Latest / HBCWestminster / 8.27.23 Luke 2:39-52 Pastor Danny Gardner

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8.27.23 Luke 2:39-52 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Luke chapter 2, I know that we have been going through a study of the book of Romans, and what a joy that has been, but I have been tracking a week ahead in our preaching schedule, although I know you guys didn't know that, but we as a staff knew that. I was one week ahead. It gave me a week of flexibility here, and then last Sunday, as Pastor Michael Rice, the new pastor of our church plant, was preaching from Luke chapter 5 on discipleship, and rather than counting the cost of discipleship instead,
• 0:29
  counting the glory of discipleship rather than knowing what we give up to follow Christ. Instead, focus on what we gain to follow Christ. I had my Bible open all Sunday morning last week, three different sermons, listening to those sermons to Luke chapter five. And my mind just began to kind of wander through the gospel of Luke and particularly the beginning of Jesus's life and early ministry. And my eyes caught Luke chapter four.
• 0:54
  Jesus' rejection at Nazareth, his own hometown. You guys remember he shows up to the synagogue one Sabbath day in his hometown. His mother and his brother and sisters were all there. His neighbors were there. His childhood friends would have been there. He opened up to Isaiah chapter 61 and preached about the spirit of the Lord coming upon me, anointing me and opening the eyes of the blind and proclaiming liberty over the captives and the people of Nazareth freaking out because he sat down after that and said, all of that is about me.
• 1:23
  I'm the one you've been waiting for. And they thought, well, no, we're not. You're my next door neighbor. I've known you since boyhood. I remember. I mean, no, you can't be that guy. He doesn't come from Nazareth. And I thought about titling this morning's message from Luke chapter four. Remember that time when Jesus misquoted the Old Testament, right? I thought about it because that's exactly what they were accusing him of.
• 1:45
  that is not about you you you are not the guy and they took him out to a cliff to throw him off and then i began to look through luke chapter three and i caught that genealogy of christ i thought i'm not teaching the genealogy so i passed over that one quickly but then i landed on luke chapter two i thought well maybe we'll talk about jesus as as an adolescent boyhood jesus teenage jesus and what he would have been like and then
• 2:11
  I'm thinking through all of that on Sunday. What will I preach? And then on Monday, I took my two younger sons fly fishing, as we often do on Mondays. My day off, we'll go someplace and go fly fishing, an 18-year-old, a 13-year-old, and their dad. And a couple of things happened as we were fly fishing last week. First, I spent the day hanging out with a 13-year-old boy. Because my older son, Zach, is kind of on his own. I mean, he's 18. He's been doing this.
• 2:38
  most of his life he knows where to go he knows what to do but chase is still figuring things out so i was hanging out with chase and i spent the whole day with a 13 year old and we laughed and hiked and fished and talked and i wondered what must have jesus been like when he was a 13 year old boy what kind of jokes did he tell because i heard a lot of 13 year old jokes i mean 13 year olds think they're hilarious
• 3:02
  All right. And I just, I wonder what Jesus, I mean, really, honestly, what was Jesus like when he was in middle school? You know, he's a teenager. Did he have friends? What was it like his first day of school as all of our kids are starting their first day of school and his first day of junior high and they're nervous, you know, what must have he had been like? And then the second thing that happened, I spent the whole day with a 13 year old. The second thing that happened was that I lost my 18 year old for better than an hour.
• 3:32
  You guys, I didn't know where he was for an hour. We were in the middle of nowhere because that's where we go. No cell phone reception. I mean, it's safe. You guys, we have certain unwritten gardener rules, and I've taught my boys all of these rules, very specific rules that we follow so that this doesn't happen. It's the first time ever. I've been taking Zach since he was five years old. He's been fly fishing.
• 3:55
  I can remember my boys being on my shoulders. They're holding my head as I'm knee deep in water and I'm slinging line. And they're just holding on and they think they're catching fish. They're not doing anything but getting in the way. Like, yeah, we're awesome!
• 4:09
  And since he was that little, he's been fly fishing. And I lost him. It's never happened before that we leapfrog one another. So one of us is fishing a hole. The other one is downstream. When he crosses, he leapfrogs and moves upstream. As they go, I've taught my boys how to whistle. You know, you do that whistle. As they're crossing, they know they're crossing me. You hear that whistle? That whistle means they're not downstream anymore. Now they're upstream. You'll hear it.
• 4:32
  Our river crossings, we cross at very specific spots. We know that it's safe. We always come back to the same spot. We'll meet if we get lost. We know to meet where we started. Wherever the first hole is we fished, that's our meeting spot. Wherever it was, wherever you caught your first fish, that's where we're going to meet if we get separated. And that's happened before, but this time on Monday, I lost him. He was gone for an hour. The first 30 minutes, I was okay. The next 30 minutes, I was like, this is not good.
• 4:58
  It was big water we were fishing. There was white water. There were rapids. You can lose your footing and tumble down into these things. I mean, I was having some pretty dark images going through my mind of finding my 18-year-old. The one kind of unwritten rule, spoken rule, was that you never walk back to the truck. Don't walk back to the truck without the people you came with because the truck could be six miles that way.
• 5:24
  So you're going to hike all the way back to the truck and then realize he's not there. And now you've got to hike all the way back in. So you're going to lose hours. Don't walk back to the truck. Meet where we started. That's where we meet. But man, you guys, for an hour, I could not find him. Chase and I are standing there. Chase is getting a little panicky. And I thought, we're just going to wait right here at that first hole. I remember where Zach caught his first fish. That's where we're going to meet. Chase is starting to get a little upset. Then this kid, 25-year-old, runs by.
• 5:52
  on this trail, you know, he's running up this hill as 25-year-olds do. I don't know why they do that stuff, but this kid was running by, and I stopped him, and I said, hey, I hate to interrupt you. Have you seen an 18-year-old fly fishing? And he says, was he wearing a blue shirt? I said, yes, he was wearing a blue shirt. He says, oh, he's back down the trail toward the truck. And I thought, well, that's weird. And then he took, you know, 20 more steps, and then he stopped and turned around. He says, he is way down the trail. I said, okay. He hiked back to the truck.
• 6:23
  So I'm walking back. I'm walking back all the way down to the truck. And sure enough, there he was. And I grabbed my son and I hugged him. He was a little bit upset. He thought, Dad, I said, you're not supposed to walk back to the truck. He says, I know. He said, but I was talking to all, I was finding people. None of them found, none of them saw you. I figured they've got to be back at the truck. They have to be. I was preparing to go back to the truck. If he wasn't there, drive to rustic Colorado.
• 6:48
  Right? The only place, the only town nearby. Start banging on doors so somebody would let me use their phone and call in a chopper. That was my plan. Send the helicopter. Right? I found my boy. I start hugging him and I thought, you know what? I'm not going to preach Luke chapter 4. I'm going to preach Luke chapter 2. Remember the time when Mary and Joseph lost God? Remember that? You guys, it wasn't for an hour. It was for three days.
• 7:14
  For three days, they misplaced the Messiah. And when you read it, you realize it turns out Jesus was never the one that was lost. Mary and Joseph were the ones that were lost. And praise God, they found him again. With that in mind, stand if you would in honor of God's word. Let's read it together.
• 7:38
  Beginning in verse 39, Luke 2, verse 39, 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 12 years old, they went up according to custom. When the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it.
• 8:08
  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 didn't 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 his parents saw him, and they were astonished.
• 8:32
  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 stature and in favor with God and man. Would you pray with me, creator God?
• 9:03
  who made heaven and earth and everything in it, who made us and knows us, who knows our coming in and our going out, who understands us all together. We approach your throne with confidence today in the name of Jesus, asking that your mercy would help us in our time of need. And Lord God, give us your spirit that we may understand things loftier than ourselves. Give us insight into your word, challenge our minds with your truth, and soften our hearts to obey it. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 9:35
  Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Our passage this morning chronicles the only recorded event of Jesus' childhood. This is it. It happens to be a time when Joseph and Mary lost their son. It reminds us that although we may feel like all is lost and that there is no hope and that certainly God has lost control, it reminds us in that situation that God is never the one that's lost.
• 10:06
  He's always exactly where he is supposed to be, and he is always on mission. Scripture reveals a few details regarding Christ's birth. We read them every year at Christmas, Luke 1 and 2. It reveals a few more details regarding his three-and-a-half-year ministry from the time that he was about 30 years of age and began to perform miracles and to teach, was eventually crucified and resurrected. But what about when Jesus was a boy? What was young, teenage?
• 10:36
  jesus-like some have attempted to fill in the gaps between jesus's birth and his crucifixion you'll hear about apocryphal books pseudepigraphical books like the gospel of thomas right which can't be true you read it and you're like well some of the stories are kind of just fanciful like whimsical almost young jesus scraping together mud and making pigeons out of mud and then breathing on the pigeons and they become alive and they fly away
• 11:07
  But some of the stories it tells are terrible. Young Jesus striking another boy dead for bumping into him. Turning around and just stopping his heart. You're like, I don't know. Not the Jesus I know. He came to give us life, not to take it. Right? And then the story goes on that he blinded that boy's parents because they complained to Joseph and Mary about him. Just for that, I'm going to strike you blind. You're like, that is not true. And so some have attempted to fill in those gaps.
• 11:38
  But no other inspired text gives any detail regarding Jesus' boyhood other than Luke 2. This is the only one. Most startling about this revelation, I think, is that 12-year-old Jesus understood who he was for the very first time, I think, which is why this story is included. His deity, his full deity, the fact that he was God, occurred to him. The dots are all connecting now. Not only did he understand who he was,
• 12:08
  But he understood what he was there to do. In the first two chapters of Luke, many others had given testimony about Christ. Remember Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist's parents testified to Jesus who this young boy would be. John the Baptist himself testified about Jesus when he was still in utero. Do you remember this?
• 12:29
  Elizabeth was still pregnant with John the Baptist. When pregnant Mary with Jesus shows up, the two cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, are talking. And it says that John the Baptist, still in his mother's womb, jumps for joy, giving testimony about Christ, who this young boy would be and how special he was. Remember the angelic host that was singing over the newborn Jesus and the shepherds who showed up that day and Joseph and Mary and Simeon and Anna and others. But this morning, we're going to hear from Christ himself.
• 13:00
  He will, in our text, declare with authority exactly who he was, why he came. You're going to notice that he was not confused in the slightest. This was not a case of mistaken identity. These are the only recorded words of Christ prior to his public ministry. If you have a red letter edition of the Bible, you'll notice these are the first red letters. They're a declaration of mission and of deity.
• 13:30
  I think Luke's inclusion of this story signifies the word's monumental importance. What they reveal, I think, is that Jesus' deity, his incarnation, his ministry, even his eventual crucifixion were not things thrust upon him by his followers, but rather chosen by him before the foundations of the world. In other words, Jesus was never a victim. He was never a victim. Everything that he did was intentional. Everything that happened to him was purposeful.
• 14:01
  There was no mistake. When he was identified by Peter as the son of God, there was no mistake. And when he was clung to by Mary Magdalene and his feet were washed and dried with her hair, there was no mistake. And when he was identified by Judas with a kiss and hauled away, and when he was beaten by soldiers to within an inch of his life, there was no mistake. When he hung on the cross and uttered his final words.
• 14:29
  It's finished. And into your hands I commit my spirit. There was no mistake. All of those were a fulfillment of his prediction this day when he was 12 years old. He knew that all of that would follow. And when you first heard the gospel message, when you first exercised faith,
• 14:52
  and experienced the grace of God, and when your heart of stone was replaced by a heart of flesh, and when you crossed over from death to life, when you first wandered into church and heard God's word preached, that was no mistake either. It was all chosen intentionally by 12-year-old Jesus. When Jesus uttered those now famous words, didn't you know I would be in my father's house? What he was saying was, didn't you know I'd be about my father's business?
• 15:22
  my father is in the business of redemption and i as his son am also in my father's trade i am picking up i'm taking over the family business i'm about redemption to choose us to bless us with salvation to redeem us to give us an inheritance in fact turn your bibles with me to the right look at ephesians ephesians chapter one it'll be on the screen as well if you didn't bring a bible or
• 15:50
  are not sure where Ephesians are at, or just don't want to turn there, that's okay. But look in your own word, if you would, at Ephesians 1. And notice how many times it says, in Christ, or in him, or in the beloved. Ephesians 1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Do you notice, right off the bat, that God does not want you to be miserable? You notice that?
• 16:20
  He wants you to be blessed. There is tremendous blessing in following Christ. There is blessing in obedience. There is joy. There's misery everywhere else. Blessing in God. Now notice verse 4. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love.
• 16:46
  He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. As a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him,
• 17:17
  things in heaven and things on earth. In Him, we've obtained an inheritance. Having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.
• 17:48
  Man, what a text that is. In Christ, you have blessing and forgiveness and adoption and reconciliation. And on top of all of those other things, there is this inheritance kept in heaven for you that you will be the recipient of. And in case you thought, well, how do I know that's going to come true? The Holy Spirit has been given to you beforehand as a seal, as a guarantee, like a deposit.
• 18:15
  I'll give you the spirit of my son who will live in you and transform you. And not to oversimplify it or to make it trivial, but to turn the frown upside down, right? I mean, this is good news. And Jesus, for the first time, if you go back to Luke chapter 2, Jesus, for the first time, realizes what his father sent him to do. I've come, he says, to do all of that.
• 18:43
  I've come to give you all of Ephesians chapter 1. We made this plan, my Heavenly Father and I, before the creation of the world, before the foundations were even laid, we made this plan, and now I am here to follow through with that plan. That was His Father's business, and He was going to be about His Father's business, and it's important for us to understand His business. Because in the Great Commission, Jesus made His business
• 19:14
  Our business. And look what Matthew 28 says. These were, in Luke chapter 2, his very first words recorded. These are the first red letters. Notice the last red letters. Matthew 28. Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. That's how the Gospel of Matthew ends.
• 19:44
  From the beginning, he says, I'm going to be about my father's business. And then at the end, he looks at all of us and says, you're going to be about my father's business too. This is the great commission to the church. This sermon is going to be broken into two main parts. We're going to look just for a moment at the incarnation itself. There are a couple of really crazy phrases in this text about the growth and knowledge of Jesus.
• 20:10
  We're going to look at the incarnation. How did it work? How did God become flesh? Why was it important? Was it actually necessary for the salvation of mankind? And I believe that it absolutely was. But then we're also going to look at this weird incident where Jesus stays behind, I believe very intentionally, in order to reset his parents' expectations of him and to reset and recalibrate his life.
• 20:37
  and mission on earth and so let's look at it notice verse 39 when they had performed everything according to the law of the lord they returned into galilee up north to their own town of nazareth the child grew and became strong filled with wisdom and the favor of god was upon him look down at verse 52 the very last verse in the chapter jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with god and man do you guys catch what that just said
• 21:06
  This says that Jesus grew up. And I know that you're thinking, well, that's not super profound. But think about it. It actually is. What this is saying, the fact that he grew in wisdom, grew in stature, grew in favor with God and man, means that previously there were things that Jesus did not know.
• 21:36
  There were things he didn't understand. There were things he hadn't figured out. What this is saying is that Jesus was just like who? Us. He was just like you. He was born as a baby. You're like, I know we celebrate Christmas every year, but you know what? I think our expectations sometimes are a little skewed because we forget that Jesus didn't come from the womb speaking.
• 22:08
  He came from the womb crying, just like you and I. And when he was two years old, he had to figure out how to walk and how to talk, just like you and I. There were things he didn't know. There were things he didn't understand. There were things he had to figure out. So when he was a two-year-old toddler, he didn't know that he was God.
• 22:35
  Although he'd been taught by his parents, no doubt Joseph and Mary as faithful parents were telling him, here's who you are. Here's what you came to do. But this young boy is now trying to figure these things out. Wait, what? What did I come to do? And this knowledge is kind of washing over him every now and again. And I think what we have here in Luke 2, which is why it's recorded, of all of the stories that could have been recorded about his boyhood, why this one? Because I think this is the day that everything clicked.
• 23:07
  I think this is the day where he's standing in the temple at the Passover and he realizes all of the stories that his mother had told him about the Passover lamb and what happens to the Passover lamb. And I think that was the day he realized, I'm the Passover lamb. I think that was the day he said, you know what? You guys head back home. I've got some questions. You can imagine him going to the temple authorities and the scribes and the experts and the law saying,
• 23:43
  Tell me everything the Old Testament says about the Passover lamb. I want to know everything. What does it commemorate? Why do we do it? I mean, he was a faithful young boy, but you can imagine this now washing over like, whoa, I got some questions. See, right? This is not some just nominal verse we should pass over where it says that they find him sitting in the temple, right on a bench somewhere with the teachers of the law asking questions. Of course he's asking questions.
• 24:13
  What you're doing to those sheep is what you're going to do to me. Why? What should I do with this knowledge? It's unbelievable. I've got to get back to my notes or I'm just going to keep on going. Jesus was fully human.
• 24:29
  We know that. He grew physically just like every other human child. He grew emotionally just like every other human child. He grew in knowledge and maturity just like every other human child. In fact, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17 says, therefore he had to be made like his brothers. What does it say? In every respect. In every respect, he was just like you and I so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.
• 24:54
  In order for him to be our high priest, in order for him to be a human substitute, he had to be a human. He had to be. And so he became like us in every single way. He thirsted. He was hungry. He got tired. He got sick. In every way, yet without sin.
• 25:18
  Christ, although fully divine, fully God, fully omniscient, knowing everything, understanding everything at all, powerful, nevertheless was for a time limited in his incarnation to that which a human would normally know, learn, and understand. He grew just like we do. He learned just like we do. He did not come from the womb literate. He had to learn how to read. He didn't come out.
• 25:46
  speaking or writing he learned to do those things this leads to a whole bunch of fun questions for us to debate i mean if he was human could he have sinned if he was unable to sin were the temptations of christ real and those are all we'll save those for another sermon but notice hebrews chapter 5 in description of the incarnation it says although he was a son he learned obedience man that's a weird statement
• 26:14
  Through what he suffered. You're like, wait, God suffered? Yeah, the only way for him to suffer was for him to become limited, just like you and I. Being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest. Look what Hebrews chapter 4 says. We don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. When we cry out to the Lord Jesus for help, he knows what it's like.
• 26:44
  When we grieve, when we experience loss, when our hearts break, he knows what it's like. When people reject us and are mean to us and mock us and spit at us and punch us and everything, he knows what it's like. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. That is the incarnation. Now look at this weird incident. Verse 39 of our text said, at this point, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, his brothers, sisters, lived in Nazareth where Joseph...
• 27:13
  took up. Historically, church history has said carpentry. Carpentry. He became a carpenter. We all know the story. Jesus was a carpenter. The actual word, Greek word there is tekton, tekton, which is actually the word for craftsman. It can be used of any craftsman, not just a carpenter. I hope I don't burst anybody's bubbles here when I say that if you've ever been to Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, you'll notice there is a severe lack of trees.
• 27:44
  There are no trees in Nazareth. A few olive trees, but those were not for the purpose of lumber. Those were for olives and oil. There are no forests there. They got dirt and they got rocks. That's what they have in Nazareth. So more than likely, although church history says he was a carpenter, more than likely Joseph as a tradesman, as a craftsman, was probably a stone worker. A stone worker, a bricklayer, that's probably what he was.
• 28:14
  jesus would have grown up learning that trade more than likely and i know it it goes against and honestly the biggest problem that somebody had with my sermon last service they came up they're like wait a minute he wasn't a carpenter like i read a book called more than a carpenter i know he really was more than a carpenter he was a stonemason it turns out verse 41 says that jesus's family traveled to jerusalem every year for the passover look at 41 his parents went to jerusalem every year
• 28:40
  the feast of the Passover there were three major annual feasts that all Jewish men were required to attend there was Pentecost that was the offering of firstfruits there was tabernacles Jewish families would set up live a short time in tents in order to remember the wilderness wanderings and then there was Passover in order to remember the Jewish salvation from Egypt
• 29:04
  normally only jewish men were required to attend but this says mary also went and again it shows her extraordinary religious devotion and notice the first a few things about jesus jesus in verse 42 says was on the brink of adulthood verse 42 when he was 12 years old they went up according to the custom
• 29:25
  and when the feast was ended as they were returning the boy jesus stayed behind in jerusalem but his parents didn't know it supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey began searching for him among their relatives and acquaintances and when they didn't find him they returned to jerusalem searching for him jesus as a 12 or 13 year old young man would have been right on the brink of his bar mitzvah this ceremony commemorating a young man becoming
• 29:51
  a man bar son mitzvah is the law a son of the law would have happened around his 12th or 13th birthday it meant that from that point forward he would have been considered a man no longer a young man no longer a boy he would have been responsible for his own actions it'd be like our kids turning 18. you're no longer a minor now you're an adult he would have learned a trade he would have been expected in his community to contribute as
• 30:21
  a man. Put yourself for a moment in Joseph and Mary's place. Their firstborn son was becoming a man. His mother would have been teary and emotional as my wife was as this week we dropped our middle son off at college. His father would have been proud and nervous. I've thought at times that Joseph and Mary must have been the worst parents on earth. I mean, who loses their kid for three days?
• 30:52
  But then I put myself in their shoes. How could this have happened? I think there are a couple of cultural things we should understand. The first was how they traveled. They never traveled alone. It wasn't pile in the minivan and let's disappear for a week. They traveled in massive groups. Travel was unsafe. And so all of the people from Nazareth and all of the people from Galilee, you're talking about dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands of people, would travel in huge caravans because there was safety in numbers. Typically, women and children would walk in the middle.
• 31:24
  husbands, grandfathers, adult men would walk in the front and at the back, right? Obviously to protect as they went forward, to guard from the front and from the rear. And so they would flank them on both sides and just protect them as they traveled down. And so you can imagine Jesus was likely separated from them even in that crowd. There's a possibility that Joseph looks around looking for Jesus, newly bar mitzvahed.
• 31:48
  and said, well, where is he? Oh, poor little dude must have been intimidated to walk in front with the men. He's probably hanging back with mom. That's okay, maybe next year. Mary looking around, weepy, tired, running through baby pictures in her head, reminded of all of the things that she's just celebrated. Her young man now becoming a man and said, he must be up with his father. They get to the temple precinct. The temple precinct actually separates men and women. There's a court of women, there's a court of Israel.
• 32:14
  Joseph would have gone into the court of Israel with the Passover lamb to sacrifice it, looking around for Jesus. That's okay. He must have stayed with his mom. One more year. We'll get him next year. Mary looking around saying, oh, my baby boy is all grown up. He's gone into the temple, right? So they become separated. They gather back up after the Passover is over.
• 32:36
  Joseph in the front, Mary in the middle, each thinking the other has Jesus. They hike for a day by the time they're setting up camp. Mary and Joseph come back together and say, where's Jesus? I thought you had him. I thought you had him. Right? It makes sense. But now they're a day's journey away, which means a day's journey back. And all the while, they're looking for Jesus. Where is he? Well, it turns out...
• 33:02
  His attention, Jesus' attention was especially focused. Look at verse 46. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, asking them questions, and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. He is, like I said, connecting the dots for the first time, and I think he's got a lot of questions formulating now in his young brain. His staying behind was not an act of disobedience. Instead, it marked a shift in his position in his home.
• 33:32
  Verse 51 even says that he returned with his parents, right? He wasn't trying to be disobedient. He was submissive to his parents, it says. But this moment certainly changed the nature of their parenting. All who heard it were amazed. They had encountered now this perfect, sinless prodigy. Luke's text has already said that Jesus was full of wisdom, and here he puts that wisdom on display.
• 33:58
  It actually calls him a teacher. This is the last time in the Gospels that the word teacher is used of anyone other than Jesus and John the Baptist. He, from this day forward, became the teacher. And his teaching would elicit wonder. At least a dozen times in the Gospels, people were amazed or astonished at his teaching. And notice, lastly,
• 34:23
  That Jesus, for the first time, understood, I think, exactly not only who he was, but what his mission was. Look at verse 48. It says, when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, son, you never hike back to the truck. Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. You can imagine her hugging him, and while hugging him, rebuking him, don't do that again.
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  What were you doing? And what a response. He said to them, why were you looking for me? In other words, I wasn't the one who was lost. I was never in jeopardy. I was never in danger. Didn't you know where I would be? I'm in my father's house. I'm doing my father's business. You know, more than anything else, it was his claim of God as his father that agitated his enemies to the point that they demanded his execution.
• 35:23
  John chapter 5, he says, my father is working. I am working. My father has authority to judge. I have authority to judge. They picked up rocks to stone him. John chapter 8, my father is in heaven and you don't know my father. If you knew me, you would know my father. They picked up rocks to stone him. John chapter 10, I and my father are one. And guess what they did? They picked up rocks to stone him. He was standing before Pilate in John chapter 19.
• 35:52
  Pilate comes out and says, behold, here he is. They're yelling, crucify, crucify. And he says, I find no grounds to execute this man. This is an innocent man. And their response was this. We have a law. And according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. It's because he claimed God as his father. I'm about my father's business. I'm in my father's house. Verse 50 says, they didn't understand the saying that he spoke to them.
• 36:23
  And he went down with them to Nazareth, just said, that's okay, returned home, was submissive to him. His mother treasured up all of these things in her heart. What Joseph and Mary, I think, did not understand in that moment was that Jesus' mission had suddenly become clear, not only to them, but to him. He would become that Passover lamb. And there are a couple of thoughts I want you to take away as we close. First, even when it feels as though all is lost, that there is no hope,
• 36:56
  that certainly God has lost control. God is never lost. He's always exactly where he is supposed to be. He is always on mission, and his mission is to seek and to save those who are lost. But second, Jesus understood that mission. He accepted that mission. He even declares here, I am about my Father's business. My Father's business is redemption, reconciliation, salvation, the seeking and saving of souls, the making of...
• 37:25
  disciples and then at the end of his life he turns around and says now you be about my father's mission the text doesn't say that jesus dropped out of school that he became a roaming evangelist it doesn't say that he never got a job that he never participated in his community in fact i believe it implies the opposite he accepted the education being offered he learned he became literate he became articulate
• 37:50
  He participated in his cultural traditions and holidays. The text says that. It says that he even celebrated Hanukkah because that's what the people did. He became an upstanding member of his society, but all for the purpose of accomplishing that mission. And can I encourage us as we leave to participate in our community, to engage with our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers for the purpose of advancing our Father's business. Amen.
• 38:21
  Amen. Let me pray. God, thank you for the truth in this passage. Thank you, God, for what an interesting text this is. And God, I pray that we would be about your business. I pray that we would be in your house. God, thank you that we can rest assured that you are never lost, that we are not the ones who found you. Lord, you weren't lost. You are the one who found us. Thank you for the blessing that Ephesians chapter 1 describes of those who are in Christ, and it's in his name we pray. Amen.