“Bragging Rights”
(Luke 2:39-52)
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
July 12, 2009
I. Introduction
A. Bragging about your child
1. Bumper stickers
a. “My child is an honor student at….”
b. “My son beat up your honor student”
2. Examples of “real” genius
a. Sean Louie Cardiak
1. Born in France in the 18th century
2. Known as the “wonder child”
3. Could recite the alphabet when he was three (3 months old)
4. At 4 years he was translating Latin into English and French
5. He also read Greek and Hebrew and was proficient in math, history and geography….when he died at age 7
b. Joel Cupperman was born in 1936 in Chicago
1. Most famous of the radio “quiz kids” of the 1940’s
2. In his audition…at age 5…they asked him to multiply 24 times 98.
a. He instantly gave the answer of 2,352
b. Continued to answer immediately and without paper
c. When asked how he did it he said “that is a secret trick”
1. Which he had discovered by age 5
3. His IQ was beyond measurement…exceeding 200
a. Highest mental development of any child ever tested by the Chicago Public Schools
B. What was Jesus like as a child?
1. Joseph and Mary’s bumper sticker…
a. “You think your kid is smart…”
2. I’ve always wondered about Jesus as a child
a. What swirled through his mind when he was 3 months?
b. When did he figure out he was God?
1. Or did he always know it
c. Did he talk about these things with his parents?
d. Did his brothers and sisters know who he was?
1. Did they tease him?
e. Did he cry when he cut himself?
f. What was he like as a 12 year old?
1. What a great age for boys
2. Almost a man
g. And why did Jesus have to spend 33 years as one of us?
1. Couldn’t he have just visited for a weekend?
C. The Apocryphal books
1. Some fanciful stories regarding his childhood
a. Anne Rice
b. Making living birds out of clay
b. Bending palm trees to shade his mother, and others
2. Not generally accepted as scripture
3. First miracle at Cana when he was 30
a. Didn’t exercise his divine power until he was 30
b. Appeared to have an “ordinary life” until then
D. The importance of an “ordinary life”
1. He had to endure every temptation faced by every 12 year old boy
2. He had to live your life with all its temptations
a. Series on Temptation after Labor Day
b. So many different types of temptation
1. Most have nothing to do with sex or pizza
2. Can scar your life…and your legacy
a. Steve McNair
b. governor of South Carolina
E. Only one incident recorded from those “30 silent years”
1. Two questions
a. Why only one?
b. Why this one?
2. Two key truths will emerge:
a. Jesus knew he was God
1. At least by the time he was 12
a. Not something he figured out at age 30
2. Not something forced on him by others
a. Parents who make their kid into something
b. Not something I’m able to fully comprehend
1. I acknowledge my limited ability to understand
2. Let’s see what we do know
II. Text…Luke 2:39-52
A. Background (v. 39)
(39) When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
1. “everything required by the Law of the Lord”
a. Circumcision
b. Purification
c. Sacrifice of two birds
d. Special tax
2. Several things happened between the 1st and 2nd part of this verse
a. The wise men (Matthew 2:1-23)
1. Later
2. In a house
b. Herod’s slaughter of the babies
1. Up to 2 years old
c. Fled to Egypt
1. Gold, frankincense….to pay for Egypt
2. Fled to Egypt until Herod died
3. Then “they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.”
4. The next 30 years covered in 13 verses
B. The first 12 years (v. 40)
(40) And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
1. Our growth chart on the wall
a. Excitement as a parent
b. Watching a baby grow
2. The growth of Jesus
a “The child grew and became strong”
1. Grew strong physically
a. Unimpaired by sin
b. The physical work of a carpenter
c. Walked for miles through the hills of Galilee
d. Able to endure torture
2. Grew strong in character
a. 12 year old boys with character
b. “he was filled with wisdom”
1. Not as a toddler
a. But by 12…
b. No, I don’t understand it
2. Wisdom is a product of living life
3. Some of you seniors
c. “the grace of God was upon him”
1. Not talking about “saving” grace
a. The favor of God
b. This is my son in whom I am well pleased
2. The favor of God is on you
d. He learned obedience
a. Hebrews 5:7-8
(7) During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (8) Although He was a son, Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered”
b. Talking about his life…not his death
1. He suffered during the 30 silent years
c. He didn’t learn “bitterness” or “discouragement”
1. He learned “obedience” to God the Father
2. As he fought against temptation
e. He was tested and proven worthy
a. Hebrews 4:15
(15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
b. How boys are tempted to sin
c. He faced what you now face
d. And what a man he became
f. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses
a. He understands your weakness
C. The incident in the Temple (v. 41-51)
1. The Annual Pilgrimage (v. 41)
(41) Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.
a. A one day celebration
b. Followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread
1. 7 more days
2. One of three feasts every Jewish man was to attend each year
a. Feast of Pentecost (50 days later)
b. Feast of Tabernacles (in the fall)
c. Most men focused just on Passover
d. Only the committed women would accompany their husbands
a. Not required to attend
c. Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover
1. As their family grew
a. Quite a commitment
2. A very devoted family
3. When Jesus was 12
(42) When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
a. “up” to Jerusalem
1. Jericho at 1,500 below sea level
2. Jerusalem 2,500 feet above sea level
3. The Passover scene
When Joseph and Mary and Jesus arrived for the start of Passover, Jerusalem would be swelled by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who had come from all over, both in the land of Palestine and other places where the Jews had been scattered. And they would be looking for families to stay with if they didn’t already have family in town. They would be trying to find a place where they could have their family together for the Passover meal. They would also be purchasing their sacrifices. It was a bustling and busy time as the people were flooding into the city from all over and a colliding at all points in the effort to find a place to stay, a place to eat and animals to sacrifice.
In fact, there were so many sacrifices; some historians tell us a quarter of a million animals would be slaughtered during the Passover week. And at that time of course, there would need to be the sale of those animals, so you can imagine the whole city bleating with sheep, a quarter of a million animals being sacrificed. And all 24 courses of the priests were there because of the massive amount of butchering that had to be done. And you can be sure that all the beggars were out, finding their way into the most obvious places, assuming to play on the sensitivities of people who were thinking more about God and their duty than at other times. And the Roman soldiers would be there jostling with the crowds, trying to maintain some level of control.
The lamb was taken home for the meal. After the meal the eldest son would ask his father a question that is still asked at the Passover meal today. “Why is this night different from all others?”
Then the father would tell the amazing story of the Passover in Egypt
2. The Anxious Parents (v. 43-45)
(43) After the Feast 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.
a. The moment they realized he was not in the caravan…..v.43
1. Have you ever lost sight of your child?
2. My panicked neighbor
3. How could it happen?
b. The caravan…..v.44
1. Children in front, followed by women, and then men
2. The slowest first
3. 20 – 25 miles per day for four days
4. Figured he was with the children
5. Families gathered at the end of the day
6. The anxious night
a. Left early in the morning
b. Spent another day looking for him
7. Three days of panic, anxiety and fear
a. Sleepless nights as a parent
1. Kids driving on icy roads
b. Lying in bed, wide awake
c. Start looking for them
3. The Amazed Teachers (v. 46-47)
(46) After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
a. The three days
1. One day out of Jerusalem
2. One day back to Jerusalem
3. One day looking for him
b. Listening and asking questions
1. The great teachers would linger after the Passover
2. Discussions in the porches of the temple
c. The great teachers were amazed by him
(47) Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
“His questions are so penetrating and so insightful and so powerful that they generate astonishment on the part of the great teachers who surround Him. His questions show deep wisdom. They show clarity. They show precision. And he gives answers that are staggering to the minds of these experts.”
4. The Astonished Parents (v. 48)
(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.”
a. He seemed absolutely impervious to any human circumstance
b. Where had he stayed the past three days? Where had he eaten?
c. Mary tries to lay some guilt on him
1. The first time in 12 years that Jesus had been anything but joy
2. She was taking it personally
3. Assumed he did it to hide from them
d. But Jesus didn’t mean it in any way as disrespectful. The whole scene was necessary to establish his identity. To make an inevitable break between Jesus and His earthly family.
1. Now…the only recorded words for 30 years
5. The Astounding Truth (v. 49-51)
(49) “Why were you searching for me?” He asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
a. He knew he was the son of God
b. He knew what his mission was
c. You should have come here first, you know who my father is and you know this is my true house. I don’t really belong in your house in Nazareth. God is my true father; I belong with his people in his house.
6. They didn’t fully understand
(50) But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
a. They knew exactly who he was, but
1. …they could not grasp the full impact of what he had said
b. He would be breaking away from them
1. …but not just yet
(51) Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
7. He returned with them to Nazareth for another 18 years
a. He was independent….but not disobedient
b. And not a word is recorded regarding those years
c. And Mary pondered these things in her heart
D. The next 18 years….v.52
(52) And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
1. And Jesus grew
a. Wisdom
b. Stature
c. Favor with God
d. Favor with man
IV. Summary
A. Why 33 years?
1. Why didn’t he just come and spend a weekend, and then die?
a. Hebrews 4:15
(15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
2. He knows what you’re going through
1. He too was assaulted with temptation, as an infant, child, boy, as an adult…
2. Ordinary as far as temptations
3. And yet without yielding
4. When he became a man at age 30
a. As John Baptized him
b. God the Father regarding his son
1. “This is my son in whom I am well pleased”
2. He did it!!!
c. Talk about “bragging rights”
1. “That’s my boy!”
B. Substitutionary Atonement
1. II Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”
a. On the cross God treated Jesus as if he had lived your life.
b. God literally judged Jesus as if he were you.
c. God punished Jesus for your sin
2. The other part of “Substitution”
a. God treats you as if you had lived Jesus’ life. That’s the other side of the great doctrine of “substitution”
b. There had to be a perfect life lived to be credited to my account
c. My Uncle Don
1. Thursday night
2. God will see him pure
3. 5 a.m. this morning
3. In Christ alone