In My Father's House
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Why did Luke include this description of Jesus’ early life? None of the other Gospels have it. Only Luke gives us this snapshot, this home movie of Jesus at age 12.
I know why, it was to show how devout his parents were. Jewish Law required three pilgrimages per year. But by the time Jesus was born, most people went only once per year, and most chose to go at Passover.
This pilgrimage shows that Mary and Joseph took the commandments seriously. They took their role as parents seriously; doing their best to fulfil the commandment to teach and train children in the Lord.
Such knowledge, such obedience doesn’t come naturally. If you’re a parent, you know this. Think about it, no one has ever had to teach their children how to do wrong. It comes naturally. It takes tremendous effort to teach obedience. So is Luke using this story about Jesus, Mary and Joseph to teach us to be good parents, teaching our children obedience? Is his point to emphasise that we need to make a more determined effort to bring our children to church, to make sure we have devotions at meal times? Is he emphasising that we need to ensure that our children learn and memorise scripture? Is the point of all this to ensure that when our children are older, they will not depart from God’s truth?
No, Luke’s point isn’t to use Mary and Joseph as an example of Godly parenting. Rather, there’s something much, much deeper that’s going on.
I, know what it is, Luke talks about Jesus being at the temple to encourage church attendance? By showing Mary and Joseph as being regular Temple attendees, he’s emphasising church attendance! We know it was Jesus’ custom to attend synagogues, therefore his parents must have emphasised the importance of weekly worship!
While weekly worship attendance is important (ask yourself how effective a hockey player is if he or she only shows up for games and never goes to practices. How long will they stay part of the team)? That’s not Luke’s point in sharing this account of Jesus’ childhood.
So, if Luke’s point isn’t to hold up Mary and Joseph as examples of godly parents, and if his point isn’t to emphasise the value of church attendance, his point must be about communication, right? Luke wants all parents to realise the importance of communication between fathers and mothers. The point of this passage is to show how easy it is to lose the whereabouts of your children, especially when you’re in a large group of friends and family.
This passage is just a simple parenting lesson, isn’t it? Clearly, Luke wants us all to be great parents, so he includes this story of a very frightening parental experience as a lesson for us all. In this way, he’s more like the evening news, than a gospel writer. Move over, Dr. Phil, here comes Dr. Luke.
No, that’s not it either. Luke isn’t telling parents to be good communicators, though that’s not bad advice, is it? No, he isn’t specifically encouraging church attendance, though he wouldn’t argue against it. Nor is he raising Mary and Joseph up as a goodly standard for childrearing and faithfulness to God.
So, if none of those things are the point of this passage, what is?
Luke is making one point very clear. In fact, all these verse hinge on one verse. Luke 2:41, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Luke is giving us some very, very important information about Jesus. Already at age 12, Jesus understood that Joseph was his adoptive father. His true Father, is His Father in Heaven.
On this trip to Jerusalem, Jesus seized the opportunity to spend time at the temple, his Father’s house. He spent time talking with the religious leaders, the very best teachers of the day.
Even though he was only twelve years old, Jesus was already full of knowledge and insight.
Yes, this argues for a great upbringing. Mary and Joseph did well by Jesus. Seriously, they did. It is clear that Mary and Joseph came to accept Jesus as their son and treated him no differently from their other children. That’s why Mary addresses him as she does. “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Don’t you hear the familiarity here? Doesn’t she sound just like any other mom? She doesn’t sound like the mother of the Son of God, does she?
But Jesus’ reply is so completely different, it is unfamiliar. He doesn’t say, “Sorry Mom, I should have told you I wanted to spend more time at the temple.” No, Jesus makes a sharp, pointed distinction. “Joseph’s not my real dad.” Though he does it without being lippy. “Mom, didn’t you realise that, given this golden opportunity, that I’d naturally want to spend as much time at my true Father’s house? Can you blame me for wanting to be here?”
By including this story, Luke wants us to realise that Jesus really is the Son of God. The story about Jesus’ conceived by the Holy Spirit wasn’t a cover-up.
Everything about Jesus’ actions that day makes that clear. Jesus wasn’t trying to get into trouble. He wasn’t gallivanting around with his friends. He wasn’t trying to make a buck or checking out the sights. No, he was sitting in the temple courts among the teachers, the very best teachers of that day and age. He was listening to them and asking questions. That was the method of education in those days. Teachers would dialogue with their students, creating an interest, finding out what the students knew already, correcting their errors, and looking for exceptional giftedness.
Jesus not only understood what they were teaching him, but his answers showed a depth of insight and knowledge that was exceptional in a person that young. Not only was the crowd amazed, Mary and Joseph were astonished!
In this, Jesus demonstrates that Mary and Joseph had raised him well. Clearly, he knew His stuff. But, their astonishment shows that he wasn’t just average. He was above average. Jesus had more than just a grasp of facts and history. He understood the big picture, he also understood his role in it. He knew that God the Father sent Him for a purpose.
You know what’s really cool about this passage? While it clearly teaches how exceptional Jesus is, it also shows how normal he is. The average person, those who saw and heard Jesus at the temple were amazed. But Mary and Joseph weren’t. They thought they were dealing with a disobedient child. They forgot that their son is the Son of God! That’s one of the reasons I appreciate the song Lia sang on Christmas Day. Did Mary realise that the baby she delivered would one day deliver her? Did she realise that she held God’s Son in her arms? The cool thing is that Jesus was so totally normal, that he was naturally just her son. He was just a normal part of her life, just like any of her other children.
This passage teaches us that Jesus really, truly is the Son of God. Luke also wants us to know the most important characteristic of Jesus. Jesus was obedient. Now, at first glance, it would appear that Jesus disobeyed his parents by staying in Jerusalem and making them sick with worry. But what might be understood as disobedience to his earthly parents should be understood as obedience to his Heavenly Father. Jesus was in the temple, so that he could be in His Father’s house.
After Mary and Joseph confront him, Luke makes sure to point out that Jesus continued to be obedient to them, he left Jerusalem with his parents and returned to Nazareth. The sense of this sentence is continued, ongoing obedience to Mary and Joseph.
As children, we would do well to imitate Christ. In fact, the scriptures command us to be like Christ. We imitate Christ by being obedient. Jesus was perfectly obedient, not only to God the Father, but also to His earthly parents, even when they didn’t fully understand what was going on! Jesus Christ was obedient to His heavenly Father, even obedient to death on the cross.
As children, we need to foster obedience. We have inside us, a natural tendency toward disobedience. We need to heed our parents’ admonitions and learn to be obedient. Our parents teach us how to obey God, even though they’re not perfect, and they won’t be, we still are bound to be obedient to them. Obviously, if a parent is abusive, then children are not bound to obedience. Parents have to be good parents.
As God’s children, be obedient. Jesus went to the temple to learn. He was fully human, He could learn. We are fully human, we have much to learn. We need to make church attendance, and Bible study a priority in our lives.
We attach ourselves to the church, to the body of believers because that’s where we learn obedience. We learn from hearing God’s word preached and taught. We learn by having fellowship with other Christians. We learn through discipline, through submitting to one another.
That’s how we become mature people. That’s how we grow in wisdom and stature, in favour with God and men. Just as a player has to show up to practises in order to be an effective member of a team, we need to be part of a local church in order to be an effective member of Christ’s body.
Obedience begins in the home; faithful parents training their children in the Lord. Obedience is reinforced at church. All life-long, we attend church in order to grow more obedient to God, and less obedient to our sinful natures.
Obedience is learned. We have to learn to imitate Christ. He obeyed His parents. He obeyed His heavenly Father. Imitate Christ, be obedient. Amen.