Luke : Day 6

Read Luke 2: 41-52

“He’s his father’s son!” When someone says that, they mean that the son is just like his dad. He displays the same kinds of behaviour or way of talking. But who was Jesus like?

At this point in Luke’s account, Jesus was 12 years old. Luke described how Joseph and Mary left the Festival in Jerusalem before realising that Jesus had not travelled with their group. After three days they found him discussing the law of God with the teachers in the temple! They were understandably shocked that Jesus could treat them like this.

But it is clear from Jesus’ answer that as his wisdom and understanding deepened, His true Father had shown Him who he really was. Presumably his parents (mother and step-father!) had told him something about the angels and other amazing events connected to his birth. Now he was hungry to know what the Old Testament scriptures had to say about the Messiah. What was it that His Father had sent Him into the world to do?

On his thirteenth birthday Jesus would have become an adult (responsible for his own actions) following Jewish custom. He would have joined the men in the synagogue (Jewish place of worship). But that was not his focus. His love for God’s words and laws, and his understanding, went beyond other boys of his age. Jesus was preparing himself for the work that lay ahead.

He also gave his parents a reminder that his real future was not in carpentry like Joseph. He respected both his parents (verse 51), but he knew that He was the Son of God. It was the plan of His Heavenly Father that He wanted to follow. 

“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

Luke 2:49