Jesus the boy
I think all of us wish there were more records of Jesus as a child. What would he have been like as a young boy? Books have been written and movies made about Jesus the child, but really the only historical literature we have on Jesus as a child comes from Luke 2:41-52.
Jesus' parents have gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and have taken Jesus a 12-year-old boy with them. And when the festival was over, Mary and Joseph head on back home assuming that Jesus is with them in the crowd. But then they start to look for him and realize that he wasn't there. Much panic fills them.
And it was only a third day, by the way, that might have some sort of symbolic significance of Jesus being found on the third day, but we won't go there yet - they found him back in the temple, sitting among the teachers and everybody listening to him and being amazed at his great understanding.
Young Jesus' Wisdom
And then we have the first recorded words of Jesus on earth as a human responding to his mother's question. He says, “why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?”
This is our fourth picture of Jesus this week. Jesus as a boy doing the work of God. He has to think God can work in our lives even if we're very young.
Even we underestimate the spiritual sensitivity of younger people. Of course, Jesus was God in the flesh. And so at this point, it seems he even knew his identity, talking about his Father's house.
Children have a way of trusting in God that is very precious. We could learn from the childlike faith of our little ones, of our young ones.
Continuous Spiritual Growth
Verse 52 says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” And that's a lovely picture of Jesus growing up and growing into his role.
As we think about Jesus in these different ways this week, think about how Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature. Think about how God was working in him and developing him into the person he was supposed to be. If God had to grow even Jesus to be the person he had to be, be assured that he is growing us too.
But even while we're growing, we can be effective like Jesus was. Even while he wasn't quite there yet, he was still teaching people about God and showing them his father through his life.
We can do the same. It doesn't matter if we're old, young in between. Jesus could do it. And with God's spirit in us, so can we.
