Lessons from Childhood

Text: Luke 2:40-52

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            We don’t hear much about Jesus’ childhood. We know quite a lot about His birth and the circumstances surrounding that. We know that He was taken to the temple at 8 days old, as the Law required. We hear about the magi coming from the east when He was about 2 years old and His family’s escape to Egypt shortly after that. But as far as the early years of Jesus’ life go, that’s about it, except for this single account from Luke’s gospel that we heard this morning. This has led to all sort of speculation and imaginative tales concerning His early life. Some have invented the fantasy that He went to India and learned from Buddhists. Other fictional stories about His childhood have made it into the Koran. Medieval Christians invented all sorts of tales about His young life. But all of those are made up myths that really don’t teach us anything true about our Savior.

            But Luke gives us this account today, about the boy Jesus in the temple, because it does help us understand our God in the flesh better. We hear that when Jesus was about twelve years old, His family went up to Jerusalem for the Passover, as they did every year. After the feast, when it was time to go home, the entire family packed up and started their trek back to Nazareth. His parents couldn’t find Him, but they weren’t worried because it was a large group traveling; think of a caravan type of voyage. But when it was nighttime and they were all supposed to be back together, they couldn’t find Him. In a panic that they had lost Him, they searched the entire pilgrim crowd, eventually realizing they needed to go back to Jerusalem. They searched three days until they finally found Him in the temple, sitting with the teachers of the Law, carrying on an intense conversation with them, amazing even the experts in the Scriptures with His understanding of the Word. When Mary asked Him why He’d put them through this, Jesus simply responded, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And then He returned with them and was subject to them as His parents. It’s a single story from the childhood of Jesus, but it sheds light on what He has done to redeem us.

            When our Lord came to save us in the flesh, He came to rescue us in every stage of life. We learn from this account that Jesus was God and Savior even at this young age. He did not become the Son of God or become the Messiah or the all-knowing Word at some later adult phase. He was always the Word made flesh from the start. From the time He was a child, a toddler, an infant, even an embryo, He was Lord. From His conception, there is no point at which He is not fully God and fully human.

            Often we’re quick to disregard people because of the stage of life they’re in. We write off the questions of a child because that’s just what children do. We think that some things, like the Divine Service, are for the grown-ups—the kids, the toddlers and babies can be there too, as long as they don’t disrupt the adults. We act as if the embryos and unborn children that we can’t see aren’t really people, not until they’re right in front of our faces. Or we go the other direction, writing off older generations, or middle-aged generations, or whichever group of people we think it is that’s causing the problem.

            But Jesus does not. He desires to give life, light, and salvation to all. So He comes to live through every stage of life and redeem it by touching those phases of our existence with His own eternal life. He comes into this world as an unborn child, then undergoes birth, like we all do. He grows and becomes strong, increasing in stature and size, and in His status with God and man.

            And to demonstrate that He is God, the Word made flesh, at each and every stage, He goes to the temple. He takes His seat among the teachers of the Law. He asks them questions, amazing them. We would be mistaken if we thought that He was impressing them with something as simple as Bible trivia or memorization of the Torah. He asks them incisive questions, leading them—the men who have been reading these Scriptures their entire lives—to finally see it anew, with a right understanding. And if anyone would know the right understanding of Scripture, it’s Jesus. It’s His Word after all. He is the Torah, the Word, the Wisdom of God in human flesh, dwelling among His people.

            As an aside, this teaches us something else too: you can never know Scripture well enough. If the teachers in the temple who’ve dedicated their entire lives to knowing the Scriptures can still be amazed at the new things that they learn from the child Jesus, you can too. Maybe make it a new year’s resolution to get some amazement over Scripture into your schedule.

            From the start, Jesus has been on the path of saving His people. It’s no accident that His parents find Him in the temple. Because why did the temple exist? For God to come to His people in grace, mercy, and forgiveness. It’s the place of sacrifice. And so, from the beginning, Jesus is found in His Father’s house, the place of sacrifice, tending to His Father’s business of forgiving and making whole, giving wisdom in the place where God and man are reunited. He comes to be a sacrifice and sacrifices are found in the temple. So it should be no surprise to us, or to Mary and Joseph, that this is where they would finally find Him after three days.

            We should say a word about Mary and Joseph as well. They spent all that time frantically searching for Him. I’m not sure that any of us can imagine the terror of realizing that you’ve misplaced the long-awaited Messiah of the world. So when they find Him, Mary asks, “Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been searching for you, worried out of our minds.” And Jesus answered, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Now some may chuckle, thinking that Jesus is being glib or cheeky. But He’s not. He’s not being disrespectful. He was simply reminding them, in His clear Jesus way, of what He’s come to this world to do, what He’s come to this world to be. Because if we—or Mary or Joseph—just go by what our eyes see, all we’ll see is an Israelite boy. But what our ears will tell us is that this is no ordinary boy. This is the Word made flesh. This is the Son of God, going about His Father’s business of saving mankind.

            And when this scene closes, Jesus goes back down to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph and submits to them. This is our final lesson we’ll take away from our reading today. Because He is God, Jesus is under no obligation to be subject to any mortal’s authority. And yet, He does. He is subject to Mary and Joseph as a child is meant to be subject to his parents. In doing this, Jesus is fulfilling the Law, and He’s doing it in our place, as our substitute, so that He can perfectly obey the Commandments for us, when we have not, when we would not. And if our older brother Jesus does this, we know that we are called to do this too. Because we are co-heirs and inheritors of God’s kingdom with Him, we are perfectly free. Yet, as Christ did, we make ourselves subject to others, to family, to spouses, to authorities, simply because they are placed in that position. We don’t fight or disrespect them, but we honor them and are obedient to them, so far as God’s Word allows. We can speak clearly to them, as Jesus did to Mary and Joseph, but always with respect for the position they hold.

            We don’t know much about Jesus’ childhood, but what we do learn from this one account is important. It’s the entire life of Christ summed up—His Godhood, His sacrifice, His wisdom, His grace and mercy. And that is enough, because it will open our eyes to see what He will grow up to do for us as His journey to the cross continues. In the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen.