Jesus Goes AWOL

I. Introduction
A. Series on Jesus -- before we dive into His ministry years, we’re looking at two things which happened to Him as a child. Last week we looked at a prophecy which was pronounced over him at 40 days.
B. This week we’re looking at the incident which happened in Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old.
C. Luke 2:41-52 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 according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
II. Jesus goes AWOL in Jerusalem
A. After the celebration of the Passover was complete, all those who had come from out of town headed home, including the family of Jesus.
1. After the end of a long day’s travel from Jerusalem toward Nazareth, Jesus’ parents realized Jesus was not with them. This surely provoked terror in the hearts of His parents.
2. Every parent experiences terror when they lose a child. But how much more intense it was for Mary and Joseph when they lost not only their child but the salvation of the world!
3. Probably leaving their other children with relatives or neighbors they rushed back to Jerusalem, maybe even through the night.
4. Mary & Joseph could easily be criticized for what happens here. Somebody could’ve turned them in to the Jerusalem Child Protective Services. How do you lose a 12 year old for a whole day? How can you get a whole day’s journey down the road before you realize He’s not with you?
a. But we shouldn’t be hard on Joseph and Mary.
b. Remember, Jesus was the oldest of at least seven children (Matt.13:55-56 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us?”) – and probably more.
c. Assuming they were all born at this point, Joseph&Mary had six or more other children under 11.
d. That means things were a little crazy. His parents were very busy. They had a lot to keep track of.
e. And Jesus was the LAST one they were worried about. He was the One they knew was responsible and trustworthy.
5. Surely this was part of the sword piercing her heart we read about last week (Luke 2:35).
a. These 3 days of missing Jesus foreshadowed the three days of Mary’s grief between the cross and the resurrection.
6. Finally, on the third day Joseph and Mary finally find Jesus.
B. The story up to this point has been pretty gripping. But it’s actually what happens next which is most shocking.
1. First of all, they find Jesus in the temple, the last place they thought of looking. And He wasn’t upset about being separated from His parents as you would expect. In fact, He was sitting with the teachers of the law, having conversations with them about the Scriptures.
2. But the most shocking thing of all is the response of the boy Jesus.
3. Mary, at least, was irritated with Jesus for doing this to them. “Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
4. But instead of apologizing, instead of at least expressing compassion on them for their inconvenience and their terror, Jesus actually REBUKES them. “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
C. Jesus wasn’t very good at conforming to people’s expectations.
1. The first thing Jesus ever did in the Bible was stay in Jerusalem when He knew perfectly well that His parents expected Him and wanted Him to travel home with them.
2. And the first recorded words of our Lord were when he said to His parents at 12 years old, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
III. It is often said about this passage that this story is all we know about Jesus from His first 30 years, that until His ministry began we have 30 years of silence – except for this. But the fact is, we know a lot about Jesus’ childhood from the NT.
A. We know He faithfully went to synagogue – Lk.4:16.
B. We know that He lived in the tiny town of Nazareth: probably 200-300 inhabitants.
C. We know He was the oldest of at least eight children (Matt.13:55-56 “James and Joseph and Simon and Judas...and all His sisters”) – and probably more.
1. That tells us a lot about Jesus’ childhood right there. He must have spent a lot of time helping with His younger brothers and sisters. He was a teacher, a story-teller, a protector. He carried a lot of little ones around. He probably did a lot of feeding and food preparation. He was probably sent on a lot of errands.
2. We know that His mother Mary must have been very busy.
3. If the babies were born at an average of every two years, and, if there were only eight children, the youngest child would have been 19 years old when Jesus was crucified.
D. We know that He worked with His father in the building business (Matt.13:55), and later was a builder Himself (Mark 6:3).
1. He must have gained his skill and knowledge by helping Joseph.
E. We know that though Jesus must have done and said good things, there was nothing so spectacular about Him as a child that the folks who knew Him thought He belonged in a different category.
1. Remember that they were surprised when He claimed the be the messiah in Matt.13:54-58. After teaching in parables, he visited “his hometown [and] taught in their synagogue, and they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son?...56...Where then did this man get all these things?” (Cf. John 6:42)
2. He did not drawn attention to Himself. Until His ministry began, He dwelt in obscurity, as Isaiah 53:2 says, “He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, no beauty that we should desire Him.”
3. He was humble. He didn’t draw attention to Himself. He did not try to impress others. He didn’t seem that much different than other people.
F. We know that not everything was happy in His home, though, for two reasons:
1. First, we know that at some point Jesus lost His earthly father Joseph, and that Mary became a widow and likely more dependent on Jesus, the oldest son.
a. We know this because Joseph is not a character in the gospel story.
b. And when Jesus was dying on the cross, He entrusted His mother to the care of John.
c. Joseph obviously lived long enough to have at least eight children, but not long enough to see Jesus begin His ministry.
2. Secondly, in John 7:3-5 we learn that Jesus’ brothers were not believing in Him. Probably this dislike of the oldest brother went back further than just when He stepped into public ministry.
G. We also know that Jesus was attentive to the world around Him and the lessons of life.
1. As Jesus was growing up, He was paying attention to the world around Him and how it worked.
2. He was gaining the experience which would allow Him to tell a parable about the way a sower sows his seed, or the way a mustard seed grows in the garden.
3. He was observing the beauty of wildflowers so He could say that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. He was observing how houses were built so He could teach us about building upon a rock and not upon the sand.
4. He was learning about the function of cornerstones and lamps and wineskins and yeast and fishing nets. He was observing fig trees and precious stones and yoked animals and managers and money lenders.
5. He was taking note of how new and old cloth behave differently and contemplating the behavior of sheep. He was going to weddings, not just for the good food, but as a student to learn so that He could understand and teach us about the great wedding banquet to come.
6. He was learning His language well so He could use it well. He was listening to stories and learning to tell them. He was hearing the latest news about donkeys falling into wells and sons running away from home. He was drawing connections, noticing parallels, discovering analogies.
7. Those 30 years before He began His ministry were not just a time of waiting, but a time of preparation. And it’s amazing that in that short period of time He could gain so much knowledge and wisdom and insight.
8. And it was all for unworthy winners like us. for He not only came to die for our salvation, but to teach us what that means, and about His kingdom.
9. He didn’t just die for you, He lived for you. He lived every day of His 33 years for your benefit.
IV. But there are also several things we know about the first 30 years of Jesus’ ministry from this story.
A. We know that by and large Jesus went along and did what was normal and considered appropriate.
1. This incident didn’t happen because Jesus had a rebellious nature.
2. For kids who have a rebellious nature, not going along with their parents is what every day is like.
3. Every day is difficult for the parents of a rebel. Every situation is a situation for protest.
4. But not so with Jesus. This is probably the one time this happened in His whole childhood.
5. It was recorded partly because it was odd, because Jesus briefly stepped out of “child mode” and into “messiah mode” in order to send a message to His parents — and to us.
6. This story is the exception, not the rule. By and large, He was a model of obedience and cooperation. Verse 51 makes this clear: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them.”
B. We know about His attentiveness to the word of God.
1. Luke 2:46-47 “in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”
2. Here was a mind fully engaged in what you should be engaged in when you’re 12 years old.
a. He absorbed everything that came His way. He took it all in eagerly – so that He grew in wisdom.
b. He had a hunger to learn, a passion to become wise, a zeal to listen to His Father in heaven.
c. Before He could astound the teachers of the law, He must have been a fantastic student.
3. As a child, He must have spent a lot of time in God’s word. And it makes a lot of sense.
4. Wouldn’t the author of the Bible’s commands to give close attention to the word of God not practice this Himself?
a. What are most 12 year olds thinking about? Jesus was thinking about God and His word, and you!
5. Probably Jesus got much of His Bible knowledge in the synagogue.
a. Think about what this means re: how He listened in the synagogue.
b. He was magnetically attracted to the Bible’s teaching.
c. And He learned by listening to very fallible teachers!
C. We know about Jesus’ attachment to and affection for God’s house.
1. The point of this story is not just that Jesus didn’t go along with His parents. It’s that Jesus went to His Father’s house: “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
2. Even on earth, His most profound personal relationship was with the Father.
3. And He esteemed the people of God more highly than His own family members (Matt.12:46-50).
a. Later the disciples would quote Ps.69:9 to describe Him: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.” (John 2:17) We are those living stones. Jesus’ zeal for God’s house is a zeal for us!
4. Even at 12, Jesus hints at what is to come, when He leaves home in order to attend to the work God brought Him into the world to do: to build a new temple for God – out of living stones. (Cf. Matt.12:46-50, Luke 11:27-28, John 2:4.)
5. The bottom line is this: Jesus is more interested in us than we are in Him. It seems backward, but it’s true. He’s the supremely loveable One. And yet amazingly He loves us much more than we love Him.
6. There is a temple for us – made of living stones — which is our home, our Father’s house, just as it was Jesus’. It’s where we live with our brothers and sisters. It’s where we have supper together. It’s where we pray for each other and learn about each other and get to know our Father.
a. It’s the place of the Book, which our Father opens and teaches us from.
b. In this story Jesus calls us to forsake even the best things of this world, in order to seek the things above, in order to go to that place God has designated for people to connect with Him. And what is that place? It is where 2 or 3 gather in His name, and He is in the midst of them (Mt.18:20).
c. It is the place where God’s people dwell, the place where the Scriptures are read and studied and discussed & cherished, the place where God lives with the beloved people of His Son.
d. In this story, Jesus is pointing us to His temple, a home more important than our family home.
e. In this story the 12 year old Jesus beckons us to follow Him there: into God’s presence, into the house of Scripture, into the house of prayer, into the house of God’s people.
f. Yes, we all have to go back to our own homes. But we must not forget about our Father’s house.
D. And finally, we know that sometimes Jesus pulled rank.
1. What does it mean to pull rank?
a. Dad plays second base in a backyard wiffle ball game.
2. In this morning’s story in Luke 2, He pulled rank on Mary. She was so wrapped up in being Jesus’ mom that she forgot that Jesus also had a Father, a heavenly Father – to whom He was even more closely connected – and that her son was also God’s Son, and her Lord.
3. So Jesus says to her, “Mother, you forgot about My Father! You were so preoccupied with Me going to my MOTHER’S house that you forgot about Me going to My FATHER’S house.”
4. The rebel in this story is not Jesus; it’s Mary.
5. Sometimes as Christ’s people we need to be reminded that He is God.
6. Jesus is our Helper; Jesus is our Friend; Jesus is our Shepherd; Jesus is our Savior. But sometimes we get so used to Jesus in His helping, giving, providing, protecting, saving role that we forget that He is who He is, that He does whatever He pleases and all the in habitants of the earth are accounted as nothing (Ps.115:3; Dan.4:34-35).
7. And sometimes He’s got to pull rank in order to remind us. Remembering who He is is more important to Him than our emotional well-being. He’s willing to disturb us in order to awaken us.
8. He urges us to pray, He tells us that He will give us whatever we ask for, but it’s easy to start thinking that we’re the ones putting in the orders and He is the One delivering on our requests.
9. And so sometimes He needs to remind us who we are and who He is. Sometimes He has to yank our chain a little to remind us He’s still boss.
10. And we see the pattern of how it happens right here in this story. Jesus sends some kind of distressing circumstance into our lives, and in response, we get annoyed with Him, in our hearts we bark at Him a little – exposing our sinfulness. And then He graciously rebukes us.
11. You’ve got to be careful about rebuking Jesus. Mary did it here. The disciples, especially Peter did it later. Job did it much earlier. And many of His people have done it down through history.
12. It’s easy to do. But if we’re going to rebuke Him, we should be ready for Him to set us straight.
13. For the problem is always with us, never with Him.