe, from his discipleship.
[00:30:21] Now remember, I asked why.
[00:30:23] Why do we have this specific episode?
[00:30:26] And why does it make mention that it happens
[00:30:28] when he is 12 years old?
[00:30:31] Now remember, a young boy was apprenticed
[00:30:34] into his father's trade at 12 years old.
[00:30:38] Yes, he had an earthly father.
[00:30:40] He was a carpenter, stonecutter, whatever that is.
[00:30:43] But the significance of this first recorded statement,
[00:30:46] I believe, is to show us that now,
[00:30:48] at this time, Jesus was really being apprenticed
[00:30:51] into his heavenly father's occupation.
[00:30:53] And that was the redemption of mankind.
[00:30:56] You see, that's the significance
[00:30:58] of this particular period of text.
[00:31:00] That's the significance of the 12 years of age
[00:31:02] happening there.
[00:31:03] This is what is happening in this bit of text.
[00:31:06] And when we think about this, just looking back at it,
[00:31:09] it's a very good example for us today.
[00:31:12] Because we are referred to as the body of Christ, aren't we?
[00:31:15] Attached to the head who leads us.
[00:31:17] And we could equally ask ourselves,
[00:31:20] are we about our father's business?
[00:31:22] Are we in our father's house?
[00:31:24] Because that is also our calling.
[00:31:26] That is part of what it means to be an ambassador,
[00:31:27] to be part of his body.
[00:31:29] That is our mission and our purpose,
[00:31:31] having been saved by him for a purpose.
[00:31:34] The great expositor, J.C. Ryle, Bishop Ryle,
[00:31:38] he said this of this verse, speaking of Jesus.
[00:31:41] He said, he had a father in heaven,
[00:31:43] and that this heavenly father's work
[00:31:45] demanded his first attention.
[00:31:47] The expression is one that ought to sink down deeply
[00:31:50] into the hearts of all Christ's people.
[00:31:52] It should supply them with a mark
[00:31:54] at which they should aim in daily life,
[00:31:56] and a test by which they should try
[00:31:58] their habits and conversation.
[00:31:59] It should quicken them when they begin to be slothful.
[00:32:01] It should check them when they feel inclined
[00:32:03] to go back to the world.
[00:32:04] Are we about our father's business?
[00:32:07] Are we walking in the steps of Jesus Christ?
[00:32:09] Such questions will often prove very humbling,
[00:32:12] and make us maybe ashamed of ourselves.
[00:32:14] But such questions are eminently useful to our souls.
[00:32:18] Never is a church in so healthy a condition
[00:32:20] as when it's believing members aim high
[00:32:23] and strive in all things to be like Christ.
[00:32:27] So Jesus here, he shows his understanding, I believe,
[00:32:30] of his divine father-son relationship.
[00:32:33] Notice he says, my father's house,
[00:32:36] personal possessive pronoun that he uses there,
[00:32:38] my father's house.
[00:32:40] Now in Judaism of the day,
[00:32:41] God was referred to as a father,
[00:32:43] but in the concept it was a collective father,
[00:32:46] our father, in the idea that,
[00:32:48] remember I spoke to you about Israel
[00:32:50] was the collective son.
[00:32:52] We studied that out of Egypt,
[00:32:54] I called my son, we looked at that.
[00:32:55] That was the idea.
[00:32:56] So it was collective father, collective son.
[00:32:58] That was the relationship.
[00:32:59] However, Jesus here is making this uniquely personal,
[00:33:04] and he's referring to my father personally,
[00:33:07] which is a privilege we all get too
[00:33:09] through the work that Jesus did.
[00:33:11] But at this time,
[00:33:12] this would have been quite a standout statement,
[00:33:14] particularly as he's sitting in front of
[00:33:16] many of the leading rabbis of the day.
[00:33:19] And this is the first word that we have of Yeshua,
[00:33:23] that acknowledgement of this relationship and mission
[00:33:26] that he now has.
[00:33:27] And I love when we stand back and look at this,
[00:33:30] we see here Jesus as a young boy,
[00:33:32] as a son basically,
[00:33:34] and he longs to be occupied with his father's business.
[00:33:36] He longs to be in the house of the Lord.
[00:33:39] He longs to be discussing the word of God.
[00:33:41] And that's exactly what we see him do.
[00:33:43] Reminds me very much of King David's words in the Psalms.
[00:33:47] One thing I've asked from the Lord that I shall seek,
[00:33:49] that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
[00:33:52] to behold the beauty of the Lord.
[00:33:54] Wonderful verse.
[00:33:55] And that's the attitude that we should have,
[00:33:57] but also that we see here in his perfect form.
[00:34:00] Verse 50.
[00:34:15] So here we see,
[00:34:16] they did not understand the statement which he has made.
[00:34:18] I'd imagine they were a little taken back.
[00:34:20] If you can imagine all the drama of the situation,
[00:34:23] the rushing in,
[00:34:23] the question,
[00:34:24] and then having a response like this,
[00:34:26] with this personal,
[00:34:27] my father,
[00:34:29] a slight change of mindset was needed.
[00:34:32] I think they understood quite too well
[00:34:34] that Jesus was different.
[00:34:35] Remember,
[00:34:36] they'd had the virgin birth
[00:34:37] and all the announcements
[00:34:37] and they knew he was the Messiah,
[00:34:39] the son of God.
[00:34:40] But one of the things
[00:34:40] that was still a hard concept
[00:34:42] for that world to understand
[00:34:43] was the divine sonship.
[00:34:46] divine sonship of the Messiah.
[00:34:48] And this is something
[00:34:49] that is progressively built up
[00:34:50] throughout the Gospels.
[00:34:51] Actually, we'll see.
[00:34:52] The synoptic Gospels.
[00:34:53] John,
[00:34:54] he lays it out in the first chapter.
[00:34:56] His Gospel is slightly different.
[00:34:57] But in the synoptics,
[00:34:58] we see it's a progressive revelation
[00:34:59] that we see here.
[00:35:00] And it's most likely that element
[00:35:02] that Mary did not understand at this point.
[00:35:05] Yet,
[00:35:05] we know
[00:35:07] it was not quite time.
[00:35:08] So I'm saying
[00:35:09] this is the transition era.
[00:35:11] It was not quite time
[00:35:11] for Jesus to step into this role.
[00:35:13] He still had a little bit
[00:35:14] of growing up to do.
[00:35:15] So it says
[00:35:16] he continued in subjection
[00:35:18] to them.
[00:35:19] That means he did still acknowledge
[00:35:21] that at this time
[00:35:22] they were to be
[00:35:24] the parental figures.
[00:35:25] And he subjected himself to them.
[00:35:27] And this is an interesting point
[00:35:28] because we don't like
[00:35:29] that word subjection.
[00:35:30] But it shows us here
[00:35:31] the word subjection
[00:35:32] does not in any way
[00:35:33] imply inferiority.
[00:35:34] In fact,
[00:35:35] in this situation
[00:35:36] it's completely the other way around.
[00:35:37] The one who is in subjection
[00:35:39] is far superior
[00:35:39] to the one
[00:35:40] who he's subjecting himself to.
[00:35:41] So why is he doing it?
[00:35:42] Because it's in obedience
[00:35:44] to the divine order.
[00:35:45] It's part of his good
[00:35:46] acceptable service of worship.
[00:35:48] In fact,
[00:35:48] for Jesus,
[00:35:49] remember,
[00:35:49] he had to fulfill
[00:35:50] the law perfectly
[00:35:50] and honoring your father
[00:35:52] and your mother
[00:35:52] was the fifth commandment,
[00:35:53] wasn't it?
[00:35:54] So he had to do this
[00:35:55] and he wanted to do it.
[00:35:57] It's obedience
[00:35:57] to his father's word.
[00:35:59] That's the point there.
[00:36:00] It's a wonderful passage
[00:36:01] when you look at it like that.
[00:36:02] But that's what goes on.
[00:36:04] And then notice
[00:36:04] this phrase again
[00:36:05] at the end.
[00:36:06] We've seen Mary
[00:36:06] already have this phrase
[00:36:07] spoken of her once
[00:36:08] in the early years.
[00:36:10] Mary again
[00:36:11] treasured all these things
[00:36:12] in her heart.
[00:36:13] Now I always think Mary,
[00:36:14] an amazing,
[00:36:15] you can tell I like Mary,
[00:36:16] an amazing woman.
[00:36:17] She must have been
[00:36:18] only in her early 20s
[00:36:19] again here.
[00:36:20] And once again,
[00:36:21] the events surrounding
[00:36:22] her son
[00:36:23] at this point
[00:36:24] have made her just
[00:36:25] stop,
[00:36:26] think,
[00:36:26] and she has to treasure
[00:36:27] these things
[00:36:27] in her heart.
[00:36:29] Yet I believe
[00:36:30] what's going on really
[00:36:32] at this point,
[00:36:32] remember the prophecy
[00:36:33] that Simeon made
[00:36:34] that the sword's
[00:36:36] going to pierce your soul,
[00:36:37] the son,
[00:36:38] it's going to happen,
[00:36:39] the Messiah's going to
[00:36:40] really hurt you
[00:36:40] at some point
[00:36:41] or the life of Messiah
[00:36:42] because you probably
[00:36:44] love him more
[00:36:45] than anyone else.
[00:36:46] You know what it's like
[00:36:46] when you're actually
[00:36:47] raising a child
[00:36:48] and you're holding,
[00:36:48] you do get this sort
[00:36:49] of bond that's different
[00:36:50] other people can't
[00:36:51] explain.
[00:36:52] She probably had that.
[00:36:53] No one else would have
[00:36:54] had that really
[00:36:55] at that point.
[00:36:56] And yet she was also
[00:36:57] the one who this text
[00:36:58] is bringing out
[00:36:59] that although he is
[00:37:00] willingly subjecting
[00:37:02] himself to them
[00:37:02] right now,
[00:37:03] that little episode,
[00:37:04] the My Father's House,
[00:37:05] the going into the
[00:37:06] temple,
[00:37:07] showed her that one day
[00:37:08] she would have
[00:37:09] to fully submit
[00:37:10] to him.
[00:37:11] When he takes on
[00:37:12] that full role
[00:37:12] as the son of the
[00:37:13] commandment,
[00:37:13] as the Messiah,
[00:37:14] it was then going
[00:37:15] to be her time
[00:37:16] to fully submit
[00:37:17] to the Messiah.
[00:37:18] And Mary does that.
[00:37:20] And we see that.
[00:37:21] She does that faithfully
[00:37:22] throughout her whole life
[00:37:23] even as she's staring
[00:37:24] up at her son
[00:37:24] on the cross.
[00:37:26] You see,
[00:37:26] that is just a wonderful
[00:37:27] character that we have here.
[00:37:28] I believe that's what
[00:37:29] it means when it says
[00:37:30] it's going to pierce
[00:37:30] your soul.
[00:37:32] 52.
[00:37:32] And Jesus kept increasing
[00:37:34] in wisdom and stature
[00:37:36] and in favour with God
[00:37:37] and men.
[00:37:39] So this passage
[00:37:40] is basically a final
[00:37:41] summary of Jesus' life
[00:37:43] from boyhood
[00:37:44] to baptism.
[00:37:45] It says he advanced
[00:37:46] in wisdom.
[00:37:48] That means he developed
[00:37:49] mentally.
[00:37:49] He advanced in stature.
[00:37:51] He continued to grow
[00:37:52] physically.
[00:37:53] In favour with God,
[00:37:55] spiritually.
[00:37:56] That's his spiritual growth.
[00:37:56] In favour with men,
[00:37:58] he advanced socially.
[00:37:59] Many phases that are
[00:38:01] natural as we go through.
[00:38:03] In this chapter,
[00:38:04] if you look at the whole chapter,
[00:38:05] in verse 16,
[00:38:06] he's called a baby.
[00:38:08] In verse 40,
[00:38:09] he's called a child.
[00:38:11] In verse 43,
[00:38:12] he's then called a boy.
[00:38:13] Three different Greek words
[00:38:14] for every section there
[00:38:15] emphasising the growth
[00:38:17] of the young life
[00:38:18] of Messiah.
[00:38:20] And then we don't see
[00:38:21] him again
[00:38:22] until he's 30 years old.
[00:38:23] The very next chapter
[00:38:24] that we'll look at
[00:38:25] picks up the narrative.
[00:38:26] So there's 18 years
[00:38:27] in between this event
[00:38:29] and the beginning
[00:38:30] of his ministry.
[00:38:31] You see,
[00:38:32] often the Lord
[00:38:33] makes us wait
[00:38:34] as he prepares us.
[00:38:36] We find waiting a week,
[00:38:37] a month,
[00:38:38] pretty hard,
[00:38:38] don't we,
[00:38:39] when we have something
[00:38:39] that we want to do.
[00:38:40] 18 years
[00:38:41] from this incident
[00:38:42] until the time
[00:38:43] we see
[00:38:44] that he has come
[00:38:45] of strength
[00:38:45] and he is ready
[00:38:46] to start
[00:38:46] his public ministry.
[00:38:49] And I think
[00:38:49] during this waiting period
[00:38:50] none of it was wasted.
[00:38:52] None of it was
[00:38:53] the Lord
[00:38:53] that was doing things.
[00:38:55] And for us,
[00:38:55] when we're waiting,
[00:38:56] we're kind of
[00:38:57] in a massive waiting period
[00:38:58] from the time
[00:38:59] we see him face to face
[00:39:00] and the period
[00:39:01] that we're in now
[00:39:01] in many ways
[00:39:02] and then there's
[00:39:03] individual things
[00:39:03] that we're waiting for
[00:39:04] in our life.
[00:39:05] But during those periods,
[00:39:06] what should we be doing?
[00:39:07] I think we use the example
[00:39:08] of this passage here.
[00:39:10] We should ask ourselves,
[00:39:11] are we about
[00:39:11] our father's business
[00:39:12] during that time?
[00:39:14] Are we occupying ourselves
[00:39:15] with the things
[00:39:16] that he has called us
[00:39:17] to do?
[00:39:18] And tragically,
[00:39:19] many times,
[00:39:19] we don't,
[00:39:20] do we?
[00:39:21] Waiting can cause us
[00:39:22] to get a little frustrated
[00:39:23] and then we start thinking,
[00:39:24] well,
[00:39:25] I'd rather go on
[00:39:25] and do my own stuff
[00:39:26] in life.
[00:39:27] Unfortunately,
[00:39:27] that's the exact opposite
[00:39:28] of what this period
[00:39:29] is supposed to do in us.
[00:39:31] Now,
[00:39:31] in the next chapter,
[00:39:32] we're going to see
[00:39:33] the fully grown-up Jesus
[00:39:34] begin his public ministry.
[00:39:37] This event has been
[00:39:38] the preparation for that,
[00:39:40] as we've seen.
[00:39:41] And that ministry
[00:39:42] that we're going to read of
[00:39:43] in the next chapter
[00:39:44] is the ministry
[00:39:45] that will change
[00:39:45] the world forever.
[00:39:47] We're going to start
[00:39:48] looking again
[00:39:49] at John the Baptist.
[00:39:50] We're going to look
[00:39:50] at the baptism of Jesus.
[00:39:52] And I'm going to share
[00:39:53] with you probably
[00:39:54] my own unique view
[00:39:55] on the baptism of Jesus,
[00:39:57] which you probably
[00:39:58] won't find,
[00:39:59] to be honest,
[00:39:59] but I'm going to share
[00:40:00] it with you
[00:40:01] for what it's worth.
[00:40:02] And hopefully,
[00:40:02] you'll see it helps
[00:40:04] explain some of the
[00:40:05] Gospels to you,
[00:40:06] but that's just a little
[00:40:06] preview of Attractions
[00:40:08] to Come.
[00:40:09] You've been listening
[00:40:10] to Theology and Apologetics.
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