Christianity is not merely a philosophy or a teaching. It is a relationship with a person – Jesus Christ. We are His followers. In school we study subjects – Bulgarian, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and so on. As disciples of Jesus, however, we do not study some subject. We do not even study theology; we study Jesus Christ. We strive to have a relationship with Him, to be His followers. Christ is our example to imitate. And so, today we will look at what Jesus did when He was twelve years old.
In Luke 2:41-52 it says:
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:41-52)
AT TWELVE YEARS OLD
In verse 42 we are told that this happened when Jesus was “twelve years old.” At twelve years old, Jesus was no longer a “little child,” as He is called in verse 40. At twelve years old, Jesus was already “the boy Jesus.” At twelve years old, Jesus was on the way to becoming a teenager. This word – “teenager” – comes from the fact that in English the years from thirteen to nineteen end in the syllable “teen” – “thirteen,” “fourteen,” and so on up to “nineteen.” In other words, a “teenager” is a person between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, and the years from thirteen to nineteen are called the “teen” years. Now Jesus was twelve. Twelve is not a “teen” year, but He was on the way to becoming a teenager.
Jesus’ parents had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover before this as well, but never until this moment had Jesus done what He did when He was twelve years old. Evidently, there is something that happens to children at a certain point in their development. For some this moment may come when they are ten, for others when they are fourteen, but there comes a moment in the lives of boys and girls when they begin to understand the things that have to do with God and serving Him. And so, this morning we will reflect on this question – how can we be teenagers like Jesus? How can I be a teenager like Jesus?
LEARNING
Verse 46 tells us that Jesus was in the temple, “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” What does this mean? This was the way children were taught in those days. They sat in the synagogue or in the temple and learned from the rabbis.
A STUDENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Isaiah chapter 50 contains prophecies about the Messiah. The words of Isaiah 50:5-6 are interpreted as a prophecy about the obedience of Christ when He was humbled and willingly went to the cross. There it says:
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. (Isaiah 50:5-6)
This is a prophecy about what was fulfilled when Jesus went to the cross. They beat Him, spat on Him, ridiculed Him, mocked Him, humiliated Him.
But look at how it all begins. For before this prophecy about the suffering Messiah, before verses 5 and 6, verse 4 says:
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. (Isaiah 50:4)
When He was young, and especially when He was twelve and afterward, Jesus would wake up in the morning and pray. In that prayer He learned to hear from God the Father. God gave Him this “opened ear” so that He could listen to God’s words and so have the leading of the Holy Spirit in His life.
The first thing Jesus did as a teenager was that He learned. But He learned not only knowledge for life; He learned knowledge of the kingdom of God – knowledge about God, knowledge with which He could serve others. Jesus was a student of the Holy Spirit. Even though He Himself was one of the persons of the Trinity, having become incarnate in flesh and become man, Jesus had need to learn. And every morning God the Father woke Him, woke His spiritual ear, so that He might listen and learn like one being instructed.
These verses speak of direct messages from God. Such direct messages and guidance could be received only through prayer. So, when Jesus was a teenager, He learned to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit. When He was a teenager, Jesus prayed, and He was a student of the Holy Spirit. If you want to be a teenager like Jesus, become a student of the Holy Spirit. If you want to be a teenager like Jesus, be a person of prayer. Let God prompt you, let Him lead you. Learn to follow His leading, so that you can help “with a word” the weary, the downcast, those who are in a hard place.
A STUDENT OF GOD’S WORD
Even though He was God incarnate in a human body, Jesus still needed to learn and to acquire knowledge in the way that we, as human beings, learn. This is the first thing we must do if we want to be followers of Jesus – to learn – and this applies not only to teenagers but to adults as well. Because it does not matter how old you are physically; the question is how mature you are spiritually. God desires that children be successful in school. He is pleased when they are educated and grow in knowledge. He wants them to handle their schoolwork and to have good grades in school.
But there is something else, because not all people have the same gift for learning, and different people take in new knowledge in different ways. Whether or not we are or were good students in school, God wants all of us to be good in the school of the Holy Spirit, to be good followers of Christ, to be good students of His Word.
When I was a student, I was greatly encouraged by Psalm 119:99. There it says:
99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. (Psalm 119:99)
Think about your teachers. How clever they are and how much they know in their fields of teaching. Yet I had the boldness to say: “I have more insight than all my teachers.” Not because I am proud, but because I meditated on God’s Word. For me this was something extremely encouraging, and I had taken it for myself. While I studied at the university, I had exceptionally good professors. Unfortunately, however, almost all of them were atheists; they rejected God and faith in Him. How many of your teachers – I am speaking to the children – believe in God? We were blessed that our younger son’s homeroom teacher was our sister in the Lord, but unfortunately she is an exception. Today many people are exceptionally intelligent, they know a great deal, but unfortunately they reject God. This is precisely why we, who meditate on God’s Word, have more insight than they do. Not because we know more than they do, but because we meditate on God’s “statutes” (Psalm 119:99).
So, teenagers, be students of Jesus, be students of God’s Word, be students of the Holy Spirit. Be good in school, but be even better in the spiritual disciplines – prayer, reading and obeying God’s Word, giving, fighting against temptation and sin, serving others, witnessing for Jesus.
THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE
Learning from God’s Law is not simply so that we can show how much we know. Today there are competitions in Bible knowledge, and we encourage our children to take part in them. Because in this way they will be able to learn more about God’s Word. But there are people who study the Bible simply so that they can defeat others in an argument – only so that they can show how much they know. But God desires that we meditate on His Word not simply to know it, but to carry it out and obey it. For in Luke 12:48 it says that “from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48). For God, knowledge without obedience is something completely unacceptable. It is disobedience, and it is sin. In Proverbs 28:9 it says:
9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable. (Proverbs 28:9)
That is, if you read the Word, which is the Law for us, but nevertheless you do not obey it and you think, “Oh, I can live however I want,” and then when you fall into need you begin to pray to God, “Lord, help me!” – if you want things from God, but you do not obey His Word, your prayer is not pleasing to God. And not only is it not pleasing to God, but here it says that to Him such a prayer is “detestable,” something abhorrent to Him.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD
Jesus, of course, did not simply study the Word. He carried it out. In this way Jesus grew in wisdom.
In the conclusion of the passage, verse 52 says that Jesus “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” If you want to “grow” in wisdom, you must begin from its foundation. What is it? What is the foundation of wisdom? In the introduction to the book of wisdom, the book of Proverbs, in 1:7 it says:
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
The fear of the Lord is where we begin. Teenagers, if you want to live like Jesus, if you want to be teenagers like Jesus, have in your hearts the fear of the Lord!
When we listen to God’s Word, each of us must take it personally for ourselves. As we listen, we are inclined to say to ourselves, “Ah, that is for this one, or for that one.” But it does not concern someone else. It concerns you, it concerns me.
The fear of the Lord is reverence toward Him and the sincere desire to live a life pleasing to Him, not breaking His commands. The fear of the Lord is to guard ourselves against wrong friendships. In Proverbs 1:10-16 it tells us who the wrong friends are that we should guard against. The fear of the Lord is our desire to know God as well as we possibly can. In Proverbs 9:10 it says:
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
COMMUNION
Learning is not an end in itself. We study the Bible so that we may better come to know the author of the Bible. How can you come to know a person? By communing with him, by spending time with him, by living with him.
At twelve years of age Jesus was mature enough to accept the fact that God was not simply some white-bearded old man who lives somewhere out there. Jesus accepted the fact that God is His spiritual Father, and He desired to commune with Him and to build a relationship with Him. At twelve years old Jesus wanted to build a relationship with the Father. At twelve years old Jesus wanted to commune with the Father.
Traditionally the Passover lasted seven days. Jesus became so absorbed in studying the Law that when the caravan for Nazareth set out, He simply missed it. According to some historians, in those days the women walked at the front of the caravan and the men at the back. Because they were separated, perhaps Joseph thought that Jesus was with His mother up front, while Mary perhaps thought that Jesus was with His father at the back. At one point, however, when evening came, Mary asked Joseph, “Where is Jesus?” and Joseph asked Mary, “Where is Jesus?” Joseph said, “I thought He was with you!” and Mary said, “I thought He was with you!” And they set out to look for Him, but Jesus was not there. And the caravan was so long that it took a whole day to search.
43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. (Luke 2:43-45)
Where did Joseph and Mary find Jesus? In the temple.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. (Luke 2:46)
When they saw Him, Joseph and Mary were surely astonished. Jesus was not simply asking questions; He was giving answers, and answers of such a kind that the teachers listened to Him with delight.
47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Luke 2:47)
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER
When Joseph and Mary saw Jesus, they rejoiced, they were astonished, but at the same time His mother rebuked Him. If you lost your child and found him after three days, would you rejoice? But would there also be some disciplining?
48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” (Luke 2:48)
How did Jesus answer?
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)
Jesus was “further along with the material” than they were, and He wondered how they could be searching for Him. This is the first time we hear Jesus call God His “Father.” He said, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” These words show us that Jesus had realized that in a unique way He is the Son of God.
Of course, Jesus is God, but we too, to a certain degree, are children of God. In John 1:12 it says:
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— (John 1:12)
When we are born again, God becomes our heavenly Father.
Notice the contrast in the way Mary and Jesus use the word “father,” in Greek “pater” or “patros.” She says to Him, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Whom did Mary have in mind when she spoke of Jesus’ father? Joseph. Jesus answered her, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Whom did Jesus have in mind when He spoke of His father? Mary was speaking of Jesus’ earthly father, while He was speaking of His Heavenly Father. Moreover, speaking of God, He did not call Him our Father – in the plural – but called Him my Father – in the singular. This underscored how personally Jesus had received the Lord as His Father. The Father had been Jesus’ Father from the very beginning, but growing up as a man, at a certain moment Jesus realized this truth.
Later Jesus had a dispute with the Pharisees over this matter.
John 10:30-39
30 I and the Father are one.” 31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. (John 10:30-39)
As teenagers, if you have received Jesus into your heart, if you have taken water baptism, this means that you have also received God the Father as your heavenly Father. Do you talk with your heavenly Father, or do you live as though He is not there or does not exist? Does this not grieve His heart?
OUR SPIRITUAL HOME
Jesus had this awareness of His heavenly Father. See, He said, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” With these words Jesus gave a definition not only of God, but also of the temple. If God was His Father, then the temple was His home.
What is God’s home today? The church. Today the temple of God is the church. Jesus felt the temple to be His home. Therefore we too ought to feel the church to be our home. Do you feel the church to be your home? For us the church ought to be not only a home that we walk into and out of; it ought to be a temple into which we are built forever. And this applies to those who are young. If you take part in the Lord’s Supper, if you have taken water baptism, this means that you are part of the church. See what is said in Ephesians 2:20-22:
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:20-22)
Notice, the church is not something strange and foreign to us. The church is not something that belongs only to Jesus Christ and to the apostles. Through faith, we ourselves are “built together” in the Holy Spirit to become a dwelling for God, or God’s temple.
That is why the author of the great letter to the Hebrews, in 10:24-25, urges us not to neglect our gatherings.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Some people have the habit of going to church from time to time. They say to themselves, “This Sunday, where shall I go to church… Let me rather sleep in nicely…” The next Sunday, “I’ll go on an outing.” The third Sunday, “I’m at a match…” The fourth Sunday – the lyutenitsa has to be made. And so they end up going to church only at Christmas and Easter. But God’s Word warns us that the day of Christ’s coming is drawing near. The earth trembles with earthquakes, floods, and natural disasters. Not to mention famine, diseases, and wars. All of this suggests to us that something is drawing near, and we know what it is. Observing these signs, we must not grow slack, but must mobilize ourselves to serve God all the more diligently, to watch and to keep ourselves awake and in good spiritual condition.
What did Jesus say? “Why were you searching for me?” These are the first words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. Jesus was twelve years old, and His first words recorded in the Gospels are “Why were you searching for me?” These words express the astonishment of the twelve-year-old Jesus that His parents did not know that in all of Jerusalem there is only one possible place where He could be. Where was the only place where Jesus could be? In the temple, in “His Father’s house.” Where is the only possible place a child of God can be on a Sunday morning? If someone is looking for me on a Sunday morning, where can they find me? Whether you are a pastor or not a pastor, if you are a child of God, the only place where people ought to find you on a Sunday morning is in church, in God’s house. Jesus said, “Why are you searching for me? It is so simple. Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
While the children of believers are small, their parents take them to church. But what happens to them when they grow up, when they go to live in another city, when they go and start work or become students in Sofia or somewhere else? Will there be something in their heart that stings them and stirs in them a desire to seek out believers, brothers and sisters in that city, and to join their worship? This will be the real test of the sincerity of your faith – whether you want to be in God’s house on Sunday.
If you want to be a teenager like Jesus, the first requirement is learning – to be a student – a student of the Holy Spirit and of God’s Word. In the second place, communion – Jesus was in the temple and He communed with His heavenly Father. You are a child of God. Do you commune with your heavenly Father? Do you commune with the church, which is His temple and the body of Christ?
OBEDIENCE
The third requirement is the hardest; it is the one that teenagers hate the most. When Jesus answered His parents this way – “Didn’t you know that I had to be around my Father’s house, why were you searching for me?” – they did not understand Him. This is said in verse 50:
50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. (Luke 2:50)
“What father is this child speaking to us about?… What house?… What is the matter with Him?…” What did Jesus do then – when His own parents did not understand Him? Did He feel misunderstood and rejected? Perhaps. Did He rebel? What is characteristic of teenagers is that they think they know more than mom and dad. They are already students, they have the internet, they know more, and they think, “What are these old people acting so smart for…” But look at how Jesus acted – even though He was right, He still chose not to rebel, but to submit. Even though He knew more than they did, even though He was right, even though He was misunderstood, even though perhaps He even felt rejected, He still chose to submit. In verse 51 we read:
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. (Luke 2:51)
Notice, even though He was God, even though He was the Son of God, even though He knew more than they did and understood more than they did, Jesus was obedient to them.
In the New Testament, obedience to our parents is clearly commanded. In Colossians 3:20 we read God’s will clearly revealed:
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)
Here it says that children are to obey their parents “in everything.” This is the hard part of obedience – not to obey only from time to time, but constantly. Because children would accept obeying from time to time, just not every day. But here it says constantly, in everything, not only from time to time. Of course, Christian parents are expected not to make unreasonable or unjust demands of their children.
THE CURSE FOR DISOBEDIENCE TO PARENTS
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 the apostle Paul warns us about the terrible times that will come in the last days. One of the characteristics of people in this last time is that they will be “disobedient to their parents.”
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
Teenagers, you must know that disobedience to parents is cursed. There could hardly be a harsher punishment for disobedience than the one described in Proverbs 30:17:
17 The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures. (Proverbs 30:17)
Behind the mocking and the scorn of the eye is hidden the pride of the heart. And here it says that such a person will die a violent death and will not be buried, but will be left exposed to the elements. His corpse will become food for the birds of prey. This sounds like a horror film, but this is exactly what it says. It is well known that ravens, eagles, and vultures, which feed on carrion, first attack the eyes of their victims.
17 The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures. (Proverbs 30:17)
As I read these words, I say to myself, “Lord, how can I say such a thing in church? These are terrible things!” But this is God’s Word. The consequences of an attitude of mockery and derision toward parents are terrifying. This picture ought to make our blood run cold and cause us to guard ourselves against a hardening of the heart and against disobedience to our parents. That is why it is written in such vivid language.
THE BLESSING FOR OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS
God’s Word reveals to us one more thing. Not only is disobedience to parents cursed, but obedience to parents is blessed. In Ephesians 6:1-3:
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)
Do you notice the contrast? Those who are disobedient to their parents will be struck down before they grow old, and severely punished for their disobedience, while those who obey their parents – with them it will be “well,” and they will be rewarded with long life.
Jesus is our Savior and Lord. That He is Savior is expressed in the fact that He saves us from sin and gives us eternal life and the Holy Spirit. In Him God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. But besides being Savior, He is also our Lord. If He is our Lord, what are we to Him? Servants. In Christ we have freedom from Satan and sin, but at the same time, being God’s servants, we do not do our own will, but His. A servant does not do what he wants; he does what his Master wants, does he not? To be a disciple of Jesus and His servant means to go not where you want to go, but to go where He wants you to go. Not to look at what you want to look at, but to look at what He wants you to look at. Not to do what you want to do, but what He wants you to do. In other words, to live our lives according to His will.
How can I be a teenager like Jesus? Imitate Him in these three – learning, communion, and obedience. Jesus learned, and He learned not only knowledge but God’s Word. Jesus communed with the Father in God’s house. Jesus obeyed His parents. The twelve-year-old Jesus is an example for teenagers in three things – learning, communion, and obedience. We could say that if we practice them, we will have the growth “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” described in the last verse, verse 52, of this passage.