Luke chapter 2 and verse 41. And this is speaking about the
Lord Jesus. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the
Feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old,
they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the Feast. And
when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus
tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. But they, supposing him to have
been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him
among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not,
they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass
that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them
questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. And his mother said unto him,
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and
I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is
it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about
my father's business? And they understood not the saying
which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and
came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept
all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature, and in favour with God and man. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. The setting and circumstances
of this account, this incident in the life of the young Jesus,
the circumstances are quite relatable. I think, if not indeed familiar
to most parents. The Lord's actions and his delay
in leaving Jerusalem caused, we would have to think, a wee
domestic crisis in the family. We can almost hear Mary and Joseph
scolding each other with claims of, I thought he was with you,
and I thought he was with you. Mary may even have had other
children because Jesus had siblings. So I suspect that she had the
better argument if there were indeed other children present
with her as well. It's possible that men and women
travelled men with men and women with women separately in family
groups and with friends as they were making their way both up
to Jerusalem and then back again to their respective homes. And
at 12 years of age, it might be imagined Jesus would be somewhere
in the caravan of feast goers with friends of his own. heading
back to Nazareth and Galilee. Still, however it happened, between
Mary and Joseph, neither of them had checked that Jesus was present
and it took a whole day to notice his absence. It took another
day. They would have to have slept
in the night. I can't imagine that they immediately
got up and returned back to Jerusalem. So they must have taken rest
in the night, got up early the next morning, and headed back
towards Jerusalem. And it took another day for the
couple to make their way back to the city. It was not until
the third day that they found the Lord in the temple. And just
where he had spent the two intervening nights, we don't know. I like to think it was in the
temple, perhaps praying to his father, perhaps in fellowship
with some of those like Simeon and Anna of a decade previous
who, were amongst those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. I'm sure that the Lord still
had a little group of elect remnant there, worshipping in the temple. At 12 years, Jesus was not obliged
to be at the festival. but it again shows the seriousness
with which Mary and Joseph viewed these religious feasts, perhaps
especially the Passover feast, pointing so clearly as it does
for men and women of faith to the sacrificed Lamb of God and
to the person of the Messiah. Furthermore, they were intent,
Mary and Joseph, on training the young Jesus in the way of
the faith and bringing up their son in the fear and admonition
of the Lord, as it behoves all believing parents to do. And even the little detail that
they had been present in the city for the full seven days
of the feast shows this couple's dedication and commitment to
the faith and to their religious practices. It was possible, for
example, to make an appearance at the feast. There was an obligation
on Jewish men to be at three feasts. We've mentioned this
before. But it was possible to make an appearance there and
to leave early. But not Mary and Joseph. They
took seriously their obligation to worship the Lord according
to the practices of the time. Nevertheless, this was a real
crisis. The couple must have been very
anxious for the wellbeing of their son as they hurried back
to the city. It was a steep incline up to
Jerusalem. They probably were moving against
a tide of people coming down the road to meet them. they would
be asking anyone they recognised if they had seen Jesus. And they
would have constantly had to be on the alert so that they
didn't pass him in the crowd as he was making his way trying
to catch up with the caravan. and a whole day's travelling
with the fears of what might have become of him must have
been a real demand on the emotions and on the feelings of both Mary
and Joseph. One can but imagine the joy and
relief they must have felt to find him safe and well in the
temple and engaged in discussion with the doctors and teachers
there. And actually, I think there's
a little lesson here. There's something very suitable,
something very appropriate about finding the Lord Jesus in the
temple. The first thing Mary and Joseph
did was to seek the Lord amongst their friends and family, but
he wasn't found there. Then they sought him amongst
the crowds, but he wasn't found there either. And if a seeker
is looking for the Lord, a good place to look is in the house
of God. It is good practice, therefore,
for us, for you and me, to invite those who may be interested in
spiritual things or curious about salvation or wondering, inquisitive
about our personal testimony. It's a good thing. to invite
them to come and hear the gospel preached. Men and women find
Christ in the gathering of the saints where the gospel is proclaimed. I want to touch on three key
statements from the remaining verses of this chapter and just
lightly mention them and then we'll be done here today. First,
we notice the astonishment of the doctors of theology when
they were speaking to Jesus, the boy Jesus. And in fact, we
learn it's not just these doctors, but it was all that heard him. And it may well be that the audience
comprised of both religious teachers, their students, and the worshippers
that had gathered at Jerusalem from all over the region, all
over the then known world. All that heard him, all that
heard the answers that he gave, all that heard the questions
that the boy Jesus asked, were astonished at what he was saying. And we don't need to speculate
about what those answers and questions were, but We note simply
both the ability of the Lord to learn, he was absorbing what
he was hearing, and to then discuss the matters of spiritual and
religious significance with these men. And clearly he caught their
attention and stirred their curiosity that someone of this age was
able to speak as he spoke. It's reminiscent of the things
that were said later in the Lord's life, that never man spoke like
this man. And it isn't said explicitly,
but I suspect given the location, we're in the temple now, this
is the temple in Jerusalem, which had been for so long the centre
and the focus of God's presence with his people in this world. And I suspect given this location,
the concentrated three-day attendance of the child there in the temple,
and the nature of the dialogue taking place, that we might gather that in
the life of the young Jesus, this was a significant moment.
that here was the dawning or the beginning of the Saviour's
awareness of His own calling and purpose in the world. Perhaps
in his human spirit, he was sufficiently consumed by the intensity of
this moment and the significance of the Passover event that he
was attending to realise that his own destiny and role in the
matter of redemption and the atonement of God's people was
intrinsically connected with these events. And if so, if this
is indeed the case, then he could say with the psalmist, the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up. So that perhaps this was
the moment when his own vocation and purpose began to form in
his young heart and mind. And this could be supported by
this next point that we have before us as well. Our Lord's
assertion at this time that he was about his father's business. There's no doubt that there's
a gentle rebuke given here to Mary and Joseph concerning Christ's
role and calling when Mary approaches him about the anxiety that had
been caused. It's as though the Lord said,
could you not have anticipated this? Why did you have to search? Where else would I be but found
in my father's house, but found about my father's business? And
Mary especially might have concluded this from the wisdom and the
understanding that she possessed in spiritual matters herself
upon the basis of the angel's revelation to her. the words
that Zacharias had spoken and Elizabeth, the events surrounding
Christ's birth, the reactions of Simeon and Anna in the temple,
the coming of the wise men with their gifts, and even the family's
flight to Egypt and Herod's massacre of the infants, all these pointed
to the uniqueness of Jesus in Mary's awareness. And Christ's Father's business
was the business of salvation of his people. It encompassed
the terms of the covenant of peace, which God the Son had
voluntarily undertaken to fulfil. It was making known, the Father's
business was making known God's will and purpose. The Father's
business was the preaching of the gospel, the doing of miracles,
the fulfilling of the law, the satisfying of divine justice,
the bringing in of an everlasting righteousness by the sacrifice
of the Lamb of God. It was the Father's business
that the Lord Jesus Christ should conquer sin and Satan and death
and hell and the grave. and save God's people from their
sins. It would be another 18 years
before the Lord Jesus commenced on this express task, but even
now there was realisation in his young heart and mind about
the task that lay ahead. Neither Mary nor Joseph grasped
what their son was telling them. We read in verse 50, they understood
not the saying which he spake unto them, at least at that time. Nevertheless, this was another
one of those sayings from the Saviour's childhood that Mary
kept in her heart. It's a blessed thing to keep
the Lord's sayings in our hearts and to meditate upon them there. And just finally, we learn that
the family ultimately returned to Nazareth, and we learn that
Jesus was subject to his parents. This dawning, this realisation,
this... awareness that the Lord perhaps
had at this time did not stop him from fulfilling the tasks
and responsibilities of an obedient son. He was obedient, he was
respectful and he gave them every courtesy that they deserved.
He was diligent, he put himself to work as a carpenter, and in
the days to come, no doubt fulfilled all the duties incumbent on a
young Jewish man of the age, both in society and under the
law. But what we learn is that Christ
grew in wisdom and stature. He increased and matured in his
natural abilities and in his dealings with men and women.
No doubt he continued studying the scriptures, providing for
his family, serving the community, fulfilling his religious obligations. His growth was not in any divine
attribute of his Godhead, but in his humanity. And that is not either to suggest
that the Holy Spirit didn't minister to him during these years, or
teach him, or that there was any absence of communion with
his father, whose love for his son was unbroken, and whose pleasure
in him was constant. The next thing we shall hear
of the Saviour is his coming for baptism to John the Baptist
when he is about 30 years old. Until then, he waits. How placating and calming to
the anxieties of our own soul to think that from this powerful
episode, aged 12, The Lord spent the next 18 years in patient
obscurity, largely hid from the eyes of the world, until in due
time he began to embark more actively upon his father's business. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.