The Son’s Glory Revealed

The Son’s Glory Revealed

Epiphany 1 T Luke 2

INI

Jesus’ first recorded words in all four Gospels come from when He was a 12-year-old boy. He said, “Why are you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Luke’s Gospel scratches an itch that many people have. I hear people ask all the time: What was Jesus like as a child? If he was sinless, did he never disobey His parents? When he would help his earthly father Joseph with the carpentry business, would he ever make mistakes? Or hit his thumb with the hammer on accident? How did Jesus play with other kids? Was he nice? Or was He arrogant? Did he know that He was the Son of God? For better or worse, the Scriptures leave us with more questions than answers.

The Gospels were written as a biography to Jesus’ life. But unlike our biographies, not every good story was told. Only the best, most important stories were written. As John writes at the end of His Gospel, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

So the fact that Luke chooses this story to record in His Gospel should cause us to pause. Luke was a historian of sorts, compiling the stories of Jesus into His Gospel. Most believe that he heard this story from Mary’s own mouth; hence, Luke adds “And Mary treasured these things in her heart”. Surely Luke heard more than one story about Jesus’ childhood from Mary- so why did he include this one?

As the story goes, Jesus was 12. The time of the year was the annual celebration of the feast of the Passover. The timing of this story is significant. But more on that later. The holy family went to Jerusalem to offer the required sacrifices for the feast, and celebrate the Passover night when God freed His people from Egypt. Once they were done celebrating, Mary and Joseph packed up and started the journey home, traveling with their family and friends back to Nazareth. They didn’t exactly have their eye on their son – they supposed He was in the wagon of one of his friends. However, after traveling for a day, they realized: they don’t have their son! If you’ve ever lost your child in a crowd before, I’m sure you know what Mary and Joseph felt!

So, Mary and Joseph made a U-turn and traveled back to Jerusalem. Once they got back to Jerusalem, they probably checked the house where they lodged. The probably checked the houses of the people they knew in Jerusalem. They asked around everywhere! It took three days before they finally found Jesus. To their surprise, Jesus was in Jerusalem’s Temple. He was there asking questions and listening to the Temple Rabbis. He demonstrated great understanding of the Scriptures, impressing the professionals with his youthful wisdom and understanding.

Finding their Son, Mary asked Jesus as any distressed mother would “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold your father and I have been searching for you in distress.” And Jesus responded with the question that every disciple of Jesus must be asked: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

            As mentioned before, this is Jesus’ earliest words recorded in any of the 4 Gospels. Luke purposely included this story, to write down these words of Jesus, because it shows us three things. First, it shows us Jesus’ true Father. Second, it shows us that Jesus knew His mission from an early age. Third, it shows us a theme for Jesus’ entire life: He’s sorely misunderstood.

First, this story shows us Jesus’ true Father. His Father is the heavenly Father. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit – thus demonstrating His divine nature. Yet, He was born of the virgin Mary – thus demonstrating His human nature. When Jesus was lost in Jerusalem, His location shouldn’t have surprised His parents. He was in His Father’s presence and glory in the Temple. Jesus knew where His Father was, as 1 Kings puts it – “the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” And Solomon even said – “I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

            So, Jesus was in God’s house. That shouldn’t be shocking. However, that’s not actually what Jesus said. The literal translation is “did you not know that it is necessary for me to be in the things of my Father?”

This clues us into the second takeaway from Jesus’ words: Jesus knew His mission from an early age. The translation in the King James Version says “I must be about my Father’s business.” English grammar demands we put something there for the sentence to make sense, but I prefer the literal translation – “it is necessary for me to be in the things of my Father.”

            This is an important distinction. When we say, “the Father’s business”, it focuses on the work God is doing in the Temple – like making atonement for sins through the blood of goats and lambs that were brought to be sacrificed in the Temple.

            But the phrase “the things of my Father” is much broader. It encompasses everything connected to God’s will – His presence, His Word, and His plans for creation. It’s not just about one specific task or thing God does in a specific location, but about being fully aligned with what matters to God in all things. Jesus’ entire life is a sacrifice in obedience to the things His Heavenly Father desires for all mankind.

            This distinction helps us see that Jesus’ words were not only about where He was at that moment, but about who Jesus is and what His mission is. He’s the once and for all sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who takes the sins of the whole world away. He’s the only perfect and acceptable sacrifice in Jerusalem’s Temple, where 20 short years later, He would be sacrificed on the altar of the cross. Here, Jesus makes atonement for the sins of His Father’s people.

            This story in Luke’s Gospel beautifully foreshadows the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The 12-year-old Jesus’ question to Mary, “Why were you looking for me?” mirrors the angel’s question to the women at the empty tomb: ‘why do you seek the living among the dead?’ (Luke 24:5). Furthermore, Mary treasuring all of Jesus’ words in her heart in Luke 2:51, anticipates the women at the tomb remembering His Words about His suffering, death, and resurrection. (Luke 24:8).

For through His innocent suffering and death, He makes you, the sinner, into a new creation. He makes your body a living sacrifice that’s holy and acceptable to God, much in a similar way that Jesus’ mission was to please His Father through the sacrifice of His body. Thus, we live and have our strength in and through the body of Jesus, which He, the Passover Lamb, gives us now at this altar.

This leads us to the third and final point why Luke included this story in His Gospel. It illustrates a common theme for the rest of Jesus’ life: He’s sorely misunderstood. Mary misunderstood Jesus.  Right after Jesus said his words to Mary and Jospeh, Luke records: “and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.” They didn’t understand that Jesus spoke of His upcoming passion. Likewise, even Jesus’ closest disciples didn’t understand Jesus’ predications of His passion. Even though we, the readers of Luke’s narrative know who Jesus is and what His mission is, those closest to him, the ones who know Him best, seemed incapable of understanding Jesus’ words, and thus, His mission.

Now, Jesus asks us the same thing He asked Mary: ‘Why were you looking for me?’ We might think we have Jesus figured out. But humanity shows themselves to seek Jesus for all the wrong reasons. And it often stems from a misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission. It can be tempting to take Jesus’ gracious invitation to prayer and turn Him into a genie in a bottle. It can be tempting to see Jesus as a miracle performer, and value restoration in this life over and above patiently waiting for the restoration to come. It can be tempting to make Jesus into our own creation by ignoring his purpose and mission. It’s tempting to ignore Jesus’ clear words on one issue or another – whether it be marriage, loving and praying for our enemies, living a life of humility and forgiveness, or what a life lived as a living sacrifice to the Father looks like. We misunderstand Jesus for one reason or another – whether that be because we don’t understand Him, or we simply don’t want His words to be true, just like Peter didn’t want Jesus’ prediction about His betrayal and death to be true.

So let’s clear the air. Jesus isn’t here to make your life better according to your pleasure. He’s here to make you into a living sacrifice that’s pleasing to Him – not necessarily to you. That means, His change for you might be painful for the Old Adam in you. For He’s here to re-new your mind and re-new your spirit. So as Paul encourages us to do – let’s not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Instead, let us embrace Paul’s words later in Romans 12, where he shows us what is means to live as living sacrifices –  “Let love be genuine… Outdo one another in showing honor… Don’t be slothful… Rejoice in hope, and be patient in tribulation… bless those who persecute you… and live in harmony with one another.” These actions are fruit of a life transformed and renewed by the living Christ.

You are Jesus’ mission. He came to fulfill His Father’s will, and that will was to redeem you through His sacrifice. Just as He was found in His Father’s house, doing the things of His Father, He is here now – in His Father’s house, doing His Father’s will, making you into a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Father. Trust in Christ, who not only asks us “Why were you looking for me?” He also provides the answer, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

INI