Jesus Grew – Luke 2:39-52

Luke 2:39-52Key Verse 2:40

“And the child grew and became strong and was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year: The lights, families, and friends getting together, a day off work, a time for a special meal and rest. But above all it is the Birthday of the greatest king who ever lived. Jesus Christ the Son of God who came all the way from heaven to earth to save us! “The Journey of Love” about three magi who traveled a great distance and came to Jerusalem to worship and honor Baby Jesus the King of the Jews.

We also learnt of a moving story if a father and his paraplegic son, Dick and his son Rick Hoyt. The story reminded me of being that paraplegic and Jesus as any father who loved me so much that he overlooked my deformity and cared for me with eternal love, even dying for the sins of ugly me who only deserved nothing but God’s wrath. And last Sunday we learned of God sending his son as a baby in a manger. Jesus’ parents were so poor they couldn’t afford a crib but borrowed a feeding trough from the pigs and cattle. Yet the Bible says Jesus who was rich became poor so that we could be rich. Rich towards God and inherit eternal life. Today we are going to learn how a baby in the manger grew in wisdom and in favor with God and people, and how through God’s grace he developed God’s mission for his life that included his death on the cross and our redemption.

JESUS GROWING YEARS IN NAZARETH 2:39-40

Matthew tells us in his gospel that as a child, Jesus and his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph escaped the hostility of King Herod, the great sinner. After the death of Herod, they returned to the Land of Israel and settled in Nazareth. Nazareth was about 65 miles north of Jerusalem here Jesus grew up.

It was in Nazareth that as Jesus grew he also prepared for his ministry. Luke tells us in v. 40 “And the child grew and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Luke repeats this in verse 52 adding Jesus grew and increased in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.  What do these verses mean and what are their implications? Here we learn Jesus grew and became strong referring to his physical development and was filled with wisdom referring to his intellectual attainments. At this time he had also developed a good command of language, he could speak Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek fluently as shown in the gospels, Jesus interacting with various other people including Greeks. Luke also recorded his spiritual development when he said, “The grace of God was upon him.” He was definitely conversant with the Old Testament scriptures and had memorized great portions of it by this time. In v.52 Luke adds that Jesus grew in favor with God and men. Growing in favor with God shows he pleased God in his growing years and growing in favor with men refers to his social development. We too must grow in a balanced way in all the four areas mentioned if we are going to be effective as citizens of the USA and the world. That is physically, intellectually, spiritually, and socially.

JESUS VISITS JERUSALEM ON FATHER’S BUSINESS 2:41-50

The law required that Jews attend the Feast of the Passover which Jesus’ parents did every year. At 12 years old Jesus was old enough to start attending this festival so his parents brought him to Jerusalem with them. It is during this visit that while he interacted with the doctors of the law and the response to his mother’s question that we learn Jesus already understood his mission. After eight days of the Passover (Luke 22:1, John 19:4, and Acts 12:3-4) Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth, however, just days into their trip they realized they forgot one detail, Jesus was not with them. After searching and not finding him among the relatives they returned to Jerusalem and searched for him there. On the third day they found him in the temple mingling with teachers of the law.He was listening to them and asking intelligent questions.  [How are we doing in our listening, do we remember we have 2 ears and one mouth? What kind of questions do we ask? Are they questions that show an eagerness to learn or show our utter ignorance?]Everyone was amazed at his understanding [knowledge] and answers [wisdom]. When Mary and Joseph saw him they were astonished, “struck out of senses perhaps with Joy (cf 4:32, 9:43).In response to Mary’s question about why he had treated them in this manner, Jesus drew a sharp distinction between them and God, his true father 2:49. His statement shows he knew his mission and that his earthly parents should have known about his mission. However, his parents did not understand this. The things of God are deep that is why we should seek the Lord always and ask him to help us not only to make wise decisions but to grant us wisdom to understand his will and purpose for our life. James 1:5 tells us “if anyone of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (b) What was Jesus’ mission i.e. must be in my father’s house or about my father’s business v.49. The Bible tells us that in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” By the seventh day of creation God had created a wonderful heaven full of amazing stars and a great deal of height and breath and a beautiful Earth full of all kinds of animal, vegetation, flying birds and marine animals. He also created man in his image. Genesis 1:26 says “Then God said let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and all of the creatures that move along the ground.” V.27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him male and female he created them.

Man was God’s most treasured creature of all he had made. Because man and woman were created in God’s image. God loved them. In fact after creation God looked at what he had made and said in Genesis 1:31 “…and saw it was very good.” However, in Genesis chapter 3 men fell into temptation, beguiled by the devil and sinned against the Lord. With that came the curse and man and woman fell in despair but because the Lord loved them so much he promised redemption, Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” Jesus came to fulfill this promise. He defeated Satan at Calvary on the cross and all who look to Jesus have the curse lifted and their sin problem taken care of. Jesus’ mission was to reveal God to us, and destroy him who had the power of death, Satan, and to save us from our sins so that we can live with God forever.

JESUS GROWTH IN ALL AREAS OF LIFE 51-52

Luke tells us Jesus was obedient to Joseph and Mary in case readers may think otherwise from the last paragraph. The Bible has a lot to say about obedience. Eph. 6:1-3 says “children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with a promise. That it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Christ Jesus is a good example of an obedient life that pleases God and people. Don’t think I forgot parents; as parents we have responsibility to our children. Eph 6:4 states, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” In conclusion in v .52, how can we develop a good relationship with our Lord Jesus, our heavenly father, and a healthy relationship with one another? I leave you with A.C.T.S. This stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. In other words Pray without ceasing and I guarantee you everyday will be as joyful as Christmas.