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| Luke 2:41-47 |
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Lesson # Luke 2:41-47 Study Material - Luke 2:41-47 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Luke 2:41-47 41 And His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; 43 and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. And His parents were unaware of it, 44 but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day's journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 And when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for Him. 46 And it came about that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. Joseph and Mary went regularly to the various feasts. They observed the customs as prescribed by the Mosaic Law. They followed the sacrifices and performed the rituals, and listened to the reading of scriptures at the feasts. This was a repetitious event in their lives perhaps similar to people going to church on Easter, or Christmas, or even regularly on Sunday, or even regularly to a weekly Bible study that many people do in our current day. They offer testimonials, prayers, scripture reading, and otherwise enjoy the social event. Someone probably brings cookies or treats of some kind. And this ritual is observed regularly. But if we are not careful we can get caught up in the social aspect of the event and forget the doctrinal aspect. We can kind of lull our self to sleep with the regularity of the exercise, sometimes daydream, or think of the events of the day, or what we have to do tomorrow. We can fade out. So Joseph and Mary were the earthly custodians of Gods Son, Jesus. In the previous verses we learned that he grew in wisdom. He probably learned from Joseph and Mary, but more likely he was self taught. He read the scriptures and understood them better than anyone. Jesus attended the feasts along with his parents on a regular basis. Now he is 12 years old and another significant set of circumstances occurs. So why are we given this bit of history during his 12th year? From birth until now we have little information about the life of Jesus. From his 12th year until his 30th year we have no information again. Jesus fades into obscurity in both instances. When a child is 12 years old he is generally out of elementary school and in a middle school level environment. Most children have a general grasp of things in life. They are making that transition from childhood to the terrible teen's. This shows that Jesus was far advanced in his spiritual life and in his general knowledge. Psa. 119:99, He knew more than his teachers, and had a better grasp of Gods Word. Jesus had a complete knowledge of who he was and his purpose here on earth. His parents spent the full seven days of the Passover in Jerusalem before leaving on the trip back home. There was a large group in the caravan. Jesus was apparently trusted to the extent that they let him go about his business without constant watch over him. They left for home and were unaware of his staying behind. Sometimes when we get caught up in our activities we forget the important things in life. We get lulled to sleep so to speak. But in the spiritual life, God will cause something to get your attention and redirect you back to where you should be. They searched for Jesus and did not find him in the usual places, with relatives, at the place they stayed this last week. If we focus we will find God in the correct place. But if we continue without concentrating, we search for him in the wrong places. We wish, we hope, we seek a genie to solve our problems, but these things don't work. We do not get the good jobs by waiting for employers to find us. We have to search them out with proper preparation and presentation of ourselves. We don't get the customer unless we market and sell and present ourselves as reputable. We don't get the high score unless we study and focus on our assignments. The list goes on. So Joseph and Mary looked in all the wrong places. But on the third day they found him right where they should have looked in the first place. In the temple. Did they forget the conversation with the angel Gabriel 12 years plus earlier? Did they forget who their son really was? Did they forget the events in the temple with Simeon and Hanna? No. They just became lax a bit in their spiritual growth. They went through the motions for so many years that they just got in a rut of sorts, forgetting the purpose of the feasts and doctrine and their son. Jesus was sitting in the temple with the teachers, listening and teaching as well. He amazed the teachers at his knowledge. But that is all. They were only amazed and that is the point of this passage. All of the scriptures pointed to his birth a decade earlier. Jesus was right in the middle of these teachers, yet they did not comprehend the nature or the significance of his presence. For 12 years no one sought out the Christ child. Only the Magi searched for him. Now it will be another 18 years before Jesus comes back into the picture. And only one other person will be paving the way for him and that person is John the Baptist who was born just six months before Jesus. Now as for you and me. Life is all around us. Sure we can look up in the night sky and see the vastness of outer space. We can acknowledge God and the Bible and go to our weekly or annual get togethers, or whatever your routine is. We can even read our Bible daily, but we are always faced with the mundane repetition of our daily lives. The water isn't parting for us. Lightening isn't striking the jerk who cut us off on the highway. The monthly bills keep piling up. Things still break down. The kids still don't clean up their room. Work is a tough haul sometimes. We still have our mood swings. Medical problems seem incurable and in some cases they just might be terminal. But, we are not to focus on the problems or the repetitions of life. You are not going to call fire down from the sky onto your neighbor and then feel good at seeing him fry. We are not in an age of miracles. We are in an age of trends, of spiritual support by means of Bible doctrine in the soul, of residence in fellowship whereby the Holy Spirit controls our soul. This is why you memorize Bible verses. To help you learn doctrine on the one hand, and to help you stabilize your life by thinking and recalling doctrine which you have already learned on the other hand. When you get down or lost momentarily, then recall doctrine. Recall scripture principles or concepts and exercise your faith. Regroup your poise and trust in God. And do the things you know you need to do. Use common sense. Jesus did not stun the teachers with miracles, but amazed them with scripture. He did not strike down the Romans. He has a purpose for his first advent which did not include military conquest. We have a purpose in our life too. By learning doctrine, advancing spiritually, residing in fellowship, and thus allowing God to direct our lives, then our lives will come together as God wants them too. Your natural talents will function, your natural desires, the legitimate ones, will drive you to your goals in life. You will think things out. You will plan ahead. You will organize yourself and your life. You will market yourself, your product, your company. You will be content and not chase after happiness because that will come to you from doctrine. Don't be lulled to sleep because amazing things don't happen to you on a daily basis. Be consistent in your Bible study, and advance to the prize as Paul puts it. Be a winner in the spiritual race, which is a race we can all win at. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
