I had to be in my father's house (Luke 2c)

Luke 2:41-52

Key Verse 49b

Introduction
Today’s passages are about growing. All of us have already grown up in our physical body. Our body does not grow any more. But our spiritual capacity and strength are growing as we get through times of life. Some of us have just begun a new life in Christ and others have grown over many years with Christ. But our spirit does not grow as we age in years. How big can we grow in our spirit? Can we measure our spiritual growth like our statue?

Jesus said about growth in this way:

Mark 4:30 Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade."

Here the kingdom of God might mean us all as a corporate body of Christ. But also it may imply the growth within our inner being. None of you are now recognized as one of the greatest men. Simply each of you is like a mustard seed,  that is so small and hardly visible to many others. But in time you can grow so big like a giant tree where many birds came and perch their nests for rest and comfort. In 20-30 years from now on, each of you will become so great in your generation.

Second the spiritual growth was expressed in terms of its harvest. 

Matthew 13:23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Here the example is about each individual. When one hears the word and understand it, he will produce a crop in 100, 60, 30 times. Right now what do you have? What you have is so small and insignificant. But when you grow, you will harvest abundance of crop.

I want all of you be a powerful men of God in coming years; But in coming years each of you may grow to be such a giant tree where many can perch. Or you may grow in your spirit to bear 100, 60 and thirty time of harvesting of crop in your life.

How can that be possible? Today’s passages are about Jesus life at the early stage. It describes his growth as a child. This gives an insight how one can grow to be such a great man. 

A.      Jesus went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.(41-43)

All Jewish men had to join the Festival called Passover; It was the biggest one among all festivals. This day was the day to remember what God did.  This day in history marked in two significant events: a. this was the day all the first born of the Egyptians died while all the firstborns of Israel survived from the angel of death. God spared Israel from the angel of death because they did what God told them to do; to sacrifice a lamb and applied its blood at the door post of the house.  Because of the death of all first-borns Egyptians released the people of Israel from the slavery and Israel set off to begin a new nation under God. So this is the day of liberation from the slavery. Survival from the death and being freed from the slavery are the two. So this is the day that Israel became an independent nation, a nation chosen by God as His people. Because of this without understanding of the Passover, no one can understand how the nation came to be and how God did his miraculous work to favor the Nation Israel.  

Today’s story happened when Jesus was 12 years old. This age marked an age of transition from childhood to adulthood. Nowadays Jewish boys celebrate 13 years of age. It is called Bar Mitzvah. Through this celebration, he becomes a covenant man before God and becomes responsible to all the laws of Israel. We are not sure when the Bar Mitzvah started.  Also it is said that even before one become age thirteen, he could attend the festival in order to prepare the day of Bar Mitzvah. So it is likely that Jesus was about the age of being a man of covenant before God. At this age, Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. It was the first Passover for him after being a man of covenant.

When the festival came, the entire family went to Jerusalem to participate the Festival. It took about three days from Galilee to Jerusalem (about 60 miles; 20 miles each day) When families moved, they make large caravans. Often young children went along with women (moms) in front and this was followed by men and older boys.  As usual Joseph and Mary participated the Passover and its feast for a week and they packed themselves and took the road home with many other family members. As mentioned above, there were two caravans, one that Joseph was with and the other Mary was with. Joseph did not see Jesus in his caravan but Joseph thought that Jesus was with Mary. At the same time, Mary did not see Jesus in her caravan but thought that Jesus was with Joseph.  So they went on their way home for a whole day. At the end of the first day, they checked each other if Jesus was with the other group. But Jesus was not with Mary. And he was not with Joseph either. So the moment they found that Jesus was not under their protection, they worried about him. They were caught in anxiety and fear for Jesus. In fear and worries they got up the early next morning, and they headed back to Jerusalem in search for Jesus. When they arrived in Jerusalem it was already late so they spent the night at Jerusalem. Early morning they hurried back to the streets of Jerusalem or houses of many relatives. They swept the every corner of the streets of Jerusalem but they could not find Jesus. Finally they went to the temple and there he was! What did they find?

46.

Jesus was sitting among the teachers of the Law, listening to them and asking question to them. This was the kinds of things happening between teacher and students at that time. Jesus at 12 was too young to participate in such dialogue or any teaching sessions. But he was among the teachers engaging in active discussion involving questions and answers. Jesus was surrounded by many teachers and he alone was at the center of attention. His understanding was superb and his answers were remarkable. Simply what Jesus knew and understood was as good as the teachers of the Law or even far better than the understandings of the teachers.

What might have been the topic of discussion? Most likely, the topic was on all kinds of issues on the Passover. At the Passover, God sent his angel of death to all first-borns of Egypt while the angel passed over the house of Israel. In this way God demonstrated his mighty power discriminating judgment for Egypt by death, and discriminating salvation for Israel by saving lives. The entire event of the Passover was by God’s design and by God’s power and by God’s love and was filled with God’s will for the nation. It was the first demonstration of God’s discriminating choice for a particular people.  

How long did he do this? Most likely for the last two full days, this went on in the temple. Jesus did not run out of questions or answers and the teachers did not lose their interests in this boy’s questions and answers. Here the passage does not mention anything about learning. So we can fairly accurately assume that Jesus was not there to learn about what the Passover was. Then why was he there or for two whole days engaging in such a long dialogue among teachers of the Law? We will come this this question later.

How was this received by the people? It was summed up in this way: Everyone was amazed at this understanding and his answers. It was not just teachers of the Law that were so much impressed. Everyone there who heard what Jesus said was ‘amazed’.

B.      I had to be in my father’s house (48-50)

During this time of search, many things went through Mary’s mind: what Jesus might be doing, he might  be wandering at a corner of the street of Jerusalem looking for his parents or searching for food. As soon as Mary and Joseph saw Jesus exchanging questions and answers among the teachers, they were astonished. They were not just surprised or excited. It was a shock to them. It was totally unexpected.  Simply what Jesus was doing totally blew their minds. He was not lost or wandering in the street. He was not distressed at all. He was not doing the things ordinary children were doing, such as playing video games or watching street shows.  He was perfectly doing well in himself! They were so much worried and feared for nothing!

So Mary said to Jesus, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

As soon as she saw Jesus, it was clear that it was Jesus’ willful decision to stay behind. She was somewhat upset and disappointed because what Jesus did was somewhat disrespect to his parents.  

Such disappointment was perfectly right and justified as an ordinary parents. Such disappointment came from an assumption that Jesus did not do what children supposed to do. Children must follow his or her parents and it was their duty to wait on orders of their parents.  In other words, parents were the authority for their life-learning process.

But Jesus thought differently. What Jesus said gives us an insight on why Jesus did such thing.

‘Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?’

According to Jesus, Jesus had to be in the temple, i.e his father’s house. Mary and Joseph should have known that Jesus had to be in his father’s house, the temple. Why did they fail to know that and were gripped with fear for Jesus’ wellbeing?   The reason is clear. They only thought that Jesus was their son and they were the only one responsible for the wellbeing of Jesus. Simply they did not count Jesus’ real father God at all. They should have known that God was the real father of Jesus.

What was Jesus asserting on this? 

1.       Jesus is calling God as his father by saying the temple his father’s house. According to him, they should have known that from that point on, Jesus had an obligation to his real father God.  This is totally different from the understanding of Mary and Joseph. Jesus is still under the protection and guidance of them. If they do not protect him, he would be lost and might be in danger. But to Jesus, God is now his real father and Jesus has obligation to him as His son.
a. accepting God as our real father is the beginning of spiritual growth. We have to leave our parents and have to become independent from them. As children grow to be teenagers, they become rebellious to their parents. It is the first sign of their assertion to be independent. Eventually we all know that we must be all our own and parents helps are very limited. Many remain independent throughout their lives. 
Our first father Adam made the same decision to be independent of God. Such decision to be independent cost him his share of God’s blessing and eternal life. When his son Cain rejected God’s counsel in order to uphold his autonomy, he said this’ I will be a restless wanderer’ When we do not accept God as our father, we are wanderers on earth, without real father. We are all alone! Then, what we make of ourselves will be what we will become.  This is the dead end.
On the contrary, the moment we accept God as our real father, we begin to grow in our spirit. There shall be only one father, God our Lord. All others will be secondary to our real father God. , not the teachers, or mentors or best friends or even our earthly parents cannot be our true father.
Who are we? Who are you? I am child of God. God is the only Father! These declarations solidify our relationship with God and make our identity to be clear and unambiguous.  When one lose his identity, his life is totally confusing and chaotic, wandering in his or her mind and does not know what to do!
From this point on, God, his true father, became the first importance in his life. When we choose God as our real father, we do two things: we depend on him on all our need. Total dependence is the essential element of being a son to Father. Second thing is to honor the word of father. We all have become children of God. We are responsible to God our father than anyone else in the world. Then our relationship with God will become the first importance in all our life decisions.  If we know what he wants, what pleases him, what he dislike or hate, how we can honor him…TL chose Mat 7:7 as his key verse for this year; ask, seek, and know it will be given to you. This is the real sign of his dependence on his real father, God. What did Bo do when he got a job?  Did he call his parents? Yes, but also he gave thanks to God his real father. Like this TL and Bo began to live God dependent life, honoring God as their real father.  

2.       He, like this, newly identified himself as the Son of God. How did Jesus show his son-ship to God?

·         He had to remain behind his family so as to be with his real father God. He could not meet the demand of God the father while meeting the obligation to his earthly parents. The expectations of the earthly parents are totally different from the expectations of our heavenly Father. Mary and Joseph were as godly as they could be. Yet they failed to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God. Only in human context they reason and thought and demanded Jesus of obedience. When there is a conflict, we have to choose our duty or obligation to God our father.

·         He sought God His real father in the temple, the place of God. He said, I had to be in my father’s house!  He was compelled to stay in the temple, the house of God. One thing we know we cannot seek God while strolling in a Mall or watching video games or watching movies. What is the best place to seek God? It is the church where we believers meet together. Remember if you want to seek God, then do not miss Bible studies and worship services or prayer meetings. These are the best place and time to seek God’s will.
**This first important is expressed by spending time with him in his father’s house. This means the time to spend in seeking God. Such as prayer and studying the words of God. It is a building. But it is a group of people that makes ‘house’ of God. The church is the house of God, the body; Jesus

·         It was centered on the words of God. Jesus was listening and questioning and answering with the teachers of the law. [Here there is no word, ‘learning’ in describing Jesus activity here.  Also when he answered questions, all were amazed at his answer. It means that Jesus was there not to learn from the teachers but to know what they knew about and understand on the words of God.]  All these were centered on what God did on the day of Passover. He was seeking God will.  It concerned on the words of God, the history what God did, and how people were thinking and doing among the people of God.

·         We do not know the exact reason.  Only thing that we can think of is that this was the first Passover since he became the son of the covenant or the son of the Law. Becoming the son of the law means to be fully responsible to the Law of Moses. It also implies that he became the son of covenant—being fully responsible to the covenant that God made with Israel.  Jesus became fully aware of his son-ship of God the Father or became the Son of God the Father particularly in regard to the Law of Moses. In this sense, the Passover is the most important event for Jesus and this must be explored and understood. Jesus came to save his people. He was going to be the son of the Covenant. To fulfill that covenant, Jesus was going to be the lamb for the Passover. As we know, in John’s Gospel, the first event in Jerusalem was his cleansing of the temple (Jn 2). So we can fairly conclude that Jesus was seeking God and his will that was expressed in the first Passover.

This marked a transition point on his life from childhood to adulthood which ends when he began his ministry. What happened on this period is shortly described in v52.

C.      Jesus grew in wisdom and stature (51-52)

V52.

This sentence describes how Jesus’ grew. Jesus grew in statue. Also Jesus grew in his wisdom.  The fact that Jesus was filled with wisdom was noted before (v 40) So to Luke the fact that Jesus’ wisdom increased as he aged. When he was young child, Jesus was filled with wisdom by God’s grace. But when he became of age Jesus grew in wisdom.  Also it says that he grew in favor with God and man. What come after ‘and’ often denote the outcome of the first clause. So the outcome of Jesus growth in wisdom resulted in favor with God and man. God was happy with Jesus and man was happy with Jesus in all that he was doing as he grew. All these came about by Jesus’ growth in wisdom.  So I like to look into what it means to grow in wisdom.

What is ‘Wisdom’ ? (Sophia)

Wisdom is one’s judgment skills to face on many difficulties of life. When one has wisdom, that wisdom will lead to a most desirable outcome.  So Jesus said it so crisply:

Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is proved right by her deeds."

Many will claim to be wise and knowledgeable. But the outcome will prove one’s idea or decision is truly of wisdom.  Wisdom is wisdom because it brings out the best outcome for the given situation. But who controls the outcome? Isn’t it God?

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

What it means is not clear. But as we look at this passage:

Deuteronomy 4:5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

If one has wisdom or not depends on one’s willingness to follow through the laws and decrees of God. So if the Israelites obey the law of God, then their actions will bring out a good result. This good result will show the world that Israel lived in her wisdom.

Then how does one get wisdom? 

Can I search wisdom from internet or wise men, or by reading many books, from scholars and men of wisdom? We can get bits and pieces of wisdom from these sources. But what God says about these sources?

1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

We can get wisdom from all these sources. But the bottom line is that if the knowledge acquired from these sources is not in line with God’s laws or His will, then the outcome will be very poor, it will be not of wisdom but of foolishness. The Bible speaks directly how one can get wisdom?

Deuteronomy 34:9 Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

1 Kings 5:12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

Acts 6:10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Acts 7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

Jesus grew in wisdom. His growth has to do with his intimate relationship with his father, God.

1 Corinthians 2:6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

By having close relationship with God, one attains to the wisdom of God; this is the growth.

If we do not have an intimate relationship with God, what happens?

Ephesians 4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

This is what it means to stay as infants. The characteristic of spiritual infant is endless wandering being tossed back and forth by the ideas of the world. This comes out from a fragile relationship with Father.

Jesus grew in his wisdom. One may say that since he is the Son of God that should be so natural. We also must know that he was fully man, he learned obedience through hardship. Likewise, Jesus’ decision to stay behind in order to be at his father’s house was the beginning of such growth.

I am extremely happy that all of you are here. All of you struggled with the words of God, Luke’s Gospel.  You read all and you put your thought on particular passages so that you may deliver messages.  In this way,  your mind and soul are all soaked with the words of God. This was your decision to come close to God. This is the source of wisdom and God will grow you by imparting His truth to you.

As we learned from the beginning of this message, God has begun a new work in each of your lives so that you may grow giants in God’s sight. Though you look like just a mustard seed barely visible to the people of the world.  But in years to come, you will grow to be pillars of US history, leading figures for the nations of the world.  The small decision to be with God and to delve into his word was actually a great and big decision. God will surely reward you with big things. Let’s grow in him and in his word!