Our Father's Business

Dr. John Clayton's sermon on Luke 2:41-52 from our service on July 21, 2024, the eleventh in his sermon series The Gospel of Luke.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 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, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 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.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 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. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:41–52).[1]

Though born in Bethlehem, Jesus did not grow up there. Though born King of the Jews,[2] he was not raised in Jerusalem. Instead, he was raised in the region of Galilee in the tiny town of Nazareth where, Luke tells us, he “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). He had an ordinary childhood, as ordinary as a sinless child could have.[3] So unremarkable were his years in Nazareth, years later he would be remembered only for his parents and siblings.[4]                                            

The work of God by his Spirit is often not obvious to the world, because God’s ways and thoughts are different and higher.[5] But this does not stop the world from seeking to conform us to its ways, as the Apostle Paul warns us in the first verses of Romans 12. The world’s ways are often loud, typically attractive, and always in the majority, but the way of the Lord is “peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2). No wonder the son of Mary was not the hometown hero.

Twice Luke tells us of Jesus’s maturity as man, growing in strength and stature. Twice he tells us of his wisdom, as increasing and filled. He who is truly God is truly man, and therefore, as a child had, as one commentator explains it, “a human mind, subject to the same laws of perception, memory, logic and development as our own. … He observed and learned and remembered and applied. This would have been impossible if he had been born in possession of a complete body of wisdom and knowledge. Instead, he was born with the mental equipment of a normal child, experienced the usual stimuli and went through the ordinary processes of intellectual development.”[6] But unlike a normal child, God’s favor was upon him as his one and only Son. In our passage today we see glimpses of both his humanity and divinity and the picture of a faithful Son who was always about this Father’s business.  

The Necessity of Family Worship

According to Israel’s liturgical calendar, there were three major festivals: Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread,[7] the Feast of Weeks,[8] and, the Feast of Booths.[9] We may assume that Joseph, and perhaps Mary with him faithfully attended them all, but of Passover specifically, Luke tells us that they went every year. But this year, Passover would be a family affair with the attendance of twelve-year-old Jesus. Jesus’ age is important here, because it was the year before he would turn thirteen and so become a member of his synagogue. So the journey to Jerusalem was likely a preparatory custom, a journey toward manhood, so to speak.

But I want us to note this about Mary and Joseph: They were faithful to worship as a couple and as a family. Let me encourage each of us to be faithful individually and familially in worship. Husbands and fathers, you need to take the lead, remembering the courageous declaration of Joshua: “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15). When your wife and children see your devotion, diligence, and faithfulness, they will follow. Wives and mothers, you need to follow your husband’s lead, and if his lead is not to church, then you need to do everything in your power to encourage, assist, and support faithful attendance to worship. Parents, your children will learn from your habits and behavior far more than your words, so set the standard of Lord’s Day worship every Sunday. Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover, because his parents took him there (This is not an insignificant detail).

Mary and Joseph were not, however, the perfect parents. They left town, traveled for a day, unknowingly leaving their twelve-year-old son in Israel’s most populated city. Surely, this was an epic failure in parenting, except for this: Luke tells us, “the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it” (43). Jesus deliberately remained in Jerusalem rather than joining his family, which likely included extended family and friends traveling as a caravan.    

But can you imagine the parents’ panic, fear, the inevitable guilt when they realized he wasn’t with the group? Surely, they raced back to Jerusalem and even then, it took three more days to find him. But still, this is Jesus. How much trouble can the perfect child get into? I suppose it depends on how you define “trouble,” because when they finally found him, he was “in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (46). For four days! What did he eat? Where did he sleep? Who knows? Who camps out in the temple quizzing theologians? Jesus, who not only questioned them but left them “amazed at his understanding and his answers” (47).

Oh, that we would have such a heart to know God’s Word! I pray for you what I pray for my children and grandchildren, that the Lord would give each of us a zeal for his Word, to immerse ourselves in it, to meditate upon it. And I know of no better way than the daily, scheduled devotional reading of his Word. The best intentions will not ground you in God’s Word, but daily diligence will. Dedicate yourself to it, and it will change your life! And as you grow in your love for God’s Word so will your desire to be with his people every Lord’s Day. As you mature, you will find that you cannot imagine missing a single Sunday. Dedicate yourself to it, and it will change your life, and the lives of your children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, as well as the lives of your church family!

The Model of Youthful Learning

Now, consider Jesus in Jerusalem, specifically where he is and what he is doing. First, consider the place, the temple. Jesus does not make the trip home, because he has situated himself in the seat of Israel’s worship and theological education. As God had given Israel the special revelation of his Word, the temple became the central place of learning about the Lord and his ways and worshiping accordingly. So, why leave when there is so much to learn, to discuss, to contemplate?

This is why is so important for us to not only be in God’s Word but to sit under good teachers. Mary and Joseph found Jesus “in the temple, sitting among the teachers” (46). By his Spirit, God raises up and gifts teachers in his church, but we will not glean from their wisdom unless we sit under their teaching (whether we like the topic or not). Let us learn from Jesus’ example and learn from the teachers God has given us that we may grow in our understanding of God’s Word.

Second, consider his mode of learning: catechesis (question and answer). When his parents finally found him, he is “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (46). I don’t want to make too much of this, but I think it is important to remember that our forefathers chose to learn and teach through catechesis. As Presbyterians, we have and have used two catechisms, the Larger and Shorter, since the 17^th century to succinctly state what we believe doctrinally and to teach catechistically. In the last century, we have lost that discipline, and I think the church has suffered for it. Parents and grandparents, let me encourage you to teach the next generation the Shorter Catechism, so we can stop the prevalent plight of theological illiteracy in ourselves and our churches. Jesus learned through question and answer and so can we.

Third, consider his attitude of and aptitude for learning. Phil Ryken observes, “He was never lazy, but always tried to learn as much as he could. He exercised good stewardship of his intellectual abilities, achieving the maximum potential of the human mind.”[10] So impressive was his depth that “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (47). Let this be an encouragement to all of us in our anti-intellectual age, in which the experiential is valued over the contemplative: When young Jesus was left to his own devices for the better part of a week, he spent his time learning from his teachers. Regardless your age, be like a sponge, soak in as much as you can learn about God’s Word, and let it saturate you so completely that it oozes out in your words and deeds.

The Primacy of Our Father’s Business

In the moment, Jesus’ parents were not concerned with his education but his wellbeing. But upon finding him, he doesn’t seem troubled by their absence. Perhaps frustrated by his lack of shared anxiety, Mary asks reprovingly, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (48). While they worried themselves sick, Jesus was busy discussing and deliberating over the doctrine. The distress of Jesus’ parents is only natural, but his response is not:

“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my                                         Father’s house?”

There are several things that I want us to consider in Jesus’ response. First, Jesus’ is genuinely surprised by his mother’s question; he is where he should be and doing what he should be doing. The ESV, and other modern translations, translate the Greek prepositional phrase as “in my Father’s house,” but the KJV translates it, “about my Father’s business” (49), which in this case I prefer. Literally translated, the Greek reads “in (or of) my Father.”[11] The phrase is likely an idiom, which is why translators don’t render it literally, but the expression incorporates more than Jesus’ location but also what he is doing there, “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (46). While our sin nature presents varied options contra to the Lord’s will, Jesus was always attuned, always obedient to his Father’s will, always about his Father’s business.

Second, Luke repeatedly refers to Mary and Joseph as Jesus’ parents, and Mary herself refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father (48). And this is true, as Mary is his biological mother and Joseph his adopted father. But when Jesus responds to Mary’s question, he makes a relational point of primacy: “I must be about my Father’s business” (KJV). This should be read neither as precocious nor rebellious but distinctive. While Jesus is still a boy and maturing in his humanity, he is no less the eternally begotten Son of God, and who he is and why his Father sent him are of far greater priority than a hurried departure home to Nazareth. Jesus tarried where he should, lingered where he would, yet how do we hurry about from the things of God when what is most necessary for our soul is more time at the temple?

In the moment, Jesus’ earthly parents did not understand, despite all that God had revealed to them. And yet, Luke says, “his mother treasured up all these things in her heart” (51). Over the years, she would watch her son grow “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (52). She would watch her son move from home and begin his ministry. She would hear his words and see his signs, and she would watch as his popularity turned to rejection and betrayal. She would watch as his Father’s business led not to worhsip but false accusations, an illegal trial, torture, and crucifixion. Was Mary still treasuring these things in her heart as she stood at the foot of his cross and heard him cry, “It is finished” (John 19:30)? We do not know all that Mary treasured up, but we do know she witnessed him risen from the dead, and he became her treasure.

We know that just as Jesus was about this Father’s business, he accomplished it perfectly and completely, and because he did, we can by faith in him call his Father our Father too. In his righteousness, through faith we are made righteous too. In his death, through faith we are forgiven of all our sins. In his resurrection, through faith we are guaranteed all this unto eternal life. And in his ascension and authority, through faith he intercedes for us that we may be about our Father’s business too.

[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).

[2] Matt. 2:2

[3] Heb. 4:15

[4] Matt. 13:53-57

[5] Isa. 55:8-9

[6] Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1998), 164.

[7] Ex. 12, Lev. 23, Num. 9, Deut. 16

[8] Ex. 19:3-6, 34:22; Deut. 16:10, 16

[9] Lev. 23:37-42; Deut. 16:14, 31:10-13

[10] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Vol. 1 (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 105.

[11] My translation.