We're going to turn for our scripture reading to the gospel according to Luke. I'm going to read the verses 39 through 52, and the text is the verses 41 through 52. Luke 2, 39 through 52, and the text 41 through 52. Page 1091. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. And now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey. But then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. And he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man." So far the reading of God's Word. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, whenever we're studying a passage in the Bible, it's usually helpful and important to try to answer the question, Why is this story, why is this teaching recorded in the Bible? And sometimes the answer to that question is quite obvious, like when a prophet's warning the people of Israel about their sin, or one of the apostles is writing a letter to address a particular false teaching or immoral lifestyle practice in the church. But sometimes it's not so easy to figure that out, and our text for this morning is one of those passages. We might not even think about asking why this story is in the Bible, because we feel like we already know why it's here. It's here to tell us something about what Jesus did, something that happened to Jesus while he was growing up. And that's why we kind of like this story, because it gives us a glimpse into Jesus' childhood. And it's the only story like that that we have in the whole Bible. In fact, we'd like to have a lot more stories like this, about Jesus growing up years, because we're actually pretty curious about what that must have been like, might have been like. Some people say that this story is in the Bible because this is the kind of thing that the ancient Greeks and Romans used to do when they were writing the life story of one of their heroes. Then they would make up stories about what things that their heroes were supposed to have done when they were children. And because they did these amazing things when they were children, that already shows that they ought to be our heroes, and they ought to be people in whom we can trust, for example. And they would make up these stories of superhuman things that their heroes did. And in the early church, there were people who made up stories about amazing things that Jesus did when He was a boy. They made up stories about Jesus creating sparrows out of the dust on a Sabbath, about bringing a dead boy to life. Cursing another boy because he ran into him, so that he withered and he died, and striking another boy dead. This story that we have here in Luke 2 isn't a story about Jesus performing a miracle, and not Jesus doing anything that showed that he had divine power. One of the commentators says this story about the 12-year-old Jesus is simple enough to tell, but it's hard to understand what it really means. The question is, why do we need to know this about Jesus? Why do we need to know? There's not a lot of room in the Bible for all kinds of stories. Why did Luke choose this story? Why did the Holy Spirit direct Luke to choose this story? And see to it that you and I and believers throughout the ages would know that this happened to Jesus when He was twelve years old. What does this reveal to us about Jesus? For our comfort. We find the answer to that question really in what Jesus said to his mother when she rebuked him for staying behind in Jerusalem without telling his parents. Jesus said, did you not know that I must be in my father's house? I'm going to preach God's Word to you this morning under the theme, Jesus must be in His Father's house. First, to His parents' distress, and second, by His Father's decree. Jesus must be in His Father's house, to His parents' distress, by His Father's decree. There are so many things we'd like to know about Jesus as a child. What kind of boy was He really? What was it like for Mary and Joseph to have a child in their home who was always perfectly obedient? What was home life like in the home of Joseph and Mary? Did Jesus, in fact, work in the carpenter shop with his father? That's what we imagine, but the Bible never says that's what Jesus did. As the oldest son, when his father Joseph died, did Jesus have to step in and take over the family business and look after the family? We don't get answers to those questions. This is the only story we have about anything that happened to Jesus in his growing up years. Some people think that this trip that we read about that Jesus took with Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem was the first time He ever traveled to Jerusalem, and that He went along on this occasion this year because He had turned twelve. And when a Jewish boy turns twelve or maybe thirteen, he would become a bar mitzvah, a son of the commandment. It's almost like our public profession of faith. You take responsibility, you might say, for yourself as covenant partner, as a member of God's people for your own spiritual behavior and your own life with the Lord and worship of the Lord. And that has been a custom among the Jews for a long time, but there's really no evidence to show it was already a custom in that time, that a 12-year-old boy would become bar mitzvah and then for the first time make the journey for the Passover feast and the other feasts. But as a devout man, we know Joseph to be devout, as a devout man, Joseph would have done what the Lord commanded three times. Certainly, he would travel to Jerusalem for the great feasts. And when we read in verse 44 of Luke 2 that Jesus' parents assumed that He was in the group and they looked for Him among their relatives and acquaintances, we get the impression that this was a journey that would be made by the whole family. And so it's possible, it's even likely maybe, that this was not the first time that Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover. Jesus' development, not only as childhood, but Jesus' development as Messiah, his consciousness of his role, of who he was and what he had come to do, that's also a secret to us. We wonder, when did he realize who he was? When did he really understand what he had come to do? In our minds, we really don't see a process, we don't imagine a process of growth or development in this regard. He was the Son of God. So in our minds, He would always have known. He would always have understood everything, basically from His birth. But in verse 40, Luke says it was a process. Jesus didn't only grow in stature, didn't only grow physically, He grew in wisdom. It's not really how we think about Jesus, having to grow in wisdom. can understand why would the Son of God have to grow in wisdom? But that's what Luke says. On the one hand, he describes Jesus consciously, purposely as the boy Jesus. On the other hand, he was 12 years old by that time. From this story, it's clear he obviously had a pretty clear understanding of who he was and what he had come to do. Luke doesn't tell us anything about what Jesus saw or what Jesus did during the feast. He doesn't talk about the impression that the feast might have made on Jesus. But again, you think about this, you think of who Jesus was, you think of what it was for Him to go to the temple and to see the sacrifices and to see the Passover lamb sacrificed and all those lambs slaughtered. And for Jesus to go through all the rituals of the Passover feast knowing, conscious as a 12-year-old boy, this is all a picture, this is all a prophecy of what's going to happen to me. It's all a prophecy of my death on the cross. When the feast was ended, as his parents and the rest of his family were returning to Nazareth, the boy, Jesus, says Luke, stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn't know it. He obviously didn't tell them beforehand, but they weren't too concerned yet when at first they didn't pick him out of the crowd or the group that they were traveling back to Nazareth with. They just supposed he was somewhere in the group. It was only after they'd been on the way for a whole day. Maybe he didn't show up when it was time to eat. Maybe they said, oh, they started to actually look and say, well, where is he actually? And they didn't see him anywhere. And that's when they started worrying. And they began to search among their relatives and acquaintances, probably people that they had traveled to Jerusalem who came from their own town, but they couldn't find him anywhere. And so they went back to Jerusalem searching for him. Again, Luke doesn't give us any details about what was going through the minds of Mary and Joseph, what they would have been thinking, what could have happened to their son, where they all went to look for him in Jerusalem. In a way, no father or mother needs Luke to tell them what these parents must have been going through, what kinds of things must have been going through their minds. Jesus was not an infant or a toddler all the same. He was a boy, and Jerusalem was a big city. All kinds of people were in the city of Jerusalem, certainly for the Passover. It was a dangerous place in that regard. So there was plenty for these parents to worry about. Plenty of things they could have imagined might now be happening to their son. Just the way that we start to imagine what might happen or have happened to a child we lost track of in the department store or at some sporting event or some place where there are big crowds. We immediately imagine the worst and we may assume that Joseph and Mary did too. It must have been agony for them, and Luke says it wasn't until the third day that they found him. A day's journey from Jerusalem, a day's journey back to Jerusalem. Finally, sometime on that third day, at last, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Again, we don't know how many places they looked or what parts of the city they looked in, but this was of all the places they thought they might find Him, and of all the things they thought Jesus might be doing, this 12-year-old boy in Jerusalem, they clearly had not thought, they had not thought at first at least that they would find Him in the temple, in an area where the rabbis, the scholars would be. They would sit and they would teach and they would discuss. And of all things, their son Jesus was the center of the discussion, the center of attention. Now again, there are things we would love to know. We'd love to know what were they talking about? What kind of theological topics were the rabbis and Jesus discussing? Which laws, which prophecies, which Bible stories were Jesus and the teachers talking about? We'd love to see a picture of how they stood and how it went. Was Jesus the 12-year-old boy actually the one who was doing the teaching? Again, that's what some commentators suggest. But Luke doesn't give us any of those details. Maybe we like to think that he was the one doing the teaching because that would be a little bit like those Greek and Roman hero stories. An amazing thing that Jesus did at 12 years old. But Luke does say that those who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. But that might mean they were amazed at the way in which he responded to things the rabbi said and the kind of questions that he asked them. You shouldn't think that Jesus is here as a boy kind of showing off to these older men, these learned and respected scholars in Israel, how smart He was about the Bible. Maybe not doing miracles, but doing amazing theological, exegetical tricks to show He actually knew, He actually understood more than the rabbis did. People were amazed when they heard him, and we take nothing away from that. But it doesn't say here that Jesus was the one who was teaching the rabbis. Amazing enough that the people who heard him, that as a 12-year-old boy, he could follow, he could understand what these scholars were saying, and he could ask intelligent and insightful questions. Well, Luke says, when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And literally he says they were struck with a shock. Struck, Luke says, as if by a physical blow. They were astonished as his parents that he had stayed behind in Jerusalem without asking them for permission, telling them what he was going to do. They were astonished when they finally found him involved in this discussion with the rabbis. They had never seen Jesus this way. For them, this was a different Jesus than the boy they knew in the family home. It is a kind of curious thing that happens when parents are afraid they've lost one of their children and they search and they search and they finally find their child. But once more, every parent, I think, can identify with the way Mary spoke to Jesus when they finally found him. Now, you might think, A parent looking for a lost child, hasn't seen her son for three days, finally finds him. What would you, you might say, what would you expect her to do? You'd say, she's going to run to her son. She's going to throw her arms around her son and say, thank God, we found you again. But instead, she was angry at him. And parents can relate to that. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so? Isn't that kind of how parents react? What are you thinking? What were you doing? Why did you run away? Why did you leave us? Why did you let go of my hand? They become angry at the child when they finally find him. And Mary was angry at Jesus. Why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. In a way we understand this, and maybe we can say Luke understands it too. You pay attention to the way that Luke speaks about Jesus throughout this passage. He calls him the boy Jesus. He keeps referring to Mary and Joseph as his parents. They thought he would be with the family, with the group traveling home to Nazareth after the feast. He was their boy, and that's where he should have been, with them or with the group. Luke calls Mary his mother, and Mary puts a very heavy emphasis on who Jesus is for them. Son, why did you treat us this way? Heavy emphasis on what Jesus is, or who they are, rather, for Jesus. Your Father and I have been searching for you. And we don't fault Mary for any of that, but just the same. She doesn't seem to realize, doesn't seem to remember what Simeon said to her when they met Simeon, that old man in the temple. And among other things that Simeon said about the Lord Jesus, he said, I've seen God's salvation. He's going to be a light for glory to the nations. Maybe they were very proud of that as parents or at least thankful, certainly they should have been. But he also said to Mary, because this is your child, a sword will pierce through your own soul also. This is the beginning of Mary's suffering as the mother of the Christ. Somehow in the 12 years that passed between that conversation with Simeon, in the 12 years that passed since Gabriel visited her and Jesus was born, As the family had lived its more or less normal life there in Nazareth from day to day with all the routines of normal family life, Mary had forgotten that her boy didn't belong to her the way all other boys belong to their fathers and mothers and their families. Gabriel had said, he shall be called holy, the Son of God. Mary, this boy you're going to give birth to belongs to God. Simeon said, I have seen the Lord's salvation. That's that boy. He's the salvation of God. He had come to be a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Israel. And so Jesus said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know I must be in my father's house? Pay attention to Jesus' first question. Why were you looking for me? For us, it's perfectly obvious why they were looking for him. They were his parents. He was a 12-year-old boy. He was their son. They didn't know where he was for three days. Of course, they looked for him. What else would parents do? But Jesus says to Mary and Joseph, you shouldn't have been looking for me. Not because I'm 12 now and I can look after myself. Not because, you know, Mary, I'm the Son of God and I can take care of myself. You shouldn't have been looking for me because you know who I am. Who I am for God and for His people. You know why I came into this world. You know I have a mission. I have work to do for my Father. Didn't you know, which of course, it's a rhetorical question, of course you do know I must be in my Father's house. Now we notice what Jesus says and what Jesus makes very clear. Some discussion now about what His exact words might have been. Maybe you notice at the bottom of the page in your Bible, a little footnote underneath there that tells you, you may also translate Jesus' words this way, didn't you know I must be about my Father's business? Well, the reason why we have two different ways of translating Jesus' words is because he didn't actually say, my father's house. He didn't actually say, my father's business. Very literally, he says, didn't you know, I must be in the blank. There's nothing there of my father. And so the most straightforward way, a little bit awkward maybe for us, but the most straightforward way of translating his words is probably, didn't you know, I must be in the things of my father. Well, the commentators explain then why they think we should put this word in there, or like, my father's house, or the other word, my father's business. But whichever option we choose, Jesus' point is clear. He has work to do for his father. That's what his life is all about. And as far as that goes, there's no difference in saying, I must be in my father's house, or I must be about my father's business. Because his father's business has everything to do with what happens in his father's house. What is His Father's business? What is God the Father doing in this world? He is saving His elect. He is gathering and defending and preserving His congregation for eternal life. He is glorifying His own name by forgiving sinners, by turning His enemies into His children. by reconciling the world to himself in Jesus Christ and not counting men's sins against them. That's the Father's business. And that's the reason for everything that ever happened in the temple. The sacrifices and the blood that was poured out on the altar to atone for the people's sin. The worship of the people and the ceremonies and the celebration of salvation and the feasts that were celebrated there. the instruction in the law that took place in the temple, the blessings that the priests pronounced on the people when they'd been forgiven, the blessing of God's presence and God's favor with them. The temple was where God and His people came together, where we might say God's people enjoyed eternal life in an Old Testament form. The father's house is where the father is doing what is his business. But we also have to recognize Jesus' answer to his parents was a word of correction, because they could only see him as their boy, as their son, whose identity, whose place in the world was wrapped up with them, first of all, and their family. And Jesus says to them, and it must have cut them like a knife to hear it, didn't you know I must be in my father's house? So there's a conflict or a contest between these two relationships for Jesus. Does Jesus belong to Mary and Joseph and the rest of his family? Yes, he does. Does he belong to his heavenly father? Yes, he does. It's not either or. And Luke, in verse 51 rather, Luke says, and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. Jesus, as the son of Joseph and Mary, had obligations to them as their child and he fulfilled them. He loved his father and mother and he obeyed them. But he says, I do this in the context of my identity and my mission from my father in heaven. He submitted himself to Joseph and Mary as part of his submission to his father in heaven. And he asked them, didn't you know I must be in my father's house? That's a theme, that's a motif that runs through the whole gospel according to Luke. We find this thought of what must be done, what ought to be done, what is necessary to be done all through the gospel. In Luke 4, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. In Luke 9, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. In Luke 13, ought not this woman, in other words, was it not necessary for this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for 18 years, to be loosed on the Sabbath day? In Luke 17, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Luke 22, this Scripture must be fulfilled in me. And He was numbered with the transgressors. In Luke 24, he's explaining the whole Old Testament to his disciples. The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified on the third day rise. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Everything written about me in the law of Moses and prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. But now comes another motif, another repeated theme, not just in Luke, but in all the Gospels. Luke basically says, they didn't get it. They did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. It doesn't say they didn't remember what Gabriel said, they didn't remember what Simeon said about their son. It says they didn't understand what he said. Just like the disciples again and again did not understand when he told them what he must do until he spelled it all out for them after he'd risen from the dead. All those times, right from this day in the temple with his parents till those days with his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus is saying the same thing to them as he says to Mary. I must be in my father's house. I must be about my father's business. This is what I came for. This is my father's decree. This is my father's will. And he has to say it again and again. to the people who loved Him, and the people who followed Him, and even to those who believed in Him. Because it is the gospel, and the gospel is a mystery to the human mind and the human heart. But even though this is a sword that pierces through your soul, Mary, this is good news for you. Good news. This is the best news we can hear from Jesus. It was his father's will to save his people. That already is good news. He does so by sending his son, born of woman, born under the law, so that by his death on the cross, he might redeem all those who were under the law. And the gospel to us is already as a 12-year-old boy, Jesus not only had the consciousness that he's the son of God, my father's house, he's aware of that. He's not only aware that his father has sent him to die for sinners because the father had decreed it, had decided to glorify himself by redeeming sinners to be his own beloved people. But the good news is also Jesus gives Himself to it, Jesus committed Himself to it. It's not just my Father's will, it is my will, it is my intention. to do that for which my Father sent me. It is my will, even having seen at the Passover what it's going to mean for me. It is my will, my intention to fulfill all the shadows, all the promises of the Passover. All the shadows and promises of the whole Old Testament ministry that happens in the temple. I have come to be the Lamb of God. with His life, with His blood, takes away the sin of the world. Amen. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we thank You that this, we may say it this way, this picture of Jesus emerges in the very opening pages of the gospel. that when he was conscious of it all, when he had come to an age where he could develop purposes of his own, when he had grown in stature and in wisdom, and he was confronted directly in the sacrifice and the ceremonies of the Passover, when he knew that the blood of those lambs was a picture of his own blood, When He was confronted by a lack of understanding of His mission by those who loved Him most, those who should have known best of all who He was and what He had come to do, He was still committed, willing to give Himself. Father, what a comfort it is for us to see the Lord Jesus and to know such love, His love for you. and His love for us, and His willingness then to be for us and for you all that you had sent Him to be and to do. Father, help us that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is strengthened and our freedom to rely on Him and to trust in Him as our salvation will be increased. because we see Him this way in Your Word, because You reveal Him to us this way in Your Word. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.