“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.” – Luke 2:46-47
This is the only biblical account we have of Jesus as a child. When He was twelve years old and still a boy in the eyes of the culture, Jesus stayed behind in the Temple when Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem to return home. He got by on His own for days and devoted His time to early and extraordinary interactions with the great Bible teachers of the time. These are not normal behaviors for a middle-schooler, to say the least!
This story emphasizes that Jesus was always the Son of God from eternity past. He was profoundly aware that God was His Father and that He belonged in His Father’s house. Even as a boy, Jesus demonstrated tremendous knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures. His extraordinary knowledge and wisdom weren’t something that came upon Him at His baptism. Jesus was always the Christ, the eternal Son of God Who stepped out of glory into our broken world to redeem us from our sins.
This simple story, this little glimpse of His childhood, helps us remember and worship Jesus as He truly is. Fully God and yet, also, fully human. A boy growing to maturity but always possessing an eternal mind and divine nature. Why did He go through all that? To be able to understand, represent, redeem, and rescue us from our sins. To be able to go in our place to the cross and take our sins upon His sinless self, atoning for our sins so we who believe in Him won’t have to. #FollowJesus