Dec. 27, 2020 Luke 2:41-52 “The Only Perfect Example!”

25 Dec Dec. 27, 2020 Luke 2:41-52 “The Only Perfect Example!”

Dec. 27, 2020     Luke 2:41-52    “The Only Perfect Example!”

As I mentioned last week, some of my favorite times being a pastor was when I was with the children, youth group or young adults.  They told us at school that when you have children’s time in the worship hour, you should always ask questions that can be answered yes or no.  Never ask an open-ended question because you never know where the child might go with something.  Even the youth are unpredictable.  One of the sayings that I used to use during a sermon when I wanted to really emphasis something was, “And that’s a fact, Jack!”  I always thought that people knew what I was saying.  That is until confirmation one evening.  I had them take sermon notes and I would always glance over them quickly before we started the lesson.  One of the questions that one of the students asked in all seriousness was, “What is the fact and who is Jack?”  It was all I could do to keep from laughing.  I guess that really shows the generation gap.  Anyway, today our reading deals with the only account of Jesus as a boy.  Let’s see if we can find a way for the young Jesus to help us in life.  You might be surprised by what we find.

I think this might be good advice for all of us after Christmas.  Dr. Karl Menninger, a world-famous psychiatrist, was answering questions after giving a lecture on mental health when one person asked, “What would you advice someone to do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on?”  Most people expected the doctor to say, “Consult a psychiatrist or something similar.”  Instead, he said, “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.”  Dr. Menninger knew that those who serve others have far fewer mental and psychological problems.  The best way to bring on heart ache or a mental breakdown is to think about yourself all the time.  Therefore, if you or you know someone who is suffering from a big letdown after Christmas, try to help them to help others.  This is not only what churches are supposed to do and the way of science, but it’s also God’s way.

Just before our reading, we see in verse 40, that the boy, Jesus, was strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.  I bring this up because we don’t know a lot about the childhood of Jesus.  So, when we read about it from a reliable source like Luke, we need to pay close attention.  Even before our reading today, we find that there is something really special about the boy.  He is strong, which is good.  Healthcare was pretty much an unknown at this time.  He was filled with wisdom.  This is a good trait in anybody.  Plus, the grace of God was upon Him.  I think of all the wonderful young people I have known in confirmation and youth group and Jesus was far ahead of them all at this point.  He was a very special young man.

Now there are a couple of things worth mentioning before we start.  The first is that the people were practically required to go to the Passover celebration.  This was not yet required of young Jesus as he wasn’t yet 13.  But He came anyway.  We can look in hindsight and know that this is the place where He belonged.  But at this point, the parents don’t really know this but they will very shortly.

The other thing I wanted you to notice was how they traveled.  Everywhere they went, they walked.  In today’s world it seems like great fun and exercise to go for a walk.  But in ancient times, this was the way of life.  If you wanted to go someplace, you walked.  Also, these people would have walked in a group because it was much safer.  There was a major problem with bandits on the roads especially at night.  So, they made this 64-mile journey on foot.  Today it would take us a little over an hour go this distance.  You can figure out how long it took them to walk.  I remember asking my dad one time about black powder days, black powder hunting and things from that era.  He said that he would never go out and do something like that because it was very hard work.  He lived through the depression and he worked hard.  But he would never go back to the old ways of doing things as they were too hard.  Life for the ancients was also very hard.  Remember this every time you read the Bible.

So, they traveled together in large groups.  Pretty much the whole town of Nazareth went to the Passover.  They would go home in the same fashion.  There would be lots of people walking together, returning home.  There would be friends and relatives.  Please remember that the relatives would be extended family.  This is not like today when a child reaches a certain age, they go off and live by themselves somewhere.  In ancient times, the family unit was an economic unit.  They stayed together and worked together.  Sometimes whole towns were made up of one family.  I would reckon that the women walked together, visiting.  The men did the same and the children would be off playing or doing whatever children did for fun.  I don’t think Mary was negligent here.  It was just the way they did things in a very different culture from ours.

Anyway, they stop and discover that Jesus isn’t with them.  So, Joseph and Mary turn around and head back to Jerusalem.  They look and look and they finally find Him at the Temple.  Of course, Mary is upset and she mildly scolds Jesus.  Now we come to the crux of the matter.

Jesus tells his parents, “Why are you searching for me?  Didn’t you know I would be in my Father’s house?”  We will learn from this 12-year-old one of the very basic aspects of being a Christian.  I talk about this in just about every wedding that I do.  Jesus shows us here that He has His priorities in the right place.  He knew at this young age, that God, the Father took precedence over everything else.  They should have known where He was because of who He was.

Let me try to break this down a bit for us.  Jesus Christ wants to be #1 in your life so that you can have other things that are #1 in your life, like family, job, or friends.  Now I know that this doesn’t make a lot of sense but then again there are many things about Jesus that don’t make sense to us but they are very true.

Has anyone ever succeeded in defining the Trinity for you?  How can 3 people be one and at the same time one person is all three?  It’s just beyond our comprehension but we know it’s true.  Or how can the first be last and the last first?  Again, it doesn’t make sense.  Or how can you be lost when you know exactly where you are?  There are so many mysteries about God that we won’t know until we get there.

How in the world did Jonah live in the belly of a great fish for 3 days?  That is impossible!  Or looking in 2 Kings we find that an axe head floating in the water.  How in the world is this possible?  Or look at some of the things that Jesus did later in His life.  He walked on water!  He calmed the storm.  He made sick people well.  He made the lame walk.  He fed 5000 and then 4000 people with next to nothing and they were all full.  He raised Lazarus from the dead.  And Jesus himself was raised from the dead.  These are all miracles and mysteries of God.  It is not our place to question these things.  They were seen by many people.  It’s your job to accept them as miracles from God and place Him #1 in your life.  You are to have faith and believe.

That is just what Jesus did.  God was #1 in his life.  It doesn’t take you long to read in the New Testament to know just how true this is.  Now remember, that Jesus only wants what is the very best for you.  And for you, He is the very best because when you make Him #1 in your life, He in turn will help you make your spouse or children #1 in your life.  Remember the young Jesus here and how He, at 12 years old, already knew that God the Father had to be #1 in his life.  If you don’t get your priorities in the right order, you could be in for a life of hardship.

The next thing I would like to look at here comes from verses 50-51 where we find that Jesus is obedient or submissive.  It says, “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.”  Jesus was obedient to his parents and He was not being contradictory to his priority.  Don’t ever make the mistake that God the Father wasn’t Jesus’ first priority.  Everywhere we look in the Bible where Jesus is doing something, we find that He places the Father in the number 1 spot.  This goes along with what we were just talking about.

I would like to ask you a question to help you see this point.  How much do you think that Jesus loves you?  I’m sure I will get all sorts of answers varying from a lot to not much at all.  Right there, you can see that we have our work cut out for us.  But what we have to remember is that Jesus loves each one of you more than any of you can imagine.  I’m not talking about Him loving all of us here today.  I’m talking about you, individually.  But first, Jesus totally loves God the Father.  Then God the Father allows Jesus to love you far, far beyond your imagination.  If your priority is on God, then good things will follow.

They will follow if you have submitted to Jesus and are obedient.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this was that easy?  Unfortunately, we have this terrible, ugly creature named Satan who will try to untrack you wherever you go.  The churches in this country have ignored this rotten thing for too long.  He is also very real so look out for him in whatever you do.

Just as a note here.  Jesus first submitted to God and then to His parents.  It has been noted that many children who have not learned to submit to God, will usually have a difficult time submitting to their parents.  Remember that Jesus is all human and all God at the same time, another mystery.  At this point, He is a human 12-year-old boy with all the hormones and what not, flowing.  He is in a transition time of his life but He is still obedient to God and His parents.  If you are a parent, you should take note here.  Don’t give up on your children by allowing them not to attend church activities.  These are really essential for the young person to have a chance at a happy life.  Not too long ago, there was a survey that found that 26% of teens who had never been to a church youth group wished that they could.  Show them that you care.  Show them to a local church youth group and you will show them a lot of love.

Finally, in verse 52, Luke writes, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  Wait a minute here.  If we go back to just before we started our reading for today, we find that Luke said basically the same thing.  He has just repeated himself.  If the Bible repeats itself, like Luke just did, then what is being said is important.  I think that most of us are done growing physically, but this is very important to our young people.  We know so much more about nutrition now than we did even 50-60 years ago, so use it.  Help the young people.

Jesus also grew in wisdom.  I don’t know if there ever comes a time in our lives where we don’t grow in wisdom.  Read.  Study.  Try something new.  Did you know that the word retire is never mentioned in the Bible because that isn’t what we are supposed to be doing?  It’s ok to retire from a job or something like that but you should never retire from life.  That life includes reading, studying and trying new things.  I say this all the time.  Even if you are homebound or in a home or stuck someplace, you can still pray.  Jesus will never be done with you until you go to Him in heaven.  Even then, you will be working for Jesus in heaven but it sure won’t seem like work.

Jesus also grew spiritually.  You might think that Jesus is God and He wouldn’t have to do this but He does.  He is only 12 years old!  He has a lot of spiritual growth in front on Him.  Right now, Jesus is the perfect 12-year-old but not a perfect 13-year-old.  He has to grow into each stage.  This is much more evident in us.  We need spiritual growth until we go home to Jesus.  You do this through prayer, reading your Bibles and attending worship.  Many Christians are really lacking in these areas.  (If they weren’t, this church would be full all the time.)

He also needed to grow socially.  He was already well liked and soon He would be loved by many.  (Look how well-liked Pastor Steve was.  If you ever met Steve, you liked him.) Also, this is something we really have to guard in this age of social media.  If you want to learn rudeness, just be on social media.  There aren’t many positive things on there. Anyway, we all need to grow in this area also.

I think what God is trying to tell us in this passage is that we all need to grow and He uses Jesus as an example.  But all growth isn’t good.  Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.  Not good.  We are called to grow in the ways of Jesus.  He is to be our example for everything.  Jesus is perfect in all ways and yet we seem to think our way is better.  Start to immerse yourself in Jesus and grow in ways that are pleasing to Him and not you.  The only thing Jesus wants is what is the very best for you.  Study Him and follow Him to a better way of life.  You will never find a better example than Jesus.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.