CROWN OF LIFE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH

Pastor John C. Schneidervin

1st Sunday After The Epiphany January 12, 2003

Luke 2:41-52

The Boy Jesus Did God¹s Will

1. He Was Devoted To His Heavenly Father

2. He Was Obedient To His Earthly Parents

Text: Luke 2:41-52

41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the

custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home,

the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 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. 48 When his parents saw him,

they were astonished. His mother said to him, ³Son, why have you treated us

like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.²

49 ³Why were you searching for me?² he asked. ³Didn¹t you know I had to be

in my Father¹s house?² 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to

them.

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 men.

Sermon:

This Epiphany Season of the Church Year celebrates Jesus¹ appearing to the

world as the promised Christ and Servant of God. This sermon text

introduces him as the boy Jesus who did God¹s will.

When you Christians think of what Jesus did to redeem and save you, you

think of his suffering and dying on the cross to pay for your sins, for

which reason your sins are forgiven. This is true. This is known as his

passive obedience. But he did something more to redeem and save us.

Throughout his whole life from infancy to death he fulfilled the law of God

perfectly for our sake, so his righteousness would be credited to us for our

salvation. This is known as his active obedience. This sermon text dwells

on his active obedience already as a boy by which he redeemed and saved us.

The period after Jesus¹ birth and infancy to the beginning of his earthly

ministry at age 30 is known as the silent years. Nothing of those years is

known about Jesus except for this account of him at age 12 in the temple.

Verse 41 informs us, ³Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast

of the Passover.² According to God¹s law each male had to attend at the

temple in Jerusalem each year the three religious festivals of the Passover,

Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The women were not required to attend them.

Mary, however, as well as Joseph, attended the Passover celebration in

Jerusalem each year. This reveals how devoted of a family they were to our

Lord and the worship of him.

Dear husbands and wives and parents, may Mary¹s and Joseph¹s example teach

you to cultivate in your family a devotion to our Lord and a dedication to

being in his house regularly to worship him who has so graciously loved us

and saved us. Your devotion and dedication will teach your children what a

God-fearing Christian is like.

Verse 42 states, ³When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast,

according to the custom.² Mary and Joseph saw to the spiritual training of

their son Jesus. At the age of 13 the Jewish boys became ³sons of the Law.²

They became of age to begin fulfilling their spiritual responsibilities

under the law of God and were trained in God¹s Word in a school.

Preparation for this began a year or two beforehand. The parents took their

boys to the religious festivals at the temple. Jesus had reached this age,

so Mary and Joseph took him to the temple to celebrate the Passover and to

see its services.

Parents, attend to the spiritual training of your children so they grow up

to be God-fearing adults. Bring them to church with you to participate in

the worship of our Lord. This is how they learn what worship is.

But don¹t do what Mary and Joseph did. They lost their son Jesus, as verses

43 to 46 tell us. You may be wondering how they did that. It was an honest

mistake. They traveled to and from Jerusalem in a caravan of relatives and

friends, who lived in Nazareth with them. The men walked in front of the

group which was strung out along the road and the women walked along at the

rear of the group. The boys around the age of 12 were old enough to walk

with their fathers at the front and were still young enough to walk with

their mothers at the rear. After the Passover celebration Mary and Joseph

walked with their caravan for a full day until they came to the place where

they intended to camp for the night. What probably happened was this:

throughout that day Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary and she thought Jesus

was with him. In fact, however, Jesus had stayed behind in Jerusalem. Mary

and Joseph did not discover he was missing until day¹s end. They then began

a frantic, frightful search for him among their relatives and friends, but

to no avail.

The second day Mary and Joseph walked back to Jerusalem and searched for him

along the way. On the third day they searched the city of Jerusalem. They

finally found him in the temple courts.

Porticoes or porches surrounded the temple. There the rabbis and doctors of

the Scriptures taught. Jesus was sitting in the midst of those learned

teachers, listening to them, asking them questions, and answering their

questions. The crowd that had gathered were amazed at Jesus¹ understanding

of the Scriptural truths and lessons being taught. They marveled at his

insights and the answers he gave. They all recognized Jesus was no ordinary

boy. He possessed a far superior intellectual understanding and insight

than they had ever seen.

Verse 48 informs us, ³When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His

mother said to him, ŒSon, why have you treated us like this? Your father

and I have been anxiously searching for you.¹ ² Mary and Joseph were

absolutely struck by what they saw. We might say they were flabbergasted.

Jesus had never done anything like that before. Being the frightful, panic

stricken mother who had been searching three days for her son, Mary

expressed as a rebuke the hurt and concern they felt.

Jesus answered Mary with two questions, which are most revealing. Verse 49

tells us he asked her, ³Why were you searching for me? Didn¹t you know I

had to be in my Father¹s house?² Had Mary remembered that Gabriel had told

her that her son would be the Son of God, Christ the King of Israel, she

would have known that Jesus had a higher calling to God than to her and

Joseph and that he was involved in carrying out the divine mission assigned

to him. She would have known it was necessary for him to be in his heavenly

Father¹s house doing the things of his heavenly Father.

Mary and Joseph did not understand what Jesus was saying to them. But at

the age of 12 Jesus understood perfectly well that God was his real Father

and that he himself was the Son of God. His relationship with his heavenly

Father took precedence over his human relationships. Thus he was devoted to

his heavenly Father and totally committed to doing his Father¹s will of

carrying out his mission to save us sinners as our Redeemer. For this

reason he had to be in his Father¹s house and doing the things of his

Father, which at that time was hearing and learning and discussing the Word

of God and the lessons it taught. In doing so he was fulfilling the will of

God for our benefit to redeem and save us.

We have failed during our life to be so devoted to our heavenly Father and

so dedicated to hearing and learning and discussing the truths of the Word

of God. What we have failed to do Jesus did for us already at the age of

12. He fulfilled the will of God for us, so his righteousness would be

credited to us as our righteousness to make us acceptable to God. His act

of righteousness has resulted in our being declared righteous and given

eternal life.

Being declared righteous because of Jesus¹ perfect obedience, we will desire

to hear and study and learn God¹s Word as Jesus did. We, too, will want to

be involved in a group discussion of the Word of God where we can ask

questions and give answers and grow in our spiritual understanding. When we

do so, we do our Father¹s business and will.

As a boy Jesus also actively obeyed the will of God in another way to redeem

and save us. Verse 51 informs us, ³Then he went down to Nazareth with them

and was obedient to them.² When Mary and Joseph arrived, without hesitation

Jesus got up from among the teachers in the temple and went down with his

earthly parents to Nazareth. He arranged himself under their authority and

obeyed them explicitly. In doing so he fulfilled the 4th commandment and

his heavenly Father¹s will, so we would get the credit for it, be righteous

in the sight of God, and be God¹s children who will inherit eternal life.

The boy Jesus was an example for you children. Jesus was once a child like

you are. He also had to grow up to become an adult. Verse 52 tells us,

³And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (meaning physical size), and in favor

with God and men.² During Jesus¹ childhood and growing up he studied the

Bible and learned its lessons to grow in wisdom. He obeyed his parents.

Through doing these things God and the people around him were pleased with

him.

You children make Jesus your role model. Learn from Jesus what it is like

to be a child of God. Because God has loved you and saved you and given you

life in heaven through Jesus, be devoted to God your heavenly Father. Be

eager to hear and learn and discuss God¹s Word. Obey your parents which is

God¹s will for you. Imitate Jesus in these ways, and God and other people

will be pleased with you as well.

We have now learned how the boy Jesus actively did God¹s will to redeem and

to save us. We have failed to live a righteous life. But let¹s take

comfort in the knowledge Jesus lived that righteous life for us and by his

righteousness we are saved. Amen.