The Christmas story part 10: Luke 2 - Boy Jesus in the Temple

Today is the last part of the Christmas story, but it really doesn’t have much to do with the Christmas story at all. Luke finishes his account of Jesus’ birth with the only story wee get of Jesus’ youth. It is a very brief account of a 12 year old Jesus getting lost from His parents, but they find him back in Jerusalem speaking to the teachers in the Temple.

46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When 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?" – Luke 2:46-49

I have often wondered why this story was chosen as the one story to represent Jesus’ youth. We don’t have very many stories of Jesus simply as a man living among His family and friends. This is one of them, yet it still shows His divine nature because He was found among the teachers in the Temple.

It is important to remember that Jesus was a man too. As this passage finishes, it says he returned to Nazareth and grew as a man over the next 18 years. I try to think about that growth, especially now that I am the age Jesus was when He began His public ministry. The important thing to remember is that we are not separated that far from Jesus in terms of our lives.

Even though Jesus had a miraculous birth, He still had to grow as a man., He faced temptation like us. As we see in the account of His death, He even had some doubts like a normal man. Still, He grew and faced His adversity like a man. We learn from His example of living a humble life and presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice before God, not from the miracles and proof He was divine. We cannot match the divine. We can match the humble example he set.