Jesus in the Temple

This morning we are going to look at the only passage of scripture that says anything about the childhood of Jesus. The other gospels do not say anything about the life of Jesus between his birth and the beginning of his public ministry. But Luke records an interesting incident.

Over the last two weeks, we learned about how Jesus was brought to the temple as an infant in accordance with the requirements of the Law, and there was announced by two major people, Simeon, a devout man, who sang what some have called the first Christian hymn, in which he blesses God and calls Jesus “your salvation”.

Then there was Anna, who gave thanks to God and spoke of Jesus to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. In our passage this morning, we see Luke transition from the presentation of Jesus at the temple to a brief statement about his parents returning to Nazareth, and then we will move to another time when Jesus was in the temple, this time as a twelve year old boy.

In this passage we will have several things to say to our children, so parents, if you are close enough, poke your kids and say “this sermon is for you. Listen up.” There will also certainly be some things for the adults to learn as well, so kids, now it is your turn. Poke your parents and tell them, “This sermon is for you. Listen up.”

So let us look to the text and then see what we can learn from it.

Luke 2:39–52 ESV

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 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, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 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.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 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. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

In some of your bibles, verses 39-40 will be on their own, since they sort of fall between the narrative in 22-38 and 41-52, so let me say a little bit about this and then we will mainly be focusing on Jesus at the Temple as a boy.

Luke 2:39 ESV

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

They performed everything according to the Law. Now, this was covered a few weeks ago, so I will not recap all of that. Leviticus 12 is the reference that we looked at, which laid out for Jewish parents for purification following a birth, and the sacrifice that needed to be made. Mary and Joseph did everything as they needed to.

They returned to their own town of Galilee. Matthew records the visit of the wise men after this in Bethlehem, and also the flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s fury, but Luke leaves this part out. We don;t know why he skips over this, but we may assume he had his own purpose in mind for this narrative. Ultimately, whatever Luke wrote was God’s purpose, since all scripture is breathed out by God, so we can trust that in this narrative, the return to Bethlehem and the flight to Egypt were not a necessary component for what God wanted us to focus on in this passage.

Luke 2:40 ESV

And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

This echoes what Luke wrote about John the Baptist in his birth narrative: Luke1.80

Luke 1:80 ESV

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

The first phrase in both of these verses is identical, “And the child grew and became strong” John was noted for being strong in spirit, but Jesus was filled with wisdom. The favor of God was upon him. That is, God’s grace, or goodwill, or kindness, a special manifestation of the divine person. He was filled with, or complete with, God’s favor.

Luke 2:41–42 ESV

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

The Passover was one of three annual feasts that required the men of Israel to participate and go up to Jerusalem. The women were not required to attend, but some did. Clearly Mary and Joseph made this an annual event, and not only did they go, they brought their family, and traveled with others. when boys turned 13, they would be officially a “son of the commandments” and be full participants at the synagogue, but it was encouraged to bring them 1 or 2 years before they turned 13, so that when they turned 13, they would have an idea of what would happen here.

Jesus, then, as a 12 year old, most likely had accompanied Joseph in order to observe the sacrifice. And this would be a very exciting time. Over 200,000 pilgrims would be in Jerusalem for the festival. So many sacrifices were made that instead of the normal one division of priests being on duty that day, there were 24 divisions.

The people of Israel would take the leaven and gather it from each home and ceremonially burn it. Then they would begin the slaughtering of the Passover lambs. At 3:00 the sacrifice would begin. Joseph likely brought Jesus with to the temple to observe the sacrifice. He would have heard the ram’s horn blown, and watched Joseph slaughter the lamp for their family. The priests would catch the blood in basins and douse it against the base of the altar. While all of this was happening, the Levites would sing what are called the Hallel Psalms, that is Psalms 113-118. If you have time later today, I encourage you to go and read these.

See if you are not moved as you read them, to think, that while these beautiful Psalms were being sung, the lambs were being slaughtered. What a combination of great joy, and yet the ugliness of seeing the innocent lambs slaughtered for the sins of the people! And Jesus, who would, not many years later, become our passover lamb, how he must have thrilled as a boy to be part of this.

This combination of the soberness of sacrifice, along with the joy of being salved by the Almighty, is similar to what we celebrate together when we take communion. We soberly consider the sacrifice, the blood of Jesus, and at the same time we rejoice with gladness, because that blood brought us back into relationship with our Heavenly Father!

We do not know exactly what at this point Jesus understood about his role in the salvation of the world. It is part of the mystery of God that Jesus, who was fully man and fully God, yet willingly had submitted to knowing what the Father revealed to him,

Later John the Baptist would call him the lamb of God John1.29

John 1:29 ESV

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Paul would say that Jesus is our passover lamb; 1Cor5.7

1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

And in Hebrews we see that Jesus was sacrificed once for all: Heb9.12-14

Hebrews 9:12–14 ESV

he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Jesus as a 12 year old boy witnessed the passover sacrifice that he himself would one day fulfill. And his parents stayed for the entire week of the feast. Luke2.43-44

Luke 2:43–45 ESV

And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 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, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

It was common for families to travel with other extended family, or even neighbors from the same village. It was probably a very large group, so we need not be too hard on Mary and Joseph. I have heard stories of children being left at a rest stops on a family trip, or even left at church. If a family in a minivan can leave a kid behind by accident, certainly a family that is part of a large group could have this happen.

You can imagine Mary, coming to the realization he wasn’t there, and perhaps like me you were reminded of a certain movie about a boy left alone, and we can sympathize with Mary and the sense of dread or panic she may have felt once she realized he was not there with the family. Perhaps she remembered that only 12 years prior, Herod had killed many babies in order to try and kill the Christ that the Wise Men had reported about.

They find him in the temple: Luke2.46

Luke 2:46 ESV

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Sometimes I write down questions for myself that I want to try and answer as I study a passage. In this case I wrote down: Were 12 year olds typically allowed to sit among the teachers? Where did he sleep and how did he eat without his family?

As far as where he slept and ate, we can only guess. But being an extraordinary boy, I’m sure he would have not had trouble finding food and a place to rest, possibly at wherever he had been staying with his family.

But what about the teachers? Were 12 year old boys typically allowed to sit with them? The answer seems to be that no, typically 12 year old boys would not be able to sit with the teachers. Rather, if they were allowed in, they would sit at the feet of the teachers, not as equals. But Luke writes that Jesus was sitting among the teachers. He was listening and asking questions. This is sort oft eh so-called Socratic method of learning that was much used at the time.

Good teachers are not afraid to be challenged by students who push back and ask for more knowledge or understanding. So Jesus would listen and ask questions. This is a lesson for children and adults alike. All of us need to be willing to listen carefully to those who care enough to teach us, and we must also sometimes ask questions for clarification, so that what the teacher is trying to teach will make better sense to us. Adults, likewise, should not be afraid to be challenged by children when they question things.

If we want our children to embrace our faith, we must be willing to allow them to challenge it to an extent. I am not talking here about wilful defiance, I am talking about genuine curiosity. I have noticed, though, that many people, when challenged to explain some facet of their faith, rather than seeing it as a growth and learning opportunity for all involved, react almost as if they are afraid of losing their own faith because they cannot answer a question.

This is why it is important for all believers to make a lifelong pursuit of understanding scripture better. When you feel very confident in your faith, you will be far less rattled when you are challenged. People who blow up when someone challenges their perspective often are very insecure in their position, and they fear even thinking critically about what they know. If you study scripture and learn it, you will not be so upset when someone disagrees or questions you on certain topics. If you want to know a sign of someone who is very confident in their beliefs, observe that when they are challenged or questioned, they remain very calm. When it comes to scripture, God will defend it, and you can state the truth, but in the end, His Word is not vindicated by how angrily you defend it, but because He is the Author of Truth.

So Jesus clearly was seen as not the average 12 year old boy, these teachers allowed him to sit among them. Luk2.47

Luke 2:47 ESV

And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

They saw something in this boy that was quite extraordinary. They did not recognize him as Christ or Messiah, but at the very least, they must have considered him to be a genius, or prodigy. All who heard him were amazed. I did a word study there on the word translated all and it means.... All. Not one exception to the rule. Everyone who heard him was amazed, greatly astonished, confused, astounded. This included his own parents.

Luke 2:48 ESV

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.”

Remember that Mary at this point had been looking all over for him. Apparently it had not right away occurred to her to look for him in the temple. But as we often say, Mary may have said of him, “He was in the last place I looked!”. Now we may well consider where we look for Jesus. Do we look where He is most likely to be found? Who is Jesus, but the Word made flesh? You can find him in God’s Word. This is your best source to learn about Jesus. Don;t go looking for him in a politician who thinks like you, or in a hobby you like, look to scripture to know Jesus. He himself said that Moses wrote of him. All of scripture points us to Jesus.

Mary had looked all over for him, but now she has found him, and lays on him an accusation. We can understand that she was upset; she was searching for him in great distress.

Some have said that based on this response of Mary that Jesus had sinned, yet all of the New Testament falls apart, all of our theology of salvation falls apart, if he was not sinless. So no, he did not sin. But this shows us that even when we are not sinning, we may offend others by our behavior, or we may inconvenience others when we do what the Lord has asked of us.

Luke 2:49 ESV

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

This shows genuine surprise by Jesus. He certainly did not intend to hurt Mary’s feelings, but clearly she did not understand everything. And Jesus points out that His Father’s house is the proper place for him to be.

Luke 2:50 ESV

And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.

They did not understand....

Luke 2:51 ESV

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.

Just so we may be sure that Jesus was not sinful in attitude or action, Luke records that he was submissive. We know he was without sin. Phil2.6-8

Philippians 2:6–8 ESV

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

HE voluntarily submitted to God the Father, and voluntary submitted to Mary and Joseph.

Imagine being one of his brothers or sisters: “Why can’t you be more like Jesus”. And so the world can say to the church, “Why can’t you be more like Jesus?”

Luke 2:52 ESV

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

If even a sinless person can increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man, how much more potential do we have for growth.

The parents set an example of obedience

Jesus can be lost to us in the midst of our busyness

Jesus is able to astonish and amaze the world with his wisdom

Jesus was surprised that they did not know he would be in the temple

He was a model child, an example for children today.

Are we looking for Jesus? Where are we looking for him?

The first recorded words of Jesus in Scripture: Luke2.49

Luke 2:49 ESV

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Jesus in the Temple

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