Answers Bible Curriculum Year 3 Quarter 1 Lesson 10
This week in Sunday school, we look at Luke’s account of Jesus growing up and being left behind in Jerusalem. How did Jesus get left behind? How is it that the Son of God needed to learn wisdom or increase in favor with God? What does this account reveal to us about Jesus? We’ll consider these questions and more.
Our main text for Sunday school will be Luke 2:39-52.
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now end with every area of Our Lives lest we be found to be outside of his kingdom and subdued wrathfully by the king as Rebels trying to hold on to the rule of our own lives will not work but if we take upon ourselves the Yoke of the mighty but gracious King Jesus will obtain eternal life now up to this point we’ve only been looking at Jesus life as a baby and as a toddler through the unique accounts given to Matthew and Luke but today move forward in time to the only count of the only account of Jesus as an older child almost a young man there’s so much that our minds Wonder regarding the growing up of Jesus what was it like being his parents how did his later siblings regard him what did Jesus what did Jesus do all those years that he was growing up Bible doesn’t answer many of these questions and a bunch of false gospels that don’t don’t really shed light on that but God’s spirit did determine that one particular childhood event aside from what already happened with the wise man was necessary for us to know about and to take the heart so once again we’re turning back to the Gospel of Luke to get a unique account from him about one special visit of Jesus to Jerusalem why did God want us to know about this event of Jesus life does Luke’s account show us about our Messiah how does Luke’s inclusion of this account further Luke’s main purpose in his gospel what difference should this account make to our lives today we’re going to investigate those questions and we’re going to be following our basic order with the inductive Bible study method we’ll observe the passage interpret the passage and then close by considering application for ourselves let’s pray before we go on God thank you for this word thank you for all that you have revealed I pray that it would have its perfect on us tell me to be able to explain it help them be able to understand it appreciate it worship you for it in Jesus name amen open your Bibles please the Luke chapter 2.
we’ve been in the Luke 2 but now we’re at the latter part of this chapter our section of text is not that long today but we’re going to read it carefully to understand exactly what God’s spirit intended us to know so look down to chapter 2 verses 39 to 52. if you’re using a few Bible page 2021 right on the edge of the page right before we go to the next one Luke Chapter 2 verses 39-52 before you read it let me just briefly reintroduce the context earlier in this chapter Jesus was born in Bethlehem and acclaimed by the Shepherds in the middle of the chapter Jesus was brought to Jerusalem by his parents to be dedicated as the firstborn and from Mary and Joseph to offer the necessary sacrifice of purification on Mary’s behalf while there two old righteous individuals Simeon and Anna prophesied regarding Jesus future Redemption and spoke to all those who are in the temple about this very special child let’s pick up the narrative starting in verse 39 now please fall as long as I read one they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord they returned to Galilee to their own city of Nazareth the child continued to grow and become strong increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon him now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover and when he became 12 they went up there according to the custom of the feast and as they were returning after spending the full number of days the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but his parents weren’t aware of it but supposed to be in the Caravan and went today’s Journey and he began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances when they did not find him they returned to Jerusalem looking for him then 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 amazed at his understanding and his answers when they saw him they were astonished and his mother said to him son why have you treated us this way behold your father and I have been anxiously looking for you and he said to him why is it that you were looking 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 made which he had made to them and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them and his mother treasured all these things in her heart and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God amen okay let’s follow our inductive Bible study method and begin with simple observations notice that verse 39 says that after Joseph and Mary finished the necessary presentations at the temple according to the law the couple returned with the newborn Jesus to Galilee and Nazareth to their own City Nazareth Nazareth is where Joseph and Mary were originally from but remember what we learned last week to where did Joseph and Mary technically return after first going to Jerusalem not Nazareth but but where Bethlehem yeah we have to have the visit of the Magi in Bethlehem they couldn’t have gone back to Nazareth after this first presentation they went back to Bethlehem but they do end up in Nazareth Matthew explains more specifically in his gospel how the couple ended up in Nazareth we didn’t read that whole explanation last week but some of you may remember or some of you may know how did the couple end up not in Bethlehem but Nazareth well they have the visit of the wise men in in Bethlehem and then as soon as soon as the wise men leave God says to Joseph get up and leave why age he has to go to Egypt because Herod is going to try to kill the child so they leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt they stay in Egypt for some time we don’t know how long but then when Herod dies they return to Israel but they don’t return to Bethlehem Matthew actually tells us why why not yes Steve Harrah’s son was screwing in his place that’s right herod’s son archalayas was ruling over the area of Judea that they formally were in in Bethlehem and Joseph was afraid to go there and then God warned him don’t go there go back to Nazareth and that’s what they do just to get a little more background on this to show you some maps here upon the death impaired in approximately 4 BC herod’s kingdom was split up four ways you can see different colors here on the left and the writing might be a little bit hard maybe you can see it better on the TV screens but we actually have his kingdom divided up among three sons and then some things become independent we have the one son Herod archelaus he receives Judea this be this green section here Judea Samaria and edumia see that the west and south of herod’s original Kingdom another son though Herod Herod Philip II received golonitis which would be the top top right the brown section on this left map or gallonitis over there on the right map he received the area Northeast of the Sea of Galilee and then the third son Herod Antipas received Galilee and perea so that would be this blue section on this left map Galilee and Peru are not quite next to each other but they were both given to him this son Herod Antipas is the main Herod that we see in the rest of the gospels he’s the one who steals his brother Philip’s wife he’s the one that imprisons and beheads John the Baptist and he’s the one that administers Jesus second Roman trial Herod answer this and then the last division is this yellow section the decapolis area was granted Independence as a group of city-states no no leader was governing all of them they were autonomous this was a heavily Gentile region with temples to Greek and Roman gods and later the emperor cult so we have it divided up three ways among the Suns and then the decapolis region now you may ask why are all haired Sons named her Herod also well either Herod really liked his own name or the name Herod became a surname adopted by his sons it’s confusing for us yes but it was not too unnormal for the time especially for Great Men they all do have Herod in their name but if the territory of Herod the Great was divided this way why did God direct Joseph and Mary to settle in Nazareth and Galilee when that was under control of another one of herod’s sons you were afraid to go to Judea because arcadeus was there but there’s another son in Galilee why is that any better well probably this is because Herod archalayas was already engaging in brutal acts at the very beginning of his Reign just as his father had while Herod Antipas was not as noticeably brutal according to Josephus remember he’s the first century Jewish Roman historian archalayas had 3 000 Jews killed in Jerusalem before he had even received officially his new title as or his new title as ruler from Caesar Augustus so in 4bc he’s already massacring juice in fact archeles rule was so ineffective that just nine years later ad6 Caesar Augustus revoked arcelius’s Kingdom and sent him into Exile in Gaul that would be modern France So you you’re not allowed to rule anymore his old area rule was given over to Roman governors which is why later on in the gospel we see the Roman Pontius Pilate passing judgment on Jesus and ruling over Judea and not someone from the herodian dynasty this later development by the way was very loathsome to the Jews they would have preferred a client King that they somehow could have claimed was one of their own rather than be ruled by a gentile remember even though herod’s house was idumian from Edom they obstensibly they claimed to be Jews they followed the Jewish religion nominantly so they kind of were Jews but a Roman Governor that was a direct reminder that the Jews were not independent and they detested that that’s the situation we see in the rest of the Gospels but back here to verse 39 and Luke Chapter 2 Luke skips over the events he skips over the events that caused Mary and Joseph to end up in Nazareth and he simply reports in this verse that the couple eventually came to Nazareth he says returns but he’s just skipping over some information notice also going on notice that verse 40 says that Jesus grew both in strength and in wisdom and that the grace of God was on Jesus now notice verses 41 to 42 they said it was customary for Jesus parents to go up every year to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover why would they need to make this trip why go up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover they may have had relatives in Jerusalem that’s right this is actually according to the command of the law of God according to the Books of Moses there were actually three feasts that all the males of Israel were supposed to present themselves before God in Jerusalem or the other two feasts if you remember Tabernacles very good those are actually the same these are Tabernacle and Boos are the same what’s the other one at least the first fruits yeah Feast of first fruits they go by different names so it can be a little bit confusing but you have the Feast of Passover or the Feast of unleavened bread then you have the Feast of first fruits also called The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and then you have the Feast of in gathering or the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of boots those are the three different Feasts and if you according to according to the law of Moses every male of Israel was to present himself in Jerusalem for those feasts and they often brought their families now these feasts were a big deal with emphasis on big could you imagine something similar in our own time if every male in New Jersey bringing their families suddenly gathered in one city that would be a ton of people yet there was something like this in the situation of Israel for the feasts you’re talking a massive influx of people a tripling or quadrupling of Jerusalem’s normal population and many people coming from outside Israel that’s what they’re doing here by going up to the Passover feast Passover feast began with a celebration of Passover itself on a certain day and then followed it was followed by the Feast of unleavened bread six days of eating only unleavened bread in your homes and a seventh day of Sabbath and solemn assembly to altogether eight days now Luke tells us that when Jesus was 12 the family went up to celebrate the Passover feast and they spent the number of the the customary number of days in Jerusalem eight days but notice verse 43 while the rest of the family was returning Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem and his parents were not aware instead his parents thought he must be somewhere in the Caravan I noticed that the family had traveled with a whole group of relatives and acquaintances to Jerusalem this makes sense considering what we just said many others from Nazareth would have needed to be in Jerusalem as well for the feast and traveling was seen essay for a more enjoyable when you did it with people you knew the Caravan goes a Day’s Journey from Jerusalem back to Nazareth and Joseph and Mary are checking for Jews among their relatives but they soon realize he is not there now can you imagine their feeling not only are we missing our child but this child is the messiah you mean you lost or left behind the Messiah they returned to Jerusalem to look for him there but where do you begin looking for your child in such a large city with so many people where could he be after three days they find Jesus in the temple complex sitting with a bunch of Jewish teachers I notice what the text says Jesus is doing he’s listening asking questions and apparently also answering questions or at least replying to the teacher’s answers since verse 47 says that all who heard him teach him bystander were amazed at Jesus’s understanding and his answers notice what Jesus is not doing he’s not anxiously searching for his parents he’s not crying and he’s not otherwise showing any agitation about being left behind notice that Joseph and Mary were astonished at seeing Jesus and what was happening in the temple and Mary says to Jesus Son why have you treated us this way what is implied in this question what is implied in this question yeah that Jesus like did something wrong with his parents right that Jesus has potentially done something wrong either he’s done something wrong or if not he better have a good explanation for why he didn’t do something wrong because it sure looks like it notice that neither Mary nor Joseph apologize for their actions a question from Mary assumes that if anyone has done wrong it’s Jesus and Mary adds behold your father and I have been anxiously looking for you and notice the phrase your father whom does marry me Joseph and notice Mary plainly admits what their emotional state has been as they’ve searched for him we have been anxious on your behalf we’ve been worried we’ve been flustered we’ve been agitated so explain yourself son Joe just noticed Jesus’s response and these are the first words from Jesus in The Gospel of Luke he says for what reason were you looking for me didn’t you know that I had to be in my father’s house and notice that house may be italicized in your Bibles this indicates that the word is not in the original text but has been supplied by the translators to help get us help give us a sense of the meaning this is necessary because the text literally reads in the Greek in the of my father there’s no noun in me of my father what does he mean well the noun has to be inferred from the context and the phrase could be understood as in the things of my father and that’s the way that the King James version and the new King James version take it they actually translate it just slightly differently but in the things of my father meaning in the business of my father or about my father’s business notice though that when Jesus says my father whom does he be he means god so there’s a direct contrast here between the Mary’s use of your father and Jesus’s use of my father notice also the contrasting word but in verse 50. it says Luke says but they his parents they did not understand what he was telling them and that’s all the conversation we get because verse 51 moves on Jesus goes back with them to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them now this phrase he continued what does it imply about Jesus objection I heard someone say something that’s right in the past he has been subject and now he’s just going back to that very good he previously was subject notice then that the Son of God sorry if my mic’s doing weird things he noticed that the Son of God and Messiah continually subjected himself to two common and imperfect human parents while he was in their household and note Mary’s reaction she treasured all these things in her heart now the idea of the word treasure here is that she continually and carefully kept these things in her mind she was taking in all these events and holding on to them by the way this phrase may sound familiar to you because we just look back and captures one and two of Luke we’ve seen this before after the greeting of Gabriel to Mary Luke 1 29 says but she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was or Luke chapter 2 verse 19. after Mary hears the words from the Shepherds and about the newborn Jesus Luke says but Mary treasured all these things pondering them in her heart here for the third time we hear Mount Mary continually and carefully pondering what she has seen and heard then verse 52 Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and in stature where translated stature could refer to age or height but then the last line in verse 52 Jesus kept increasing in favor with God and Men we’ve made our observations let’s ask interpretation questions now how did Jesus end up staying behind in Jerusalem how did that happen the text doesn’t tell us exactly how but we can say one thing about look what we say about how it happened yes Steve well they were in Jerusalem anyway so I can I can’t put myself in the position of the Son of God but you know you could kind of say he was I mean the reason I’m confused is this hypostatic Union of God and man you know and that’s really what I think it all boils down to is that you know you have Jesus being perfectly human and perfectly God and so he he’s growing as he would a human being and so then his curiosity would be to where he would go to where the wisdom or the scriptures would be dispense which would be where Chief Priests of the leaders of the temple is that okay that that could be part of the solution here but we are going to talk more about the hypostatic union the idea of Jesus being fully gone perfectly gone perfectly man fully man and there may be something too that Jesus was drawn to learning more about God as a man and growing in wisdom we’ll say more about that also but what we characterize was that Jesus curiosity it was it kind of like he knew what his parents were doing but he’s like I’m gonna do my own thing because you know I’m just so curious well we have to be a little bit guarded because whatever the explanation is we know that Jesus did not sin Jesus did not it couldn’t have been the case that Jesus knew his parents were leaving and he ran away from them in order to hang out at the temple or to learn more about God if such were the case then Jesus could be blamed for showing lack of concern to his parents for not being submissive for being rebellious now Jesus being left behind is must have been accidental in some way we don’t know exactly how but it must have been accidental and probably simply based off of a wrong assumption made by his parents that’s the only detail we get in the text they supposed him to be in the Caravan I made a wrong assumption now why did they make that assumption why didn’t they keep better track of Jesus again we don’t know you’d think that they had some decent reason to believe this like some relative claimed to go collect Jesus but didn’t end up doing that or Mary and Joseph saw Jesus with a certain relative and assumed he was still with that same relative nevertheless going a whole Day’s Journey Without Really knowing if you brought the Messiah child back with you does seem like a bad idea yeah I’ve been there wait can you say that again that’s true it isn’t the first time they’ve gone to Jerusalem it’s not the first time Jesus has gone to Jerusalem so yeah and they may have figured all right let’s just do our thing it’s time to leave Jesus and they assume he would be with them yeah the fact that he was 12 years old growing up a little bit more so maybe he had the parents felt a little less responsible for that kind of care because he’s little during his going with a larger group of family and relatives that’s true too that’s a good point Danny he’s 12. he’s almost a man in Jewish Society the bar mitzvah takes place around 13. so yeah they assumed he he’s responsible enough when we say it’s time to go Jesus they assumed you would be with them yeah so it’s hard to say exactly what happened but there somehow was a miscommunication or an accident Jesus didn’t sin he wasn’t being mischievous he wasn’t being rebellious but somehow he ended up getting left behind now how many days were Joseph and Mary searching for Jesus in Jerusalem well it says they found him three days later but how long was the actual search for Jesus in the city probably it was just one because it says they went a Day’s Journey from Jerusalem before they realized he wasn’t with them which means to get back to Jerusalem it would have taken another day and then once you’re in Jerusalem another day to search for Jesus so most understand this three days description to be a sum total it wasn’t they were searching for him three days in Jerusalem but on the third day after they had left Jerusalem they found him now how did Jesus sustain himself while he was waiting for his parents in Jerusalem we don’t know doctor doesn’t tell us but we don’t see him being agitated and we do see that he is a wise child who knew who his true father was Jesus then no doubt acted similarly until he did to how he does in the rest of the gospels he did not worry but he relied upon his Heavenly Father for provision perhaps someone gave Jesus food and drinks we may have gone himself to a local water fountain where did he sleep well I did with a family that offered to take him in for the night or in a relatively safe spot outside this would have taken place in the spring so probably wouldn’t have been that bad sleeping outside this time of year however it happened Jesus was he was okay now what did Jesus mean when he said in thee of my father did he mean house or didn’t mean business well this is a debated Point among biblical Scholars but the most widely held views that which is translated here in The New American Standard house did you not know I would be in my father’s house that’s the view I favor as well and the reason is because for this phrase for Matthew to make any sense for him to leave out a word like that it’s supposed to be obvious from the context it’s supposed to be obvious that he doesn’t need to supply it in there so if we’re looking for the most obvious idea from the context Jesus is in God’s Temple God’s house so that seems to be the most ready word to supply in that phrase did you not know it’s supposed to be in my father’s house so what is Jesus communicating then by saying this to his parents why is it that you were looking for me did you not know that I had to be in my father’s house all the two statements together are revealing certainly Jesus could not be asking why are you looking for me at all well their parents have good reason to look for him since they had lost him and they needed to find him again so that’s the responsibility as good and loving parents Jesus why question could not have been about the act of searching but instead the manner of their search why were you looking for me all over the city didn’t you know where I would be why have you been so anxious in your search wasn’t it obvious where I would be you didn’t have to worry of course I would be here in my father’s house but Jesus doesn’t mean Joseph when he uses the phrase my father what does this statement reveal about Jesus own knowledge he knows that God is his father he knows that he is the son of God and this doesn’t seem to be a truth that his parents have taught or emphasized to him because when he says this to them they don’t understand but Jesus knows and he knows with confidence nevertheless the text says that there are other things that Jesus didn’t know verse 40 and verse 52 say that Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and one of the actions Jesus is doing in the temple is he’s asking questions so Jesus apparently needed to learn spiritual truth what does this demonstrate about Jesus he was human and we already alluded to this fact but this is showing that Jesus is a true human just like us a human child or a human man must learn about life they must learn about God Luke is especially Keen to emphasize the humanity of Jesus but all the gospels affirm this Truth where else in the gospels do we see Jesus affected by human limitations it’s another example he gets tired you remember when he calms the storm for the disciples what was he doing he was asleep he was fast asleep in the middle of the storm that’s only possible if you’re tired and you have total confidence in God what else he got hungry he got hungry multiple times we hear him getting hungry and when he’s in the wilderness fasting for 40 days it says at the end of that he got hungry or when he’s at the well with a Samaritan woman he asked the disciples about food and they go to get some and when he later on in the gospels approaches a fig tree says he came to it because he was hungry and then he noticed it didn’t have any figs so yeah what else yeah Amy yeah good question we’ll come back to that in just a bit how omniscient was Jesus but where else do we see human limitations hungry got tired okay so we know that there were times where we clearly didn’t know things uh even here in Luke we saw that he was growing in wisdom but he does say later on no one knows the day of my coming not even the Sun but only the Father in heaven and perhaps there’s another instance whenever Jesus is traveling through a crowd and the woman with the bleeding issue touches him he says who touched my garments now maybe you could say well he was just trying to draw her out okay perhaps but it may be that he actually didn’t know we see other instances of Jesus’s Humanity he gets thirsty on the cross he’s cried out I thirst he gets physically stressed in the garden his sweat drops became like drops of blood and he was exposed to temptation most notably in the wilderness so we see these human limitations throughout the gospels but we also see Jesus’s superhuman or Supernatural ability he does Miracles he has knowledge of other people’s thoughts his knowledge of divine truth that apparently was not given to him by any human he’s transfigured before the disciples so how how do these things fit together I’m going to borrow from the John McArthur Study Bible here in their description these phenomena these supernatural phenomena are rather than saying that Jesus was drawing upon the power of the father rather the father was unveiling certain aspects of Jesus’s deity that was present the whole time but normally unused so God says I’m going to give you some of the knowledge that you already have in this instance I’m going to unveil that part of your knowledge so that you know what people are thinking or I’m going to unveil some aspect of your power so that you can do this miracle that’s one way to describe what’s going on and that’s why to get back to your question Amy that’s why we can say Jesus needed to learn but as sometimes he knows things that nobody else could tell him one way to describe that is that the father is unveiling lifting the veil on certain aspects of Jesus’s deity for a Time now even though Jesus is the son of God he continually subjected himself to his Earthly parents why is such action significant Steve I mean to be the perfect servant you’d have to follow the laws that God had set down so that one would be you know children over your parents yeah yeah it’s a mark of the humility of God and it’s another instance of Jesus fulfilling all righteousness even as a child he was perfectly submissive to his parents this then affirms the godliness of obeying and honoring parents I know this is the adult Sunday school class but this is the true principle if the Son of God had obeyed and honored his imperfect Earthly parents then certainly all children should do the same of course accepting if your parents tell you to sin now why does Luke another question here why does Luke keep mentoring Mary’s pondering and treasuring does this very noticeably and always seems to be married why does he keep mentioning what are some possible reasons that’s Mary keep treasuring and pondering multiple things we could say one this emphasizes how amazing all these events are Jesus I mean I’m sorry Mary is treasuring and pondering but and she often gets astonished but she’s not the only one lots of people who are observing what’s going on are hearing what’s going on they they become amazed they are astonished in Mark’s gospel we saw that especially people are just constantly amazed at what’s happening what Jesus is doing so when Mary is pondering or wondering treasuring what’s happening around her this shows how amazing these things are it also emphasizes that these events should be considered and thought about if it’s so amazing they’re worthy for anyone to ponder but also in emphasizes how Mary herself did not completely understand what was taking place try to keep thinking about it didn’t quite get it and we’ll see the same thing with Jesus’s disciples as we move to the gospels they understand some things but they don’t fully understand Jesus will make certain statements and then you know the writer will say and they kept asking or talking about what did Jesus mean it’s only after Jesus ascends and we get to the day of Pentecost that we have a more confident understanding from the disciples yeah you get a sense from the text I am your father looking for him and then she says slave they were astonished it’s almost get a sense marries acting more like the mother of her child yeah so maybe she’s pondering you know rethinking some of those things too yeah yeah I think it’s totally possible Danny just repeat your comment that with Mary’s question you know why did you do this to a son how could you do this to us and the way she refers to Joseph as your father yeah it doesn’t sound like she has the Virgin birth the Son of God all that understanding Forefront in her mind but considering what takes place in this passage yeah maybe that’s part of what she’s pondering later on hmm maybe I need to rethink re-categorize in my mind what exactly is happening he’s not simply my child he’s not simply the Messiah he is the son of God he refers to God even as his own father so certainly those things are probably part of it now we come to one of the one of the most intriguing statements In this passage and that’s where it says Jesus increased in favor with God how could that be possible this is a mysterious statement but it must be related to the earlier statements that we’ve considered about Jesus growing in wisdom because Jesus was a man he not only grew in wisdom but also in favor with God his father his Heavenly Father became more and more pleased with the son’s actions while on Earth because he was a man but you may ask how can this be was not the father already infinitely pleased with the Sun oh yes but the Incarnation adds another mysterious element to the trinitarian relationship all right we’re just gonna Wade a little bit into this issue this is difficult to describe territory difficult to understand territory uh but let’s see if we can describe what’s going on without drifting in air God was always unendingly pleased with the Sun before the world began that God had existed perfectly together outside of time there was no such thing as a journey Pastor eternity future there wasn’t even time it was just timelessness and he was totally unendingly pleased with the Sun the father already knew all that the son would accomplish in history and in a sense Redemption was already accomplished before the foundation of the world because after all there is no time so there’s no way that the father’s Joy or pleasure in the sun could be increased but nevertheless having the sun enter time allowed the father to become increasingly pleased with the Sun as that son was within time try and describe this concept in a concept another way Jesus Incarnation allowed the father to become increasingly pleased with what Jesus was accomplishing in history in the same manner and that God was already pleased in eternity with what Jesus was going to accomplish in history so in one sense God’s pleasure in the son was increasing but in another sense God’s pleasure in the son was the same as ever it’s the same with Jesus Glory did Jesus Incarnation increase the glory of the son all in one sense yes since the state of the son at the end of his mission as Redemption was clearly different than at the beginning he had taken on human nature he had paid the penalty for sin he had honored himself even to the point of death none of these things were true before about the Sun so God highly exalts the Sun for accomplishing all these things moreover Jesus failed as Heavenly majesty and power to come to the Earth so that he could truthfully say while on the earth the father is greater than not you know this was one known by the trinity in eternity the son was already infinitely glorious for what he would accomplish in time so it was actually accomplishing it did not increase his glory That Glory already belonged to the Sun and even though Jesus veiled certain aspects of his deity he never stopped being God in any way he never really lost his glory he never really lost his majesty his power his omniscience Etc even though he was not using or fully displaying these things while he was on the Earth you see God could never have been deficient in any Glory neither could any person of the Trinity be deficient in any Glory otherwise they would be violating their own nature as God so when we consider the Incarnation of redemption accomplished by God we both see that these acts brought New Glory to God and they did not bring new glory to God they were merely new manifestations of the glory god always had now you’re saying I still don’t get it well that’s that’s okay this is hard to understand and part of this is really too wonderful for us as David says in the Psalms I’ve still in quieted my soul like a weed child with his mother I don’t try to contemplate things that are too wonderful for me but we can nonetheless affirm what Luke says here Jesus as a human increased in favor with God while understanding as God Jesus always had God’s full and infinite favor all right that’s that’s the best I can do with that issue for right now one final interpretation question why does Luke include this account why is he the only one why did he feel the need to tell us rather the spirit through him to tell us about Jesus being left behind in the temple in this one instance why include this what does it show us that would be in accord with Luke’s main purpose for this book yeah remember the thing the purpose statement that I’ve given you for the Book of Luke Jesus is the man who came to save all men well for Jesus to truly do that he has to be a true man and so Luke is showing us look he is a true man he had to grow in wisdom he had to grow in stature he was asking questions in the temple he had to learn more about God and about life but what else does this passage show us about Jesus though he was holy man going back to what you said Steve he was at that same time fully gone and he always understood who he was and what his mission was already at age 12 Jesus is clear about who he is and why he’s here he came to accomplish the salvation of all men and remember this relates to Luke’s overarching purpose between the two books Luke and ax Luke wants to show that God’s gospel plan has always been set it has never changed the message has never changed neither during Jesus lifetime nor during the ministry of the Apostles Jesus did not need to discover his identity or learn of God’s plan and then adjust himself he always knew these things and was always intense on accomplishing a Salvation mission questions about what we’ve seen or discussed today from this passage yeah not sin but also there’s a positive righteousness that you can see is he grew in favor with God and man he loved his neighbors himself love God will his heart soul mind strength and loved his neighbor so you would see him growing in favor with man with that kind of that kind of righteousness yeah that’s the good point Danny yeah to repeat your comment we also have the phrase besides he grew in paper with God but he also grew in favor with man which emphasizes the positive righteousness of Jesus he wasn’t simply refraining from sin but he was actually doing all that God commanded in his law he was loving his neighbor as himself he was being kind to consider it so if we think about like oh how did Jesus treat a symbolism what was that like well we can infer from this statement that Jesus was treating them with love he was being totally righteous to his siblings and to his parents and to all those that met him and when you are near someone who is displaying that kind of righteousness you can’t help but show favorites now can’t help but have a more favorable disposition now now it’s true that some of that righteousness just convicts you and that makes you resent that person but Jesus kindness his righteousness it was causing him to increase in favor with men as well that’s a good point Danny yeah Steve do you think you’re mentioning on the fact that he was 12 years old is more independent but the fact that he was 12.
um uh you know just shows that he’s still in subjunction to his subjection to his parents and he’s at that cusp of you know yeah that’s a good question Steve is the mention of mentioning of Jesus being 12 right before the age of manhood is that really significant I think it is significant I’m not sure all the ways that it is significant because you’re right it’s kind of like he is very close to manhood he has matured he has become more responsible but he’s still a child and he is in subjection to his parents I’m not sure what all the implications of that are but I think both sides of his being almost a man but also being a child are present in him being 12 years old it is interesting that Luke doesn’t say he was around 12 like he does later you know we said this before when he does later he was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry now says when he became 12 or other translations he was 12. so Luke was rather sure that that was the age of Jesus at this time it may simply be a historical detail but I think there is a shade there’s a shade of oh keep in mind that he has developed to a certain point at this time other questions or comments all right so what are some takeaways we can see from our observation and interpretation of this passage I’m going to go to the final step of our inductive Bible study method now and talk about application I thought of at least three three things for us to take away from this passage first of all Ponder Ponder again the amazing facts of Jesus Incarnation and Redemption some of this is beyond us even as we’ve talked about today but God revealed these things so that we might continually and carefully consider them as Mary had so let us treasure God’s work of redemption as we consider its astonishing nature again this is not some sort of tradition that we rehearse as part of our culture this is history this is what really happened number two recognize recognize Jesus as both fully God and fully man throughout church history various Cults and heresies have demoted Jesus on one side or the other oh he wasn’t really a man he just appeared as a man or he wasn’t really God he was a created being people have often claimed he wasn’t fully human or he wasn’t fully God but we must recognize that both are amazingly and mysteriously true the theological term that we use to describe it as the hypostatic union there was a perfect Unity between Jesus’s two Natures his hundred percent manness it’s 100 godness it’s more it’s difficult to describe but it was perfect it was not a mixture it was not 50 50.
it was 100 both and what you need to affirm both of those things if we are to affirm the God and savior who truly is and finally and this goes with the other two leave believe in God’s forever known salvation plan God the son taking the place of sinful man nor that whoever repents and believes in him might be reconciled to God and receive eternal life from God that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been given these gospels so that we might believe so that we might become confident more confident in our belief now that’s it for this week next week is a special Sunday school and the week after that I’ll be back with you looking at Jesus’s Temptation in the wilderness let’s suppose in prayer our great God it is just so mysterious and amazing what is actually true God that you sent your son who became a man who grew up as a man needed to learn as a man and yet was slowly God the entire time had his omniscience available and that father you gave him omniscience about certain things at certain times it was God he was man he is God and he is man he is our high priest and our intercessor he’s our savior I thank you for doing this thank you for doing this for unworthy man this is your glory on display you’ve always been glorious but we didn’t know it we didn’t see the great the Grandeur of it but she revealed it to us not only by accomplishing what you did but telling us about it what do we know we cannot neglect so great of salvation Lord we know that we cannot walk unworthily of this salvation so help us by your spirit help us to walk worthy help us to meditate on these things help us to apply them into our lives help us to be in so much awe about what you’ve accomplished and help us to tell others about it because they need to know they need to know all that you have done oh God that they might be saved I pray that you would help us do this Deliver us from our weakness by your strength and by your goodness in Jesus name amen