The Child Grew and Increased

Well, if you would like a title to our study this afternoon, the title is, The Child Grew and Increased. The child grew and increased. And we're going to continue our studies in the Gospel of Luke. So if you will open your Bibles once again. And this time, let's turn to Luke 2, beginning in verse 39. Luke 2 verse 39. You know, most parents understand the experience of misplacing their children. Perhaps, I won't have you raise your hand, but perhaps you know this experience. Whether it be in a grocery store, whether it be at a park, that horrible feeling that creeps up the back of your neck when you turn and look to where you thought your child was.

And they're not there. Or they're not where you expected them to be. Well, it's that kind of relatable, very kind of typical human experience here that Luke is going to record for us here in these concluding verses of chapter 2. So we're about to pick up where Jesus and his parents were now returning back home from Jerusalem, from the spring holy days. So they're returning from the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So let's get right into this moment here that Luke records for us. Luke chapter 2 will read verses 39 through 52. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city, Nazareth. And the child, speaking of Jesus, grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey and sought him among the relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. Verse 46. Now, so it was after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him, Jesus, were astonished at his understanding and answers. So when they, Mary and Joseph, saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously. And he said to them, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? And they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Let's stop there. Well, what a moment recorded for us. And what we have in this little incident here is, in fact, the only recorded material in the Gospels of Jesus growing and increasing as a young boy, growing and increasing as a young man. This is it. This is the all of it. And I'll remind you that Luke has already determined and has already explained that in opening his Gospel, it was his objective to provide an orderly account of all the material that was necessary for you and I to know. And so there is absolutely certain knowledge albeit limited that Luke is inspired by God to provide to us concerning the growth and the development of Jesus as a young boy into adulthood. And here in this remote city of Galilee is where Jesus grew up. And as we read here, it is where his parents took him up to Jerusalem for the feast. We don't know if this is his first feast or if this was the practice. Of course, we believe it was the practice. And incidentally, as a side note, when the Bible refers to the feast of Passover, as we saw there in verse 41, it's referring not only to Passover, but it also would be referring to the other feast days, namely the days of Unleavened Bread at this time. It is in the same way where I might ask you, where are you going for the Feast of Tabernacles?

And just because I don't mention the eighth day, it doesn't mean that I'm leaving that out. You know, we innately know when we refer to those things, it means the totality of those feast days. And so likewise, this is the phraseology here. And so Luke records that Jesus now made this particular journey to the feast days with his parents at the age of 12. And it's in the course of his pilgrimage back from these feast days that he is misplaced, if you will, amongst the crowd that's departing Jerusalem. And in fact, he never even makes it into the crowd as we read. And I think we can understand this. And so allow me a little conjecture here, but I think this is probably how it happened. Perhaps Mary and the women, and perhaps maybe the smaller children, were all together in one crowd, leaving Jerusalem, going back to their various homes. Mary, looking amongst the group, not seeing Jesus's face, of course, perhaps presuming him to be with his father and the other boys.

Likewise, perhaps Joseph was looking amongst his group, not seeing Jesus's face, saying to himself, well, I'm sure he's with his mother. You know, Jesus at this time, he would have been an older little one, but he would have been a younger big one, you know, so he probably could have fit in either group. But when they get to an end of a day's journey, they look at one another, and both of them say the same thing with the same creepiness, creeping terror up their neck. Where is Jesus? And you can imagine the conversation. I thought you had him. I thought you had him. And the fact is, neither one of them had him. So perhaps it's now at the end of a day's journey. Nighttime is upon them. They can't leave at that time. They wait until the morning break, and they say, we'll head out and find him then. They head back to Jerusalem another day's journey. Perhaps it's sundown at that time. They have to wait until morning break to go out and look for him. Again, a little bit of conjecture, but I think we can deduce that. Bringing us to the third day, which is here referenced in verse 46 and 47. Verse 46 again, now so it was 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. And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. So after three days, they find him in the temple. Luke then records this dialogue that ensues. Verse 48, when they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother, you know, you can kind of read the tone here in her voice, son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously. Don't you know we were looking for you. Now, we may have asked our kids that question when we have misplaced them. I suspect none of them answered the way Jesus Christ answered here. Verse 49, and he said to them, why did you seek me? Did you not know I must be about my father's business?

Now, the staggering thing, of course, in this all is that this is all unfolding in the context of a 12-year-old Jesus Christ in a question and answer session with these religious authorities, with these religious teachers in the temple courts. The setting was such where a pupil could come and sit in the courts, ask the teachers a question. The teachers in the temple courts would give the answer. Often, the teachers, the scholars, the religious authorities would then ask the pupils questions to see if they grasped how well they grasped the information that was given to them. So this is what might be occurring here. There at the end of verse 46, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. So this was such that the teachers were marveling at this young boy as he was able to grasp things so quickly, articulate them so effectively. And again, I think it's just it's really quite staggering that a 12-year-old boy was able to do such an extraordinary thing. Bring to mind a 12-year-old boy that you know.

This is quite staggering, as we know. And when we come to a passage like this, of course, we do our best to try to glean exactly what Luke is trying to get across to us. And largely, we can come away from a story like this amazed, amazed at the extraordinary nature of young Jesus. This is amazing. And we'd be correct to come to come away from a from a recording like this with understanding the extraordinary nature of this scene. But, but, in focusing solely on the extraordinary nature of this scene, we may miss something crucial, I believe. If we're not careful, we may miss the fact that this incident is actually sandwiched between two summary statements. And they're summary statements which actually point us not to the extraordinary nature of this scene, but they're two summary statements which actually point us to the ordinariness of this scene. I wonder if you saw these summary statements. And again, they point us remarkably to the humanness of Jesus. In many ways, how typical he was. Did you notice it? It's verse 40 and verse 52. Let's read these again. Verse 40 again, Luke records, And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Verse 52, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Did you notice that? So Luke is recording this scene, and this scene speaks of the extraordinary nature of what's occurring here, but it also speaks of just how ordinary, if you will, was the childhood development of Jesus Christ. And I think in putting our focus onto that reality today will hopefully connect us in a way with Jesus Christ than perhaps ever before. So this is what we want to do today. We want to come to this recording, and we want to come to these summary verses and ask what are we to learn about Jesus Christ in relation to the typical and ordinary aspect of Jesus, this child, growing and increasing here on earth. And if I can say so reverently, we want to put our focus on just how ordinary or perhaps typical his development was. And we're going to use these two scriptures to to anchor our study here today, and we're going to consider this growing, this increasing here. And perhaps first to notice are these words which he responds to his parents here. This response, why are you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? We want to notice this response because here within this response, I think it gives us an inkling here of the self-awareness that's beginning to grow and beginning to increase in young Jesus. There's a sense of self-awareness here, isn't there? There's certainly going to be a sense of self-awareness in the parents. And I think also, though, for Jesus Christ himself. Because if we think about this, we have to recognize that there were points in Jesus Christ's development where he is now coming into the awareness of his godhood and of his purpose. And it's beginning to come upon him. The significance of that reality is increasing, increasingly dawning upon him. And that understanding would grow in him. You know, I think it's fiction to imagine that he emerges from the womb fully self-aware of all these issues that lay before him. And I think Luke gives us this nugget of a recording, his nugget of gold. Again, in verse 40, that the child Jesus grew, and he became strong in spirit. Yes, he became filled with wisdom.

We know he had the grace of God upon him, of course. But, verse 52, he increased in wisdom and stature and increased in favor with God and men. So, in relation to this child growing and coming into the knowledge and stature, as we think about this, if you're like me, I had a little bit of difficulty with this. You know, and just thinking about this growing and increasing. And to think about this 12-year-old Jesus Christ sitting there in that moment at the temple.

And the difficulty with this, I believe, is that many of us may find ourselves a lot closer to the heresies of the first century than we realize. Because one of the first heresies that coursed through the church was about the person of Jesus Christ. And it wasn't necessarily about the deity of Christ. Rather, one of the first heresies had to do with the denial of the true humanity of Jesus Christ. And Luke and the church labored hard to combat this because this heresy threatened the truth of Scripture.

In fact, there was a bishop in the early centuries named Apollinaris. You spell it how it sounds, Apollinaris. And he taught that Jesus, while he may have been normal or typical physically, he taught when it came to the matter of Jesus's psychology makeup in that development, Apollinaris taught that Jesus Christ was not like you and I. Because he taught the heresy that what you have in Jesus Christ is a human body, but you did not, in fact, have a human psyche or a human mind.

And rather, he taught that Jesus was fully divine in his psychology, in his psyche makeup, psychology makeup. In other words, Apollinaris taught that he was less than fully human. And this heresy stated that the Logos, the one at the right hand of God, he came to this earth. That's correct.

But what you had was what he taught erroneously was that Jesus Christ was this union of a fully divine mind with a fleshly body, so that he wasn't fully man when it came to Jesus's mind or his psyche. And so again, you had this heresy that was a threat to the truth of Scripture. So let's ask, why is this teaching a heresy? Why is that a heresy? Well, because in fact, Scripture teaches that, yes, God was with us.

God with us. Absolutely. Jesus was God with us. But it also states that he was fully man, fully God, fully man. And in coming to our existence, his identity didn't change. He was still God, but he was absolutely man in every way. A mortal human being. And therefore, subject to growing. Subject to increasing in all physical aspects that would be typical of you and I. So therefore, he came. He grew. He increased.

Not only physically, but also in terms of his human psychology. Now, you might be sitting there and saying to yourself, okay, why does that matter? I don't know if that really matters. Well, it does matter. And it does matter greatly because make no doubt, it was crucial for Dr. Luke to record that Jesus, this child, grew. And he became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. Yes, he had the grace of God, but verse 52, he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. Why did he grow and increase in this way?

It's because he had a human mind. He had a human psyche. In the same way, we don't think of Jesus's physical growth taking place supernaturally, do we? You don't think that one day you would have went to the carpenter shop. He was three and a half feet tall. You come back the next day and he was shot up to over six feet tall or whatever. No. Now, he grew physically, incrementally. His bones lengthened, just like you and I. His genetic composition was unique to him. He had a DNA.

And so in the same way, you know, we think about the development of the mind of Jesus Christ. You don't think that somehow or another that the development took place in a way that was beyond typical, same as you and I.

You may not have ever thought about it, but do you think that Jesus Christ came out of the womb knowing his alphabet? No. Or that by age, by three months old, he was able to say his colors.

No. His mother, Mary, sat with him and he said, and she said, the sky is blue and the grass is green and cows say moo, you know. He would go out and play and he'd come back and ask Mary and Joseph questions and they would answer his questions and he would grow in his understanding of things. He would become wiser. That's what Luke is saying. He grew in wisdom and as the years came, he accumulated an ever increasing knowledge and common sense. And the boyhood influences of Jesus were the very things that allowed him to grow and increase in wisdom.

So how did he grow in wisdom? How did he increase in these things? You can think about that. In what ways would he have grown and increased? I think if you look at scripture, you would no doubt have to conclude that he was a student of nature. He grew and he increased in his knowledge of nature. Absolutely. He went out and he sat and he looked at the lilies, for example. He looked at the birds. He looked out at the harvest. He looked out and he saw shepherds. He saw these things and he begins to develop an understanding of these things. And those things then later become part of his illustrative material when he steps out into his ministry. So he's able to say, for example, we won't turn there, but Matthew 6, he says, consider the lilies and how they grow. They don't toil or spin. Consider the sparrow, you know.

And he would say, God looks after the lilies. God looks after even the birds. So don't worry, he would say. So you don't worry.

He says it's time for harvest. In fact, he said the harvest is white. The fields are white for harvest. Later, using that analogy, pointing to the disciples' participation in calling men and women to God. He saw the shepherd. Later on, he says, I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep.

He observed these things. He grew and increased in his knowledge of nature.

What else can you think of? Well, and speaking of nature, we could also say he grew and increased in his knowledge of human nature, didn't he? He was a student of human nature. Probably the one thing he enjoyed observing the most, besides nature, may have been human nature. So when the fullness of the time had come, he steps out to teach the people and he looks out and he says, what can I compare this generation to? And he says, they're like children sitting in a marketplace, you know. How does he come up with that illustrative material? He had seen children sitting in a marketplace and how they tugged and pulled, you know. We're playing the instruments and perhaps never not satisfied, you know, not maybe perhaps spoiled. Where does this come from? It's from his observation. He knew what children looked like sitting in a marketplace. He knew what it would look like for a young man to go off to a big city and come back broken, penniless, and ashamed. So it wasn't difficult for him to say when he steps out into his ministry to turn and to say there once was a man who had two sons. One of them said to the father, give me my part of the inheritance that is owed to me. And so he divided amongst him and he went out from the city and so on. Where does he get that source of information from? Well, he grew and increased in his knowledge of human nature. How was he able to say one went out to the corner and prayed up to heaven saying, I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men? And the other one couldn't even raise his eyes to heaven.

Where does he come up with that picture of self-righteousness? He saw it. He saw it. So he grew in his wisdom and knowledge and increased in his understanding of human nature. What else?

We could think about he grew and increased in his knowledge of scripture. You ever think about that? You ever think about the picture of Jesus Christ as a boy studying his Bible? Studying the scriptures, Genesis, Deuteronomy, the prophets, Psalms, and so on.

A little bit of conjecture. You can imagine the picture of Jesus Christ coming to dinner, being called to dinner. He's about to eat his dinner. But Mary's saying, well, hold on. You can't eat anything until you recite your memory verses to me.

Perhaps a probable occurrence. A little conjecture there.

Do we find that difficult to accept?

Well, we might find it difficult if somehow we unconsciously have found ourselves susceptible to being a Polynarian in our type of thinking, where we don't have a real Jesus Christ. We don't have a real Jesus Christ. And if we don't have a real Jesus Christ, then you can see the difficulty in really coming to him.

And so with this growing and increasing in scripture, he's able to step out into the beginning of his ministry. And when he's tempted in the wilderness, how does he respond? He quotes scripture. How is he able to quote scripture? Because he learned scripture. When did he learn scripture? When he was growing in wisdom and knowledge. He increased in these things.

What are the ways? Well, we could say that he grew in his knowledge and understanding of labor. You know, he labored in carpentry.

Is this not the carpenter's son? They said. And of course he was. It's a wonderful thought to think about the greater part of his existence. He was working with his hands, you know. I don't know what they had back then. Chisels, hammers in those days. This is not mine. I read this. Perhaps his marketing slogan over the entry of his shop was, my yokes are easy.

But it's interesting to think about. I have full confidence that he would have been known in the community as someone who really took pride in his craftsmanship. No farmer would ever have the the neck of their oxen chafing under one of the yokes that came from Jesus of Nazareth's workshop.

Probably very important to him. Take pride in good work. So that later in his public ministry, he would step out and say, come to me. All you who are weary and heavy laden, take my yoke upon you, because my yoke is easy. My burdens are light.

He also grew in his knowledge of home life. If you think about the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, one reference is Matthew 13, a reference to his brothers and sisters. It seems like Scripture points to the fact that Joseph, his father, died early. So Jesus, being the older brother, perhaps for a certain period of time, would have been the man around the house or a portion of his life. Anybody who's been in that circumstance can relate to that, where one of the children have to step up into the role of a parent. She's typically the oldest one. So you think about how that knowledge would have increased and helped Jesus Christ grow in understanding. Think about the parables that would reflect that kind of wisdom. He talks about a lady who lost the coin, and they had to turn the house upside down to find it. Perhaps he had seen his mother do that.

He's able to talk about heaven in relation to the baking process, and flour, and leaven, and the quantities, and so on. How has he come up with that stuff? Do you think he perhaps would have cooked many a meals for his siblings to help his mother out? Perhaps. All these factors would have contributed to Luke's recording here of this child growing and becoming strong and being filled with wisdom and the grace of God resting upon him. In other words, he underwent the normal intellectual development. Same as you and I. Is this connecting you to him in a greater way today? I hope it is. I hope it is. Perhaps most impactful is that he grew and increased in his experience and understanding of human emotions. That's why Apollinares' heresy was so effective. It removed Jesus Christ from really connecting in our emotions, in our heart. Because Apollinares would say, after all, he's divine. He's just divine there. You see how that heresy would really affect how we could truly connect with Jesus Christ in his experience. Human emotion. He grew and increased in this area. Consider him at the grave of Lazarus. What did he do? He weeps. Real tears.

The picture of him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mark records some of the most personal aspects of Jesus's emotion. He said he was troubled and deeply distressed. So if we would have been there in that garden on that day when he's praying to his father, and if we would have asked him, how are you feeling right now? He would have said, I'm really distressed and I'm really troubled. But aren't you Jesus? Aren't you God? Yes, I am God. Well, then why are you really distressed? Why are you really troubled? Because I'm really man. I'm really man.

And I have normal emotions. And as the years have gone by, I've grown in the depth and understanding of these emotions. And I have to tell you, quite frankly, I'm so troubled at the prospect of becoming the sin-bearer for my perfect father, that if it were possible, I would have this cut pass from me. Emotionally, he felt it. He went to the depths, almost was overwhelmed.

Real emotions. We talked about that during the Passover time, of course. But I think his connection to our emotions and him growing and increasing in that way certainly was impactful. But maybe even more interesting, he grew and he increased in the emotion of affection as well. I find this very interesting. Real affection. That was part of Jesus's experience and how he grew and increased. Human affection. And he was really able to connect with relationship and the difficulties of connecting with one another and the blessings of connecting with one another. We can't get the false impression that somehow or another he wanders through life. And Apollinairus would say, you know, he's fully divine up here. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if anybody was with him or not. After all, his only real relationship was with the Father. And that's true. That was the real relationship, absolutely. But we can't take on that thinking and somehow put him on a different human plane in his affection.

I do want to turn to this scripture and I want to show you this this part in how he grew and increased in human affection. Turn with me to Mark 3.14, if you will. I think it's profitable to allow your eyes to land upon this.

I find these little moments, one like we're going to read right now, just so fascinating. Mark 3.14. Look at this from the perspective of Jesus growing and increasing in his affection, in the emotion that he had for his human relationships, his physical relationships. Look at this. Mark 3.14. It says, then he appointed twelve, and here it is, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Let's stop there. Just a little note that you might read right by. He chose the twelve that they might be with him. Did you notice? You ever notice these things? Why did he choose the twelve to be with him? To be with him first, and then to go forth for him. But they didn't go forth for him until they were with him. Why did he want them to be with him? He wanted their company. He liked being with them. They were his friends. He had a tremendous work to do for his father. How wonderful it is to not do it alone. He was glad for their companionship. And what's really interesting, even in the midst of these twelve, he particularly had an affection for three, Peter, James, and John. He seems, throughout Scripture, you see that he seems to have a special affection for those three, Peter, James, and John. Those three will go places that the others didn't go. For example, again, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Who does he take with him? Peter, James, and John. The time that was going to be the greatest trial in his life. He took those three. You know, and you think about who would you want to be their bedside with you at a time of need. You know, you have a, just like Jesus Christ, you have a particular affection for a small group, perhaps. They're just, they're there, and you connect with them, and they're such a source of comfort. Their presence. Well, Jesus, in his humanity, is the same. He grew and increased in his experience of emotion, of affection. And if you're looking for this, and if you look at Scripture with this lens, you see it all throughout Scripture. Especially this affection really comes forth. Let's just turn one other place. I want to show you this. John 6 verses 66 and 67. John 6, let's turn there, verses 66 and 67. Here's another moment in which we see just Jesus's affection. You know, he wasn't just disconnected, or solely on some divine plane. No, he came to our circumstances. He experienced what we just experienced. Here in John 6, John records that Jesus's discourse on the nature of the bread of life, and a great crowd actually began to turn back, turn away from Jesus. Look at this. John 6 verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Let's stop there. So from that time, here's a moment in which many of his disciples turned back and walked with him no more. And so Jesus Christ says, who cares? Who cares? Let him go. Why does it matter to me? No. Look at this. Verse 67. Verse 67. Then Jesus said to the 12, do you also want to go away? In other words, you're not planning on going as well, are you?

So, you see, I want to bring your attention to these seemingly insignificant moments. These small recordings for the purpose to better connect us to the 12-year-old boy who's sitting in the temple who is growing and increasing. And the 12-year-old boy who was sitting in that temple is growing and increasing to become the Messiah, to become your Savior. And when you read a recording like this in terms of human affection, it reads totally different, doesn't it? Here Christ comes with this wonderful good news from his father, proclaiming the wonderful opportunity for salvation. Crowds were following him. He fed the 5,000. He recognizes some are there and they don't quite get it. They're not really there for the right reasons. So he turns to him and he says, Let me explain all of this to you. And as a result of that, they all turn in droves. How would you feel? You come to call people to the wonderful news of the coming kingdom of God. You tell them all about it. Instead of them coming, they all are going.

So he turns to his core group. And what does he say?

I just want to check. None of you are going as well, are you?

It would have broke his heart. I think he would have been deeply affected, you know, if his friends would have turned as well.

Why did he ask them that? He loved them. He had great affection for them.

And that's why when you think of the three that he takes with him to the Garden of Gethsemane, and he just says, Peter, James and John, I've brought you here with me. I want you three to be here with me. Could you wait here with me? Just be with me. You know? And when he comes back and they're asleep, you know, you feel the affection in his voice when he says, couldn't you just stay with me, you know, and watch with me? If you understand that he was fully connected in this way, in his psychology, in his emotions, we understand the immensity then that what took place there. And we understand the immensity of what took place in his entire life here on earth. So when we read that scripture that we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us, that should mean something to us. And as we begin to close this study, my hope is that we can be thankful to Dr. Luke for bringing this out to us in scripture. And when you're tempted to say, I don't think anyone understands the deep longings of my heart and my mind. I want to tell you that there is one person, and I want to offer him to you today in hopefully a more personal way. He is your Savior. He is your friend. Here in the 12-year-old boy, Jesus Christ, this child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. And this 12-year-old boy would grow, moving on from that day in the temple, and he would move steadfastly toward the fulfillment as to why the Father sent him. And on that fateful day, on the last day of his physical life, he would proclaim, it is finished. What did he finish? He said, Teddalestai. It is finished. And that phrase is directly related to the 12-year-old boy sitting in the temple in Jerusalem. Didn't you know I needed to be about my Father's business? And then he says, if I can say so reverently, I finished the business. I finished it.

So he is real, truly God, but truly man. May you trust in the one who came and grew and increased for you and I.