Lesson 7 The Early years of Jesus Luke 2:39- 52

Back to Jerusalem 2:39-45

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

Vs 41 gives us the fact that 12 years has transpired in the last couple of verses. Everything in Jesus’ life that had occurred was according to the Law of the Lord. The family of Joseph are back in Galilee, in the town of Nazareth. The child has made some great strides. We are not told of all of the things that has happened, except that He grew up. He got stronger and wiser. The favor of God was upon Him. That is all great stuff, but the details are left out.

His parents go to Jerusalem every year. They probably made reservations for these trips since their first ended up in a stable. And, there was this event called childbirth that hit them when there was no room. They are probably thinking, “next time we make reservations.” The yearly trek was for the Feast of the Passover. These feasts were suppers that took place at the close of day. Passover is the time of unleavened bread and the Feast of the lamb. The Hebrew word “Pascha” really means lamb or refers to the Passover meal. That’s what took them to Jerusalem every year.

We are not told if Joseph used vacation time or what, but they religiously took care of the spiritual needs of Jesus. It was a family spiritual time. They were attentive to making sure the child was in on what happens in God’s kingdom. Then after 12 years, Jesus makes a detour from the trek home and heads to the temple. Mary and Joseph head home, and assuming Jesus was heading home with them, they leave Jerusalem and are away from him a full days journey. After a search for Jesus among friends and relatives, He was not found. Jesus is separated from his earthly parents! Yikes! They had to return to Jerusalem to look for Him. By all accounts this is a dangerous situation. Think about it. Your 12 year old goes on holiday with you and you leave him in Jerusalem. Time to call the police. Wait a minute. We don’t have any. Just Roman soldiers.

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man

Archibald Robertson in his book, Word pictures of the New Testament said this abut the words of Jesus to His parents. Simple yet eternally profound:

Even Mary with all her previous preparation and brooding was not equal to the dawning of the Messianic consciousness in her boy. “My Father is God,” Jesus had virtually said, “and I must be in His house.”

A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Lk 2:50.

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The emphasis is mine(PL) on the words, “ Messianic Consciousness.” This whole part of the passage must be read with the belief that the Messiah was right there in front of them and He could not be anywhere else. There’s a job to be done and the 12 year old was the person in charge.

With that in mind, how many times have we thought, “I sure would like to ask God that Question!” This was that time. It says the Rabbi’s and the doctoral thinkers were amazed at his understanding and answers. They were literally blown away. They were great astounded. This was the best of the best in Jerusalem being schooled by a 12 year old. Boom.

There had been three whole days of looking. A crime drama on TV usually says if a missing child is not found in the first 24 hours, chances are, they are dead. At least that is the supposition- that they have been kidnapped. I would imagine human trafficking was a worse problem then than the 21st century. Slavery was quite common in the Roman world, even in the holy land. Realistically they had a right to be upset until they got the response of Jesus. They had been looking for 72 hours or three days before finding Him in the temple. At first they are astonished to find Him there. Momma Mary says “why have you done this to us, child of mine?” Three days of searching and not one text even! Plan speaking they were panicked.

The response of Jesus takes us all to the place of a parent who wants and answer, but this may not have been the one they were looking for: Why were you looking for me?

“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 2:49.

Oh yes, how could we miss such an important fact? The Messiah knows where He belongs. If it’s His fathers house, then it’s His house too. He was here in the temple all along. Not only did Joseph and Mary Miss this fact, but so did all of the spiritual leaders of the house of Israel. Simeon and Anna are no longer in the temple to give witness to the presence of the Savior in the house. He was standing in the midst of them. There He was. Whose house could He have been in? There was no other place to look for Him. It was His house,. not our house or their house, it was “my Father’s house.”

There has been speculation for centuries as to whether or not any more exciting or profound things happened in Jesus early life. Here’s some thoughts on that:

A Walk with God: Luke (The Hidden Years’ (Luke 2:39–40))

One of the interesting dimensions of church history is that, in addition to the books of the New Testament that are contained within the Canon, there are so-called ‘apocryphal gospels’ that appeared for the most part in the second century. These gospels were forgeries; they were spurious in content. If one were to take the time to read the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Peter, for example, it would become immediately apparent that they are indeed fraudulent documents. The style and the content are not only incredible, but at times bizarre. Those who wrote these fraudulent gospels attempted to capture the public imagination by speculating freely on the early days of Jesus, about which the gospel writers were silent. One writer describes how Jesus, on one occasion, was lonely, and so he fashioned some doves out of clay, and said some magic words, and made the birds come to life to be his playmates. In another story Jesus was being tormented by some children, but he exercised his divine powers and zapped them. Of course, these stories always manifest a frivolous use of power, almost of the sort we would find in the comic book stories.

Jesus leaves the learned men behind then and now with what He has to say. He submissively returns as an obedient son with Joseph and Mary to Galilee/Nazareth without as much as a time out or a tongue lashing. After this moment, Mary treasures everything up in her heart. Jesus is on a roll. His childhood was marked by some really great and profound events. This is one of those things she had to capture in her meditative place: Father’s business and Father’s house. Really big stuff. Think about it! Selah! Maybe she does snot comprehend, but then again she is putting the pieces together for the future. The destiny of the Son of God will reach far beyond the gates of Jerusalem and His effects will turn the world upside down. The cross is not yet in sight for them. But hang on, the best is yet to come.