The title has nothing to do with the sermon, just my state at posting. Merry Christmas!
Luke 2:41-52; Colossians 3:12-17; Psalm 148; 1 Samuel 2:18-20,26
On Christmas Eve, we talked about the miracle of Jesus’ birth. The Shepherds, the angels – just the strangeness of it all. God born as a baby. This week, we see another thing that is interesting to think about: Jesus growing up.
There’s part of me that just doesn’t like to hear that Jesus had to grow up. I mean, he’s God incarnate. What could he possibly learn growing up that he doesn’t already know? Our reading even evidences this. When they went to Jerusalem for the Passover, at twelve Jesus was sitting in the Temple talking to the Elders, apparently amazing them all with his questions and answers.
How many twelve year olds do you think would impress your average seminary professor asking about God? That’s basically what happened. But then there’s the passage that I have a lot of trouble with, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” I can understand Jesus growing in favor with men, but growing in favor with God? He’s already God’s son!
But it also says Jesus grew in wisdom. Now in the Bible, wisdom is often two things. There’s the wisdom which comes from experience – just living life and learning from your and other’s mistakes. But there’s also the wisdom that comes from fearing and loving God. As Jesus grew up, does that mean He came to love God more?
Well here’s how I ended up on this issue, and it comes from the miracle of the incarnation. Jesus is fully man and fully God. 100% both, right? The God Jesus didn’t need any growing up, as he was with God in the beginning and the whole world was created through Him. But the man Jesus would not have been able to be fully human if he didn’t grow up. Jesus had to go through all the same trials and temptations that we do and now, according to Hebrews, we have an intercessor who knows what it’s like to be human because he lived it.
Interestingly enough, Jesus’ growing up caused him problems later in his ministry. Because he came from Nazareth, one of his first disciples initially wanted nothing to do with him. Whenever he went home for a while, his family and the people who watched him grow up tried to stone him at least once.
Yet if Jesus appeared on Earth as an adult, fully grown and wise, he would not have been fully human. He would have missed out on so much of what humanity is. We don’t know much about Jesus as a child, only this short story from Luke. It’s important to know that there are several other accounts of Jesus childhood, but most are fanciful at best and are written several hundred years after the gospels. But even the things we don’t know shouldn’t keep us from knowing that Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, is also fully human. He is the perfect human, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit God has given us the ability to follow his example, loving God and others, until we are perfected in Him at the end of it all.