Luke 2026

Luke chapter two verse 36.

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. When he was 12 years old, they went up to the festival according to the custom.

After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.

Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me?

He asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Well, good morning. My name's Pete Woodcock. Is my thing working? Yep.

And as as Paul said, our hearts go out to John, if you're listening. I'm not sure if you're awake, John. It's long, long time. And to Tracy and to Gemma that were there. Bless you, yep, and may God be with you.

And also, we ought to say thanks to Rose. Rose magnificent was friend and was there in many of the last breaths of Anne. Now when someone dies, you often sort of find or you get out the sort of photo album and pictures and and sort of you're reminded of stories. I don't know whether any of you can remember any stories from your life, whether good or bad, when you were the age of 12. I I find it hard to remember any of those things.

I'm so old now. I can't sort of remember hardly anything. But do you remember any stories of 12? Or parents, do you know any stories of your kids when they were 12? Well, Mary certainly did.

Mary remembers this story very, very well. She's never going to forget it. She remembers exactly where she was when she found out that Jesus was missing, and she could tell you this story very clearly. Now, Luke tells us that when he wrote this book, he investigated eyewitness accounts, and it's absolutely clear from this account that he talked to Mary. This is a story from a mother who had lost her son.

And so he writes this down. It's a story that comes from the treasury of her heart. You see in verse 51, His mother treasured all these things in her heart. This was right down there. This was down the storehouse.

This would come out when she told the stories about Jesus as a child, and it's clearly a mother's account. She lost her son for three days. Can you imagine that? I mean, when you lose a child for a few minutes, it's quite scary, isn't it? I remember Druscher, when she was young, decided to run when we were on the beach, and she just ran.

And I was shouting at her, and I couldn't catch up. And she ran over all of these sort of wooden things that were on the beach and ran and ran and ran. And I was shouting and running. She just ran. That was scary enough.

But to lose your child for three days is something. And you can tell that she remembers this story, and she knows how to tell this story. And you can tell her frustrations when she found him. They were all released. Look at verse 48.

His mother said to him when she found him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. This is absolutely so human, isn't it? The father's in the background, just pleased the son's been found. The mother's pushing forward, and all the panic of three days is coming out.

Son, why have you treated us like this? And then she always blames it on the father. Your father and I have been anxiously searching for... It's so, so human, isn't it? Mary knows exactly where she was.

She knows his exact age. She can remember every heartbeat when she found out that he was lost. She understands. 12 years old, and we lost you for three days. We searched everywhere for you.

Now why did Luke include this story? He doesn't include other stories of this age. Why did he include this story? Here's my first point. Jesus was 12 years old and growing.

Jesus was 12 years old and growing. Notice the story is topped and tailed with these words. Verse 40, the child, that's Jesus, grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and with grace, the grace of God was on him. That's the first line of the story.

That's the introduction. Then right at the end, you've got this sandwich. Look at verse 52. And Jesus grew, same words, in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. And then in between those two, you know, parts of the sandwich, the two bits of the bread, is the story.

Verse 41. Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to the festival according to the custom. We're introduced to Jesus. He's 12 years old.

Very important. Now, all kinds of weird things happen to you when you're 12. Do you remember those things? Do you remember becoming 12? Whether you're a girl or a boy, all kinds of strange things are happening to you.

But we're particularly thinking about boys. Physically, they start to change. Very embarrassing for 12 year old boys, but puberty starts to happen. Don't mention that mum. Stop talking like that.

You know, that sort of stuff happens, doesn't it? Puberty begins to happen. Growth spurts happen. Broadening of the shoulders. Muscles start to develop.

The voice that was really high, Mommy, can I have a sausage roll? Goes to mommy. Mommy. It's just something... It's so ridiculous, isn't it?

And then it's not quite right. Mommy? Everything starts changing. Endless appetites. The body's burning up as it has these growth spurts.

You know, they're starving all the time, and they have to have snacks and meals and food and all over the place. Their brain, believe it or not, starts to shift. Well, you know that. Their capacity, apparently, for abstract thoughts begins. And even I read their capacity for logic, but that's quite hard to think of with a 12 year old boy.

Are they logical? But anyway, they can start planning. They start thinking. Sarcasm and humor, they begin to pick up when they're 12 year olds. They begin to come back at you with arguments.

That's their logic, I suppose. They start questioning authority Socially and emotionally, they're on a roller coaster, aren't they? There's this difficulty. Do I now submit to mom or am I going to submit to my peers, my friends? Who takes most important?

My friends or my parents? And there are mood swings that go... It's an amazing thing becoming a teenager, 12 to 13. Jesus was 12 years old. Jesus knew what it was to experience those things.

That's why we're being told this. He understood what it was to experience being a 12 year old boy. We're told in the book of Hebrews, and when we went through Hebrews, we saw this. That it says, since the children, since people like you and me, have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity. The Messiah, the rescuer, had to share in their humanity.

Then it goes on in that passage in Hebrews two, for this reason, he had to be made like them, that's human, fully human in every way. Jesus is fully human in every way. This is not a pretend childhood. We were seeing that a few weeks ago when he was a baby. It wasn't a pretend baby.

Jesus isn't a pretend 12 year old. He's not a grown up man disguised as a 12 year old. He's a 12 year old. He's fully human in every way. He was a 12 year old boy.

And in this event, we see him. He had the body of a 12 year old boy. He had the mental capacity of a 12 year old boy. Not a 33 year old man, a 12 year old boy. And like all little boys, he started gaining weight.

His height was growing. His shoulders were broadening. Puberty was coming upon him. He had to learn. He had to learn social manners.

He had to be taught to read. He had to receive instruction from the synagogue and from his parents. Somewhere in this process of maturing, he comes fully aware of his identity as the son of God, God the Son. There's a point in his growth and in his consciousness that he realizes who he is, that he's the savior of the world. He grew, we're told, in wisdom and stature.

Now, that's a little difficult for us to understand sometimes when it comes to this incarnation. Incarnation means becoming flesh, Incarnate flesh. God becoming flesh, becoming... Except it's hard for us. We can understand that he grows physically, but it's hard for us to understand that he grows in wisdom.

Isn't it? Very hard. But he did. He's wiser at 12 than he was at eight. He's wiser at 33 than he was at 12.

He grows in wisdom. His mental capacity grew. His understanding grew. His ability to love grew. His understanding of people grew.

His skills grew. Look at verse 52 of this passage. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. He was not something less than human when he was 12 years old. He was 12 years old.

I'm trying to bang that in. He was a real 12 year old human, and he grew in his relationship with the heavenly father. He got to know God better. He understood God as an eight year old, and now he's understanding God as a 12 year old. And God the Father loved his boy at 12 and showed the love that a 12 year old boy could understand.

And God the father loved his boy at 18 and showed it in a way that an 18 year old could understand. And God the father said of his son at the age 30 to the world, this is my son whom I love. Do you see that? And Jesus loved the father as an eight year old boy once in the capacity of eight year old. And now in this story, he's loving the father as a 12 year old boy, and we see that as a big capacity.

Don't put down the 12 year old. We'll come back to that. And then eventually, as a 30 year old and a 33 year old. And all of that was maturing and understanding. He's got a history of love now.

It's not that love grows. Do you love your child more at 12 than at eight? No. It's the same amount of love, but it matures. There's a history of love.

There's a there's a depth to it, isn't there? An understanding of each other. He became more attuned in seeing God as his father, and God as his father working in his life, and God as his father working in the world. He understood it better. We're not dealing with a fake person here.

We're not dealing with a phantom. We're dealing with one person with two natures. Now you say, I don't know what you're saying. How can you understand that? Well, join the club.

We can't understand it. Mary and Joseph didn't even understand it. Look at verse 50. But they did not understand what he was saying to them. It's hard to get this, because there's no one like Jesus.

You cannot compare him to any other religious leader. There is no one like Christ. Therefore, really, there's no analogy to help us understand the incarnation. There were false teachers back in the first, second, third century. The Diocletians, they said that he only seemed to be human.

The the Apollinarians, they said that God was... Had a child's body, but he wasn't... Didn't have a real child's mind. Luke says they're both wrong. Luke says, there's a 12 year old boy growing up in God and in the favor of God, who now can say with his earthly parents with him, God is my father.

Earthly parents, God is my father. See the two? We can't understand these things. We're going to sing a hymn at the end of this sermon. It's a good old hymn.

I've chosen it because of the words. I think Fin is going sing it to us. Listen, it's Charles Wesley. Listen to these these words. We're going sing them later.

Let earth and heaven combine, angels and men agree, to praise in songs divine the incarnate deity. Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. That's it, isn't it? Our God, our God contracted to a 12 year old boy, incomprehensibly made man. The second verse is, he laid his glory by, took form in mortal clay, unseen by human eye, the hidden godhead lay, infant of days.

He here became and bore the meek Emmanuel's name. Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. If someone can explain all that, you know they've got it wrong. But it happened. So the boy's mind, the mind of Jesus grew in capacity, in language, in logic, in understanding, in understanding the scriptures, and in understanding God.

That's my first point, and that's why Luke brings it on. But there's a second point here. How did Jesus grow? How did Jesus grow in wisdom and favor with God the Father? How how did that happen?

What were the things that God the Father used to grow Jesus, his son, in understanding and wisdom? What were the things that, God the father used to help him grow from a baby to a 12 year old, and then from a 12 year old to a 30 year old when he started his ministry? See, the incarnation is definitely a mystery. But the process of the growth of Jesus is not a mystery. It's given here.

It's clear in this story. What were the things that helped him grow? First of all, the influence of his parents. So parents, are you listening? The influence of his parents.

Look at verse 39 to 41. When Joseph and Mary had done, listen, everything, you convicted parents. When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. You see what's going on there? There's so much here, isn't there? Joseph and Mary did everything required by the law of God. And that links the last story we were looking at last week with this one.

They'd taken him to the temple. He'd met Anna and Simeon and all of that stuff, had been circumcised and so forth. And now this story. Joseph and Mary did everything required by the law of God. To see how amazing those parents are?

Joseph and Mary are amazing parents. They did everything according to the law of the Lord. And then Luke tells us that they left Jerusalem. Now we know from Matthew's gospel, if you know the Christmas story, that he didn't go directly... They didn't return directly to Nazareth.

They actually went via Egypt when he was a child. And they were hiding from the bloody, murderous viciousness of of Herod who was killing babies left, right, and center. So we know they didn't go directly. Luke doesn't deal with that story for one reason or other. But then Luke tells us every year, verse 41, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.

So did they do that while they were in in Egypt hiding away? Guess so. The law of God instructed all adults, all adult males above 12 to go to the Passover in Jerusalem. But what happened was it was sort of dumbed down. So all Jewish male was supposed to do that once a year.

But it was sort of dumbed down in those days, and the rabbis and the Jewish teachers and the priests said, okay. Look. It's a long journey. So actually, if you live over 15 kilometers away, about nine and a bit miles away, a day's walk away, if you live over that, you don't need to go to Jerusalem. You're a faithful Jew.

You don't need to do it. Don't worry. And women and children, they didn't need to go anyway. They could, but they didn't need to. But we're told Joseph and Mary didn't listen to that advice.

They eventually lived 55 miles away, 89 kilometers away from Jerusalem, and they went every year. And when they were in Egypt, they lived much further away, and they went every year. They didn't worry about the cost of their commitment to God. They weren't worried about that. It was bad for the business, isn't it?

Well, that's a long journey. You could stay at home. We don't have to go anyway. The religious leaders say we don't have to be that zealous. They were that zealous.

So it seems that right at the core of this little family, the word of God was central to them. Whatever it cost them, it was central to them. This wasn't religion. This wasn't just duty obeying. This was heartfelt.

In fact, we know if you if you listen to the sermon or you go back and listen to it on on Mary's song when she wrote her when she wrote her her song, the Magnificat. If you go back and read that, you see that Mary was a woman full of scripture and full of heart. She loved the word, memorized the word, turned it into song. Well, Jesus would have heard that. Jesus from an early age would have heard her songs about the scriptures.

So it seems that the scriptures were vitally and vividly told by Mary and Joseph and obeyed. They went every year to the Passover as the custom said. They obeyed the word of the Lord. Now the Passover was a festival celebrating God's rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt and bringing them in to be his treasured possession, bringing them in to be his treasured children. That's what that's about.

And so, I mean, do you see the dramatic telling of this story that would have been with Jesus and Joseph and Mary as they traveled from Egypt? What? You know, it's all so vivid, isn't it? They're walking from Egypt, and they're telling the story to Jesus. They're establishing vividly and dramatically dramatically walking from Egypt back to their hometown, telling the story of God's people and God's rescue and how he rescued them.

And how many plagues were there, Jesus? How many? Can you name them? You know? Remember Abby tried to get up here and couldn't name them in order?

Yeah. Well, Jesus probably did. Yeah. You you know, name them. Name them.

Yeah? Do you remember why it's... What was the last one? The Passover. We're going up for the Passover.

Do you remember that? Very serious. The firstborn son would die unless they're covered with the blood. You're the firstborn son. Do you see how vivid this could have been?

And do you see the connection? Look at verse 39 and then 40. So Joseph and Mary did everything required by the Lord, verse 39, and then verse 40, and the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. There's a connection there, isn't there?

And we we we suddenly put a title there for some silly reason, but there's a connection. You know, they did this, and the child grew strong. That's the connection. Every side of this boy's life seems to be developed. Most parents, or rather a lot of parents, consider their child's physical upbringing, their mental upbringing, their social upbringing, their intellectual growth.

You'll do well at school, but what about the spiritual? I mean, the the the worst thing is, to be honest, if you're a parent and you've brought your child up to be physically strong and intellectually strong and emotionally strong and socially strong, and they remain spiritual infants. That's the bad news. But Joseph and Mary really worked on it. The scripture at the heart of her songs vividly retold to her child.

Jesus in that environment. Remember, it's an ordinary environment. Remember, they're poor. They're poor people. It's in the poor environment that Jesus developed.

And even... And perhaps even because of the suffering as a family that they had to run away from the murderous herald, Herod, that that this this picture of suffering created in little Jesus. Why people suffer, what's wrong with the world. There's an evil monster bigger than Herod called the devil, the liar. So that's the first thing that God the father did in order to establish Jesus as a 12 year old boy that was growing in stature and wisdom.

But here's the second thing, and it really flows from the parents. You see that the 12 year old boy has a desire to be taught from the word of God. Well, of course he has, because his parents have modeled it. Look at verse 46. After three days, they found him in the temple court, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.

Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. Jesus, at 12, had a hunger and appetite to learn the word of God. 12 year olds often do. You don't put that down. He was learning, listening, asking questions.

Don't put the questions down. Why does God allow this? What is going on here? If you can't answer them, then learn yourself, parents, so that you can answer them. You ask questions so you can answer.

Jesus, you see, look, you gotta get this. He didn't come to the earth through the virgin birth with a bible in his brain. He wasn't like that. The only way Jesus got to know scriptures, the Bible, was the same way that you and I get to know the scriptures, the Bible. We have...

He had to learn the same way through his parents teaching him, through his Sunday school teachers teaching him, his Sabbath school teachers teaching him, through asking quest... There was no magical, special revelation from the father into his brain. He got to know the scriptures in the same way that any of us can get to know the scriptures. Do you see that? He's 12.

He was not born able to discuss the structure of Ezekiel and able to refute the theologians that say there are six Isaiahs and show where Isaiah is split up. He didn't know that. He had to learn that stuff. Well, not about six Isaiahs. He's that stupid.

And so he was a 12 year old. And at 12, he had the opportunity to speak to men and teachers in the temple, and this was great. He jumped at that. And notice how he learns, by the way. This is how we learn.

Listen, asking questions, probing, answering questions to put the arguments together. Jesus was becoming the blessed man of Psalm one, who meditates on the word day and night, and does not sit in the council of the wicked and follow the ways of the sinners. But he meditates, ruminates, discusses, asks questions, links things together. Is this how it works? There's a fantastic couple of sentences in in Isaiah 16, one of the six Isaiahs, of course.

In Isaiah... Sorry, 50. In Isaiah 50. This is what it says. The sovereign Lord has given me a well instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary.

The sovereign Lord has given it. But how? How has he given it? He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The sovereign Lord opens my ears to the scriptures, to the word of God.

And the word open the ears is to bore a hole in the head. Warning by morning, the sovereign Lord was boring a hole in a 12 year old's head so that he could hear the word of God, the scriptures, and Jesus was responding to it. That's a hallmark of real spirituality, by the way. The evidence of the Holy Spirit working in someone. They're asking.

They're probing. They're listening. They're ruminating. They're growing. They're not saying they know everything.

They're growing in their understanding of who God is. There's another verse, by the way. Just have a look at verse 47. I I just wanna throw this out. Verse 47, it says, when he was there in the temple, everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

He's linking things together. He's understanding the scriptures. Well, in Psalm a 119, verse 99 and verse a 100, listen to this. It said... It won't come up.

You have to listen. I have more insight than my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. Do you understand this? He's learning the scriptures.

He's applying his ear. He's asking the sovereign Lord to bore a hole in his head so that he can hear the scriptures. He's meditating on the statutes. He's coming to an understanding that actually people think he's above a 12 year old, but he's not above a 12 year old. He's a 12 year old.

It's just that they were lacking. The capacity of a 12 year old is massive. Don't underestimate. It's one of the reasons why we, when we started doing, youth conferences for young people, We didn't want to dumb down. We felt that a lot of...

Not all of them, a lot of youth conferences were dumbed down. They have little tiny talks before bedtime and a little talk in the morning before breakfast or after breakfast. And we wanted to start conferences where we really got them into the scriptures, and people were scared of that, and they've changed. They changed on that. A 12 year old can get the scriptures, and if they're hungry to learn about God, don't put them off.

Don't prefer maths above that. That's the significant thing. Thirdly, we see this 12 year old boy has a desire to grow in knowledge of the scriptures, yes, but in knowledge of the God of the scriptures, God as father. He's not just wanting to be knowledgeable of scriptures. He's not a, what they call, a theobro.

It's a whole sort of group of young men that are into theology, theology brothers, and they just talk theology and endless theology. I'm this, I'm that. What about this? What about that? And how many angels on the end of a pinhead, and oh, I think there are 5,681.

Why do you take that number? I think there's something else. What does Calvin say about this and Luther say about this? And there's all this... He doesn't just want to grow in theology.

He wants to grow in knowing God as father. Look at verse 49. Why were you searching for me? This is his answer to Mary. We'll come back to that in a minute again.

Why were you searching for me? He asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? These are the first recorded words of Jesus. So they're they're clearly important.

They're the first recorded words of Jesus. Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house? Now the phrase there that we have translated had to be in my father's house is is is a good translation, but actually, the... In the original language, the word house isn't there. So it's sort of like, didn't you know I had to be in my father's?

Yeah? And a lot of people say, well, what he's saying there is in my father's presence. But obviously, he's in the temple, and that's where it was pictured, the presence of God. That's why they put house in. But it could easily be, didn't you know I had to be in my father's presence?

The old translation is lovely. Didn't you know I had to be about my father's business? About my father's business. Quite interesting, isn't it? So the first recorded words of Jesus, what's he calling God?

My father. We get used to that with the prayer, our father. That is... That's amazing. In the presence of his earthly mom and dad, he's calling God my father.

You see the two natures there already. He's the son of the heavenly father. And what he's doing is he wants to understand his mission more and understand the father more. As I say, these are the first recorded words of Jesus that Luke puts down. You know what the last recorded words of Jesus in Luke before the resurrection?

Do you know what they are? Anybody know? Father, into your hands, commit my spirit. Into your hands, I commit my spirit. Those words are from Psalm 31.

See how Jesus knew the scriptures at all events in his life? But those words from Psalm 31 were taught by Jewish mothers like Mary to their boys before they went to sleep. Before you go to sleep, into your hands, I commit my spirit. Say those words. Mary taught those words there.

Jesus adds father. Father, into your hands, commit my spirit. See what's going on here? And just a quickie, Jewish thinking was that a boy became a man at the age of twelve thirteen. And they still they still think like that.

And what happened when you became a man at twelve thirteen was you took on responsibilities of an adult. You've now become a man. You're not a boy any longer. And part of the responsibilities is if your father had a trade, when you became twelve thirteen, you took on partnership in the father's business. You see what's going on here?

Luke's telling us all this. So how did he grow? How did this 12 year old grow? Through the influence of godly parents, teaching the word vividly alive from the heart, through his desire for the word of God, learning, questioning, but through his desire to be in and about the presence of the father. So here's the third thing.

I'm going to go back to the story. And then my third point is about the father's business. About the father's business. Back to the story then. Let's quickly go back.

Joseph and Mary, they've lost their boy. They've taken him to the temple at Passover. They were faithful people. They were doing God's will, following God's word, and disaster happens. See, it's not always true.

You follow God's word, and everything is nice. You follow God's word, and suddenly, they've lost their boy. They protected him for twelve years. They protected him from the vicious onslaught of Herod. They'd run.

They'd hidden. They protected him from being all kinds of names because Mary was unmarried when she was pregnant. What do you think he's called? And you can get hints of that in the gospels. We know your mother, but we don't know your father, that sort of stuff.

And we're told that when they were going, they were traveling, this little family, in a company of people. Did you see that? They're traveling in a company of people, but it includes relatives and friends. Now traditionally, this is how it works. Traditionally, the women would travel first in a group.

They would go first in a group, and then the men as a group would follow afterwards. The women would go first, then they would set up tents and get the food ready, and the men would come after a busy walk to sit down and eat their meal. Right? And 12 year old boys, well, children would go with the women until they were 12, and then they would go with the men. Yeah?

So 12 year olds... Do you see the confusion? They could go with the women, they could go with the men. Do you see the confusion here? So clearly, they've traveled a day away from Jerusalem after the festival.

Mary thinks Jesus is with the men. Joseph thinks he's with the women. He's 12. The confusion is going on. See what happens?

And then suddenly, women are setting up camp and the men turn up and Mary says, oh, where's where's Jesus? And Joseph says, where's Jesus? And Mary says, he's 12. And Joseph says, he's 12. And Mary says, 12 year olds go with the men.

And Joseph says, 12 year olds go with the women. I don't know what happened. But you can hear it, can't you? Why didn't you look after your son? And then he goes quiet.

They're a day out, nine and a half miles out, 15 kilometers out. It takes them a day to return, and then a day looking in Jerusalem. Three days, they search for him until they find him in the temple. Look at verse 46 to 48. After three days, just feel the three days there.

And of course, wherever you see three days, as we'll see in a minute, you have to think. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and answer. You could hear them. Oh, we love your son.

We love your son, Jesus. So lovely. He's an amazing boy. But when his parents saw him, they were astonished. How do you think that was going?

His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. You can feel the anxiety. You can feel her bursting in as even as a woman into the teachers and and and saying, what's going on here? Why am I treated like this?

But Jesus, I think, as a 12 year old boy assumed that his earthly parents brought him for the temple to leave him there. The stories that he would have been brought up, particularly the Hannah story, when Hannah had a baby, she brought him to the temple and left the boy at the temple to serve the Lord. And Hannah's song and Mary's song are very similar. So perhaps Jesus was thinking like that as a 12 year old boy. Or perhaps he knew the story, he would have known, that firstborns had to be bought back with silver.

They had to be redeemed with silver. Otherwise, they were gods. All firstborns were gods, and they would serve God. But Mary and Joseph didn't have any money, and they hadn't bought him back. So perhaps he thought, well, you know, I'm now gods.

I don't know. But all this is in keeping with the answer he gives Mary. I don't think he's being rude. Look at verse 49. Why were you searching for me?

He asked. Did you not know I had to be in my father's house with my father about my father's business? He's not being rude, but he's breaking the ties with Mary here. He's helping her understand who his heavenly father really is and what his work is. Son, why are you treating us like this?

Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Did you not know I had to be about my father's business in my father's house? Mary, surely you should have known this. Where have you been, Jesus? Where did you sleep?

What have you eaten? Who were you with? Mother. Mother. I'm 12.

I'm taking on responsibility. There's a higher claim to my life than you, earthly parents. Gosh, parents need to understand that. You don't own your kids. God does.

So the words are very strong. Didn't you know I had to be about my father's business, in my father's house, with my father? It was necessary for me. I wasn't playing in the streets with cousin Ben. We weren't selling bagels to make a bit of pocket money.

Didn't you know I had to be about this? Didn't you know? And of course, in all of this, is the utter kindness of God to Mary. God is preparing Mary. She lost her son for three days.

Where was he? He was about the father's business. And in twenty years' time, she's about to lose her son again for three days. And where is he? He's about the father's business.

He's in the father's house. Do you understand this? This is why Luke is telling us this. God is working. God is teaching.

And even Mary and Joseph had to learn these lessons. But then the story ends beautifully, just before I apply it. The story ends beautifully. It's just lovely. Look at verse 50.

But when they, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. They didn't understand. But then look at this. This is the one who's about the father's business, but he doesn't ignore his earthly parents. He's not so heavenly minded, as they put it, that he he treats his parents terribly.

Look, he's not treating his parents terribly. We now know that God is his father. We now know that he's about the father's business. We now know that he is the son of God. We now know that he's a man preparing to to do God's work, and yet it says in verse 51, then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.

But his mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. It's wonderful, isn't it? He still got some growing to do. He still got some wisdom from his parents. He still got another eighteen years before he goes into ministry.

So let's just bash this in a little bit to ourselves. Why did Luke include this story? I mean, it's a story before any miracles. There's no sermon from Jesus in this. I mean, self a sermon, of course.

But there's no sermon from Jesus in this. There's no miracles. He never made the ladle to to walk and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak and all of that stuff. He hadn't done any of that yet. There's no sermon on the mount, but it's just a very clear picture of who Jesus is.

He is the son of God, but he's the son of Mary as well. God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. We're told this story so that we may praise him. We'll come back to that. There's a second thing here, though.

We're told in the Bible there's one mediator between God and man. There's only one person, only one in the whole world that can bring God and man together, and man and God together. There's only one, and He's the man Christ Jesus. He's the God man. He's the Son of God, God the Son, and He's the Son of Man.

And He's the one who in those two natures can bring the two together, the atonement. He's the one. And Jesus, at the age of 30, we began His ministry just like the priests in the Old Testament began their ministry at the age of 30, is the one like a priest that can bring God and man together. That's what he did. That's why he came.

That's why he was a human. That's why we need to know that he was a 12 year old human. That's why we need to know. And Hebrews tells us, he took on flesh and blood so that he could deal with death that separates us from God, so that he could die because that's the punishment of sin. This is the beauty.

This is the savior. This is the savior that saved Anne Mackey. This is the savior that came to her this morning as the great shepherd and took her to himself. This is the savior, the one who was flesh and blood and was a 12 year old who came to this world to deal with death, to die physically, so that he could bring us, the one mediator, back to God. That's why we're being told this.

There's a third thing. I know I've hinted that this is already, but let me rub it in a little bit. 12 year olds. He was a 12 year old, and he had a vision for the business of God. Young people, if you're 12, you're not here, you've gone out to Seoul.

But you need to listen to this, and you parents need to tell them this. Hey, have a vision for your life. Parents, have a vision for your children. What is your vision for your children? Is it pathetic?

Is it a vision that they may follow in your footsteps? Well, that's pathetic, isn't it? Is it a vision that they get better in this world? Is it a vision that it'll be about your business? Is it a vision that they're...

Why should they work hard at school? Why? Why do you want your kids to work hard at school? Why? If the vision is so that you get money and get a better job, it's pathetic.

Work hard at school, 12 year olds. Yes. Use the talents God's given you. Yes. So you'll be better about God's business, about God's business, the father's business.

It might mean you'll earn a lot of money that you can put in the father's business. It might mean that you take it up and you have some influence and power because you'll be about the father's business. It might mean that you'll come poor and you might die very early because you're about the father's business. What's your vision for your 12 year old? About the father's business, which is about salvation.

It's staggering, isn't it? It's a wonderful vision. You wanna save the planet? It's not about not using fossil fuel. It's about Jesus.

You can see the world being saved and people coming to faith. That's the father's business. Parents, encourage them. You don't say to them, you're not going to Seoul tonight because you haven't done your homework. No.

You go to Seoul, yeah, and stuff the homework. Yeah? It doesn't really matter. In the end, it doesn't matter. You're not going to get a job anyway.

But you want to learn. You want to ask questions. You want to grow. You give the 12 year old a vision for what they're doing in life. They're not just following your business or the world's business, but God's business.

Then they'll do their homework. Then they'll have something passionate to live for and grow in their understanding and maturity and how to contact... How to socially be with people and how to grow in their muscle power in order for the vision of Christ. All of that. Do you see that?

So that leads me to my my fourth point. Parents, youth leaders, let them learn. Encourage them to learn about God. Don't shut those questions down. Let them ask questions.

Help them ask questions. Parents, youth leaders, vividly live out the scriptures. Let them see it alive. Go on a march or something. Take them somewhere.

Talk to them about what Jesus did. I'm always saying this, show them that building there, where our dear brother, Thomas Denny, was tried in in 1513, and then taken down with bales of hay into Kingston Market and burned alive. Tell them these stories. Inspire them. Yeah?

Vividly tell them. But remember they're 12. They're not 18, they're 12. They're not 30, they're 12. And unlike Jesus, there's foolishness bound up in a 12 year old's mind.

And they need to learn and be disciplined. Fourth thing, praise. Can't you praise? Can't you store this stuff in your heart? Can't you just see, I don't understand the savior, but he's a marvelous savior.

Praise