I had to be in my Father’s house
Luke 2:41-52
Key Verse 49
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Introduction
This passage is about Jesus’ youth life which was recorded in Luke gospel only. Through this passage we can learn that Jesus recognized himself as the Son of God from his youth. Recognizing himself as the Savior of the world, Jesus was growing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man to prepare his public ministry. This passage depicts what lies in Jesus’ heart desire. May the Lord help us to have vision for our growing children through their role model, Jesus Christ.
1. Read verse 41-43. What did Jesus’ parents do every year? (41, Dt 16:1-8) How old was Jesus when they went up to Jerusalem? (42). Where did Jesus do after the festival instead of returning home? (43)
1-1.Read verse 41-43
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
1-2. What did Jesus’ parents do every year? (41, Dt 16:1-8)
They went to Jerusalem to observe the Festival of the Passover.
Deuteronomy 16:1-8 read,
Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name. 3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt. 4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary[a] of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.
---The feast of Passover continued for 7 days. The people of Israel remembered God’s great grace of deliverance from Pharaoh after 430 year slavery in Egypt.
Jesus’ parents were faithful in observing God’s command. Jesus observed how their parents obey God’s command and he learned God’s command from them. Jesus grew under spiritual parents influence.
The duty of parents is to let their children grow under their good spiritual influence by living by faith and word of God.
It reminds us of 1 Chronicles 28: 8-9(David encouraged his son, Solomon).
8 “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
David encouraged his young son Solomon to acknowledge the God of his father. Acknowledging the God of his father is a starting point to build up his own faith.
1-3. How old was Jesus when they went up to Jerusalem? (42).
In Jewish society, a 12 year old girl and 13 year old boy are considered to be adults.
Jesus was 12 years old(I assume that he is approaching 13 years old).
Now he is legally allowed to participate in the festivals and ceremonies of the Law of Moses and to get married.
At that time 12 years old children had to begin to fast from time to time.
At thirteen years old a boy(12 year old girl) began to be ‘a son of the commandment’ (so called, Bar Mitzbah) obliged to the duties of adult.
Bar mitzvah is simply the age when a person is held responsible for his actions and minimally qualified to marry. If you compare this to secular law, you will find that it is not so very far from our modern notions of a child's maturity. In Anglo-American common law, a child of the age of 14 is old enough to assume many of the responsibilities of an adult, including minimal criminal liability. Under United States law, 14 is the minimum age of employment for most occupations (though working hours are limited so as not to interfere with school).
In many states, a fourteen year old can marry with parental consent. Children of any age are permitted to testify in court, and children over the age of 14 are permitted to have significant input into custody decisions in cases of divorce. Certainly, a 13-year-old child is capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong and of being held responsible for his actions, and that is all it really means to become a bar mitzvah. “http://www.jewfaq.org/barmitz.htm”
Jesus’ parents taught Jesus how to observe God’s command by letting him observe the festival.
Although Jesus is the eternal God, he became like us and set a good example in terms of obeying his earthly parents according to God’s will.
1-4. Where did Jesus do after the festival instead of returning home? (43)
Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were not aware of it.
When returning from the festival, it was the custom for the women to go on ahead with the younger children and the men to follow with the bigger boys.
Mary may have thought that Jesus was with Joseph, and he may’ve thought that he was with Mary.
Jesus didn’t stay in Jerusalem not being disobedient to his parents but he had business to do there. He had a Father in heaven, whom he had to obey. It was more important than of his earthly parents.
Now Jesus acted not just as a son of his earthly parents but as a Son of God.
The founder of Moravian mission movement Zinzendorf started prayer for world mission at his age 8. It is good to see young children have a sense of mission and willing to serve God’s will even in their young age. Parents’ job is to help their children to live as children of God and servants of Him with a sense of mission before God.
2. Read verse 44-47. What do Jesus’ parents do when they find that Jesus is not with them? (44-45). What was Jesus doing when they find him? (46) Why were the people at the temple amazed at Jesus? (47)
2-1. Read verse 44-47.
44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
2-2. What do Jesus’ parents do when they find that Jesus is not with them? (44-45).
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. They might be so worried and anxious about him.
2-3. What was Jesus doing when they find him? (46)
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
Jesus was doing what his parents had never expected.
Jesus was sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. He was not just taught as an audience by the teachers but also discussed with them.
Jesus had great desire for the truth.
At twelve(10-11, girl; 11-12 boy), puberty starts.
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction to enable fertilization. It is initiated by hormonal signals. In response to the signals, the gonads produce hormones that stimulate libido and the growth, function, and transformation of the brain, bones, muscle, blood, skin, hair, breasts, and sexual organs. Physical growth—height and weight—accelerates in the first half of puberty and is completed when the child has developed an adult body.
Because Jesus went through such drastic hormonal and bodily changes, he could have developed desires to explore other things but he shows great desire for the truth!
He had to sit more than 3 days without even asking his parents for permission.
He did not know when his parents left, because he immersed himself on listening to teachers with great desire to learn, asking questions endlessly.
Maybe he had accumulated many questions before coming to the temple.
When the time came, he never wanted to lose chance to get all his questions answered.
Jesus was a truth seeker teenager!
He wants to increase knowledge about God’s truth and was ready to discuss them with teachers with learning mind.
He was sitting among the teachers to study word of God instead of playing with other children. Parents should help their children to develop holy desire to study word of God.
Jesus listened to the teachers and asked them questions: Even though he was son of God, he learned from teachers with humble heart and learning mind. He is a good example about how young people can grow spiritually.
2-4. Why were the people at the temple amazed at Jesus? (47)
Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. They had never seen young man talk with the knowledge and wisdom at the rate he did.
Even though he was only 12 years old, he had great knowledge and understanding, amazing people.
He had divine wisdom and knowledge that were not taught by man but came from God.
Teenagers who live under the value system of pragmatism or utilitarianism are dangerous for young people have God’s image in them and searching for meaning and purpose in their lives!
cf) Utilitarianism -
“Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as
they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” –John Stuart Mill
Happiness = pleasure, and the absence of pain
Unhappiness = pain, and the absence of pleasure
Happiness is the only thing that has intrinsic value
“pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends.
May the Lord help our young children to establish their relationship with the creator God through studying the book of Genesis.
3. Read verses 48-50. What do Jesus’ parents say when they find him? (48) What is Jesus’ response? (49). What do you think Jesus meant by this? Why do you think that Jesus’ parents do not understand what he said? (50).
3-1. Read verses 48-50.
48 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.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
3-2. What do Jesus’ parents say when they find him? (48)
When his parents saw him, they were astonished for he was sitting among the teachers even discussing with them.
“Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
Mary mentioned how they had hard time to find him with great anxiety. She implied that such young boy was not supposed to behave like that without informing his parents ahead of time. Mary and Joseph understood that Jesus was just a 12 years old boy who needed parents’ protection and guidance. They could not understand why Jesus acted that way.
3-3. What is Jesus’ response? (49).
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
3-4. What do you think Jesus meant by this?
“Why were you searching for me?”
It implies that his parents were not supposed to search for him or worry about him.
“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Jesus called God ‘my Father’. Jesus recognized him as Son of God. He proclaimed his deity by calling God ‘my Father’.
No one told him about his identity. Even his parents didn’t. But Jesus knew who he was for himself.
Joseph was his father as a parent, but God was his true Father.
Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?
King James Version shows,
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Jesus had two fathers. One is his earthly father while the other is his heavenly Father.
Although he had to be obedient and hard working for his earthly father who was a carpenter, he must be sure to do God’s work. When he became of his own age, he acknowledged what God wants him to be and do.
When he said “must,” he must have established his inherent relationship with his Father in heaven.
He must then have known his mission on earth
He had clear idea about what he was supposed to do even though he was only 12 years old.
His parents didn’t need to worry about him because Jesus was under his true Father’s care and protection.
His parents didn’t need to search for him because Jesus was doing his Father’s business.
He knew that he had to live as a son of Heavenly Father. He put his Father’s will first than his earthly parents’ expectation even though he might know his parents had worried about him.
Jesus had clear identity about himself as the Messiah and had a clear idea about his mission such a young age.
3-5. Why do you think that Jesus’ parents do not understand what he said? (50).
They did not understand what he was saying to them
They still considered him as a young boy.
They didn’t understand fully about who Jesus was yet even though they had been told about him through the angel.
They could have applied what the angel had said and understood the clear guidance of the Holy Spirit so far and come to their own conclusion that Jesus is the Son of God.
4. Read verses 51-52. What happens when Jesus returns to Nazareth with his parents? (51a). How does Jesus’ mother treat all these events? (51b). What happens as Jesus gets older? (52)
4-1. Read verse 51-52.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
4-2.What happens when Jesus returns to Nazareth with his parents? (51a).
Jesus was obedient to his parents. Even though he knew he was Son of God, he respected his earthly parents and obeyed them according to God’s command.
Exodus 20:12 reads,
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Jesus is good example about how children’s attitude toward their parents should be. God loves those who are obedient to their parents. Those who are obedient to their parents can obey God too.
4-3.How does Jesus’ mother treat all these events? (51b).
Mary treasured all these things in her heart. She did not perfectly understand what her son said, but took them seriously.
She didn’t ignore what Jesus said because he was too young. We should not ignore young ones because of their young age.
Mary treasured all the things even though she couldn’t understand believing that there were certain meanings for the things.
4-4. What happens as Jesus gets older? (52)
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
He grew up physically well. His soul increased in wisdom. He kept growing to be capable to serve his messianic work in the future. Even Jesus went through this growing process to serve God’s work.
Jesus was loved by both God and man. The image of God shone in Jesus and people loved him, seeing the God’s image in him.
Conclusion
Jesus must have recognized himself as the Son of God and known what his mission was in such a young age. He had divine knowledge and wisdom that amazed people. He was obedient to his parents. He grew spiritually and physically in favor with God and man. He was being ready to serve God’s work as the Messiah. His parents gave good influence to him by showing good example how to serve God in their lives. May God bless all our children to grow like Jesus to be great servants of God and help us to influence them.
One word: In my Father’s house
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