Summary: What can we learn from the first recorded conversation of Jesus? Parenting skills; Learning; Studying; Obedience; restoring relationships. There is a lot to be learned from 12 year old Jesus.
All Scripture is God – Breathed and useful for…
2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, …
But this year we are going to be paying special attention to the Red Letters.
Let’s begin to look at some conversations with Jesus…
The first one recorded took place at His Fathers house.
Luke 2:39-52 (NIV)
1) Parenting skills: v. 39 – 45
a) Kids will do as they are taught.
i) Mary and Joseph were faithful to things of God and their children were faithful to things of God.
(1) Acts 1:14 (NIV) 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
(a) Stay out of the house of God for any and every excuse and don’t be surprised when your kids don’t want to come to church.
(b) You must be faithful with the things of God if you want your children to.
(2) You must be faithful and sacrificial.
(a) The journey to the temple and festivals were not easy…
b) Those who attended the festivals usually traveled in caravans for protection from robbers along the Palestine roads.
i) It was customary for the women and children to travel at the front of the caravan, with the men bringing up the rear.
(1) A twelve-year-old boy conceivably could have been in either group, and both Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with the other one.
(a) Communicate! Learn to communicate!
(2) Their caravan probably included a large number of people.
(a) So it was not until they were ready to strike camp that Mary and Joseph checked for Jesus among the other travelers… and found him lost.
2) Temple Court:
a) After three days they found Him in the temple courts.
i) The “three days” refer to the time since they had left the city.
(1) They had traveled one day’s journey away from the city (Luke 2:44); it took them a second day to get back; they found Him on the following day.
(i) Mary expressed all the normal emotions of parents who have lost their children.
(ii) Mary and Joseph were acting like they had a normal parent-child relationship with Jesus.
1. They were not living in the light of the great miracles and prophecies they had experienced concerning their son.
a. Momma was still Momma!
b) The Temple courts were famous throughout Judea as places of learning.
i) At the time of the Passover, the greatest rabbis of the land would assemble to teach and to discuss great truths among themselves.
(1) Jesus would have been eager to listen and to ask probing questions.
(a) It was not his youth, but the depth of his wisdom, that amazed these teachers
(2) By the time Jesus was 12 years old, He understood His mission on earth.
(a) Emphasis children’s camp and youth camp / convention.
3) Learning/ Studying
a) When they found Jesus, He was interacting with the teachers of the Law, listening and asking intelligent questions.
i) Everyone... was amazed at His understanding and His answers.
(1) When Mary and Joseph saw Him, they were astonished (exeplagçsan, “struck out of their senses,” perhaps with joy;).
b) Luke 2:49 (NKJV) 49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
i) His statement confirmed that He knew His mission and that His parents also should have known about His mission.
(1) Jesus surely felt concerned that he had caused his parents distress, but it made perfect sense to him that he would be in his Father’s house,
(a) This is the first mention of Jesus’ awareness that he was God’s Son (he called God “my Father”).
(i) His relationship with his Father in heaven superseded his human family and even his human home.
ii) Mary and Joseph knew he was God’s Son, they didn’t understand what his mission would involve.
(1) You can’t fully understand another man’s mission.
TS. Do you want to be a preacher? Do you want to be a minister? Stay in the House of the Lord.
c) The Determination of the Preacher / Minister
i) Our Lord Jesus is the ultimate example of determination.
(1) As a child, he asked, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
(2) As a man he said John 4:34 (NIV) 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
ii) Are you really determined to be a minister?
(1) Jesus said that His food is to do the will of the father.
(a) It was what kept Him substained.