Necessary Trials Luke 2:41-52
41] Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
[42] And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
[43] And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
[44] But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
[45] And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
[46] And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
[47] And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
[48] And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
[49] And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
[50] And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
[51] And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
[52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
NECESSARY TRIALS
The childhood of our Savior has always been and will always remain a mystery. Actually, nothing is known outside of the incident of our text. The fanciful stories that men have made up about Jesus using His powers to glorify Himself, like how He made clay pigeons and breathed on them and they flew, or how He would strike dead a play mate who cursed, these stories are not worth our consideration. He was a perfect child who never sinned, and yet He was perfectly human. This truth is powerfully illustrated in the text for this morning.
When Jesus was 12 years old His parents took Him along with them on their annual trip to the Temple at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. St. Luke tells us nothing about what happened there. Obviously the celebration took place like any other. It is on the way home that the account really begins. Mary and Joseph had been traveling back with friends and relatives, perhaps people that they had not seen for a long time, so they were apparently so absorbed with each other’s company that they pretty well forgot about the children. Jesus was easy to forget about because He was a perfectly obedient Child who had never done anything wrong. Therefore they had every reason to expect that Jesus was in the company of others of His own age.
However, when they stopped at the end of the first day, they discovered that Jesus was missing. They looked among their friends and relatives, and He was not there, either. Now they began to worry. What if something had happened to Him? Any parent who has lost a child even for a little while, perhaps while shopping or visiting, knows the feeling of terror that grips the heart. Each hour that the child is missing is like 100 years; it is hard to eat or drink or even sleep. Then there was the terrifying thought, what if the child should not be found? For three days Jesus’ parents kept looking for Him and with each day their hopes grew dimmer and dimmer. How often must they have asked themselves, “Why did we go without Him? Why did we not check on Him before we left?”
Their confusion resulted from the fact is that Mary could not comprehend that the Son to whom she had given birth and had brought up from infancy was really the God-man, the holy Son of God and a normal child at the same time. Mary hadn’t understood that from the beginning. When an angel from heaven had announced that the Holy Ghost was going to give her a baby and that that child would be the holy Son of God, she exclaimed, “How shall this be?” Luke 1:34. When Simeon prophesied all the things that would happen to her Son, she didn’t understand, but “kept all these things, and pondered [them] in her heart.” Luke 2:19. She didn’t try to understand. She simply accepted by faith what the angel had said. We can’t imagine what it must have been like to bring up a child like this. They had a holy Son, and yet He was born in a stable. As an infant, He was able to cry and to suffer pain and privation like any normal baby. He even suffered persecution, for while still an infant there was a warrant out for His arrest so that they had to leave the country. Jesus was perfectly normal and that is what God wanted. He had sent His Son to earth to take our place. Jesus had to learn to read and to write. He had to learn the carpenter’s trade from Joseph. Consequently, when He as a 12-year old was lost, where would they look for Him except when any parents might look for their child; anywhere except in the Temple.
When they finally found Him, He was in the temple, “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions.” Jesus was learning. He loved the Word of God and He wanted to learn all that He could about it. He had to study and learn to read, to write, and even to do math just like any other child, though He learned quickly and His answers impressed His teachers.
When Mary finally caught sight of her Son, she vented her disgust by saying, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” This was her dear Son; she wanted Him to know how much His parents loved Him. Mary could not comprehend that her Son was also God’s Son simply because she was a sinner like we are. If she had reasoned that Jesus’ real Father was God, then His real business was to accomplish what God sent Him to do. He had come to the Temple with his parents to fulfill the Passover law, but it didn’t end there. He could not bypass the opportunity to learn from the temple-teachers all that the Scriptures had prophesied about His life and death. This is the point Jesus wanted to make when He said to his mother, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.” He was not trying to cut Mary down, but rather to strengthen her faith. Why do you think the Lord allowed his parents to suffer such misery and heartache for the last three days? They were looking in the wrong places.
Where is Jesus to be found? Our blessed Savior Himself tells us where to look. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33. Anyone who wishes to find Jesus must seek Him in His word. That answer seems perfectly simple, yet our sinful inner nature always looks in the wrong places. When we place our will above the will of our heavenly Father, fighting, envy, distrust, but most of all, fear and worry grasp our hearts. Should we insist on having our own way, He may permit misery and heartache to happen, not to punish us, but to strengthen our faith through daily repentance and renewal. By His Word He wants us to see ourselves as we really are, sinful creatures who owe every moment of our existence to His abounding grace.
If the Lord found it necessary to send affliction into the heart of Mary who was highly favored and blessed among women, how much more on you and me? Trials are more necessary than food or drink, comments Dr. Luther, so that we would learn not to to depend on the sinking sand of human reason. This can only end with worry and depression. When things go wrong for people in the world, they seek comfort the only place they can, with their possessions and with the worldly wisdom of their friends. You and I, however, have a higher source, namely, the divine Word, a word that assures us of forgiveness and blesses our lives with every good thing. We don’t have to understand why the Lord permits affliction to happen in our lives; we don’t have to know why we get sick or suffer pain or face insurmountable problems, as long as we remember that His ways are higher than our ways and He purposes only our good. Rather, as with His own mother, Mary, He would have us, in simple faith, cling to His every word and promise. “Has He ever let us down?”