The first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels, are four different recordings of Jesus’ life and public ministry. Of those four books, Matthew and Luke record His birth. And of those two, Luke is the only one that gives us a tiny glimpse of Jesus as a young boy.
Chapter 1 introduced us to Jesus’ extended family, His Uncle Zacharias, Aunt Elizabeth and Cousin John, who we know to be John the Baptist. If you haven’t read that post yet, click here and get acquainted with the family.
Luke 2:1 - 3:38
Jesus and his family were busy those first few years of His life.
- He was born in Bethlehem
- They traveled to Jerusalem where He was then presented at the Temple
- Back home to Nazareth
- Back to Jerusalem again
- this was for the yearly Feast of the Passover and Jesus was 12 at this point.
Happy Birthday to you
In chapter 2, Luke records the events of the birth of Jesus. I feel confident in assuming that we all know the story. We have seen countless school and church Christmas programs where our kids hoped to be picked to play Mary or Joseph. If you have ever attended a Christmas Eve service at church, you’ve probably heard the reading of this passage. Jesus was born in the most humbling of circumstances. In a barn, in the cold, and slept in a feeding trough.
BUT, the baby announcement that was sent out, was out of this world. No one else, EVER, has had a multitude of angels appear, praising God at the moment of their birth, or had a big, bright star shining in the night sky that spot lighted the hospital they were born at.
But Jesus did! Now that birthday party is one for the books. And the book of Luke recorded it for us to read, thousands of years later. Thank you Luke.
The family's first road trip
Roughly eight days after giving birth, Mary, and hubby Joseph, pack up their days old infant child and road trip it to Jerusalem. What a trooper.
Luke 2:29-32 records this statement:
“Now Lord, Thou dost let Thy bond-servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”
These words were spoken by a man named Simeon who was at the Temple at the same time that Jesus was brought there to be presented to the Lord. It’s interesting, in the way that it reads, Simeon was waiting for Jesus to arrive. He already knew there was going to be salvation for the people and he got to see that salvation with his own eyes.
Now, it has always been understood that Jesus came to save the world. John 3:16 tells us that.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
It is also known hat His focus was the Jewish people, the Israelites. But the words of Simeon are astounding. He foretells that Jesus would be a light of revelation to the Gentiles…..non-Jewish descendants…..that’s you and me.
DETOUR!
It's not a true road trip if you don't have one, right?
We are going to veer off the beaten path for a minute and take a detour to the book of Acts.
Back in May of 2017 I read the book of Acts. Two years later, I’m reading Luke, and I find that chapters 10 and 11 of Acts confirm what Simeon stated in Luke 2.
In Acts chapter 10:9-16, Peter has a vision:
“…and he beheld the sky opened up, and a certain object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air.” (10:11-12)
To the Jewish people, the animals presented on this sheet in Peter’s vision were forbidden as food. They were considered unclean, or unholy. So during this vision of Peters’, a voice tells him to arise, kill and eat. Peter is like, “by no means Lord, I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.“(vs. 14) This voice then tells him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”(vs. 15)
Some have taken this to mean that God now made all things good for food. Nothing was to be considered unclean or unholy anymore. Peter was very perplexed about this for several days while he traveled to Caesarea so he could preach a message to a man named Cornelius. Upon entering this man’s house, Peter found many people assembled there to hear his message about the Good News of Jesus. It was at that moment that he understood the vision from days earlier.
A light bulb moment for all
In verse 28, Peter has an astounding revelation and makes this stunning statement:
And he [Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.”
Before Jesus, and during His ministry, the forgiveness of sins and the saving message of salvation was reserved for the Jews only. The Gentiles, everyone that was not of Jewish descent, was considered unholy or unclean. (Paul, a Roman citizen, a Pharisee, and a persecutor of Christians, was converted to be a teacher to the Gentiles. But that’s a whole other devotion) Peter now understood that Jesus’ saving grace was for everyone, holy and unholy, clean and unclean. At Jerusalem, after Peter had given his account of all that had taken place on his journey, the Jewish Christian leaders took issue with Peter about it all. However, in God’s sovereignty, their issue is put to rest:
And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
So back to the book of Luke, seventy years earlier, this random man, at the temple, knew that this infant child, Jesus, was going to be the saving grace not only to the Jewish people, but also a light of revelation to the Gentiles.
Back on to the main road
In verses 41-52, we get a small glimpse, twelve verses small, of Jesus as a preteen.
The family, I would guess, has gotten bigger and Jesus, being 12 y ears old, probably has some siblings by now. It is the time of year for the Feast of the Passover and back on the road to Jerusalem they go.
Jesus, knowing in His heart who He truly was, took a detour Himself and headed to the Temple. His Father’s house.
So after the Passover had concluded, the family and everybody else, headed back home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, unbeknownst to Joseph and Mary. After a couple days of traveling, they became aware of the fact that Jesus was nowhere to be found among the multitude of family and friends. HEART STOP! Can you imaging Mary’s panic? Her oldest child is missing! But in her mind, she’s thinking, “Oh my goodness, I’ve lost the Son of God!”
How do you discipline while on a road trip?
Back to Jerusalem they go and at a faster pace than before, I’m sure. After three days of anxiously looking for Him, as Mary phrases it, they find Jesus in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening and asking them questions. The short Q&A session between Jesus and Mary is both respectful and parental-y stern.
“And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.”
And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Now every one knew Joseph to be Jesus’s father. Mary, I’m sure, was referring to Joseph when she said, “your father and I”. I mean, God, Jesus’ true Father, in all His omniscient-ness, already knew where Jesus was. Jesus knew His father to be the Almighty Father, the Holy One of heaven. He knew the temple would be the only place to get close to Him. Jesus still had a lot of growing up to do. A lot to learn still and verse 52 tells us;
“And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
A quick trip up the family tree
Genealogy is a fun family project. Discovering how far back your ancestry goes, who you are related to, and where your family line originated from, can lead to some astounding revelations. Jesus’s family tree certainly leads us to an astounding revelation in that HE IS RELATED TO GOD!
We start His family line with his earthly father, and go back a boatload of generations;
- Joseph
- going back 40 generations, we find
- Nathan, the son of
- David (yes, King David), who was the son of
- Jesse, the son of
- Obed, the son of
- Boaz (married to Ruth)
- go back 8 more generations and we have
- Judah, the son of
- Jacob, the son of
- Isaac, the son of
- Abraham
- another 9 generations back, and we have
- Shem, the son of
- Noah
- 7 more generations back, we have
- Enosh, the son of
- Seth, the son of
- Adam, who was created by God.
Jesus’s family tree reveals that He IS the Son of God!
Conclusion
Most Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for giving your Son to be a Light of Revelation to us as well. We truly cannot not live without you. Thank you for your servant Luke, and giving him wisdom and understanding of Jesus’s life and ministry that he wrote it down for us to read today. We can’t truly know who we are in You, without knowing where it all began. Continue to guide us Lord. ~ ~ Amen.