September 17 2024

Tuesday September 17

“The Boy Jesus”

Luke 2:39-47

39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Luke, in these verses, now informs us that after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, His presentation to Simeon and Anna in the Temple, and a short time in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-23), Jesus’ parents move Him back to their hometown of Nazareth where He grows up. We need remember that Luke in his Gospel is presenting Jesus to the world as the perfect “Son of Man” and the emphases is on His humanity. John, in his Gospel present Jesus to the world as the “Son of God” and his emphases is on His deity. The Scriptures teach us that Jesus was totally God and at the same time He was totally human. We might not understand this, but we must accept this great truth by faith because this is the only way that Jesus could die in our place for our sins!

When you think about Luke presenting Jesus in His humanity, it is no wonder that he gives us the details of His birth as a Baby, then calls Him a Child as He grows up in Nazareth, and now calls Him “the Boy Jesus” in verse 43 as he tells us the only story we have in the Gospels of something that takes place in the life of Jesus between His birth and His baptism at thirty years of age!

Luke now has another delightful story to tell. Jesus was twelve, the age in Jewish culture when a boy begins to assume the responsibilities of a man. He was ready for His first Passover. Scholars tell us that by this time Jesus education had been thorough enough, first at His mother's knee and then in the local rabbinical school. The weekly Sabbath observance would have been His joy. The Scripture written on the doorposts (Deut. 11:20) of the house had a word for Him every time He left home and whenever He came home.

Jesus soon knew His Bible by heart, and, given His flawless memory and His brilliant mind, He doubtless knew it in both Hebrew and Greek. He came to know all of the people who crowd the Old Testament page, all of the precepts of the ritual law, and all of the principles of such books as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Jesus knew and understood the full significance of all of the prophecies and promises that God had given to the Hebrew people.

From the age of five until He was ten, His only textbook was the Bible. From ten to fifteen, He was exposed to the Mishna, the traditions of the elders, what came to be known as "the oral law" supposedly given to Moses at Sinai. His keen mind would soon sort out the good from the bad in all of that. Not until He was fifteen would He enter an academy and be taught the endless lectures of the rabbis.

So, with a full heart Jesus joined the pilgrims marching to Zion to keep the feast. People traveled to the feasts in caravans, the women and children leading the way and setting the pace, and the men and young men following behind. Relatives and whole villages often traveled together and kept an eye on each other's children. No doubt they were all singing "the songs of degrees" or “songs of accents” found in Psalms 120-134.

As the Lord entered Jerusalem, His thoughts must have been mixed indeed. Here was a city that Abraham had visited thousands of years earlier, a city where David had reigned, a city that murdered the prophets and that one day would crucify Him. And crowning Mount Moriah and dominating everything was the temple. Tens of thousands of people could find room within its courts. The Lord's eyes would constantly be drawn to it. He called it "my Father's house," although it was, in fact, being built by Herod.

I trust this gives you a picture today of the humanity of Jesus as a Baby, a Child, and a grown-up Boy, as He prepares to present Himself to the world as the only Savior for our sins!

God bless!