The God-Man in the Temple

Brothers and sisters, I want to start today's sermon with this question. Do you ever feel like you fall short? This might be a silly question because we all do. We all do very often feel like we fall short. We know the kind of a parent we should be. We know the kind of a child we should be. We know the kind of a worker we should be. We know the kind of a spouse we should be. And we know that we are not that. That we constantly fail that standard that's deep in our hearts we know we should fulfill. We fail to love man perfectly, and we fail to love God perfectly.

It's such a universal experience, falling short, that whenever we make a mistake, whenever we do something wrong, we say, hey, I'm only human. On the other hand, one very popular writer back from my country, in Kyrgyzstan, he said that the most difficult thing for a man to be is to be a human every day, day to day. It's very difficult. Why? Because there's a certain standard that we know that we should fulfill, that we should be, and we constantly fail to live up to that standard.

And brothers and sisters, if you think about it, what is the hope for us, for imperfect people like us to enter and dwell with a holy, perfect God? You know, even as Christians, we hear, we are taught of the grace of God, we're taught of His forgiveness, but whenever, even when we perfectly, you know, have been praying, we have been reading the word, we have been going to church, we have maybe even been actively sharing our faith with others, even then we have some lingering sins that we can't just shake off. That we can't let go of. And we can't help but feel that there's an invisible wall, even as Christians, between us and God. We feel like He's distant. Because when difficult time comes, perhaps we fall into doubt. When a loved one dies, when we lose our job, we tend to doubt and we think, how can I, a man who's so unstable, whose faith seems so fragile, be in God's presence. How can he look at me with favor?

And God graciously, in today's passage, provided us a solution. If you're in that place of desperation, if you're familiar with this feeling of being alienated from God and feeling distant from Him, then today's passage that we're going to read from Luke is going to help us to solve that problem that we have and be closer to God, to be reconciled to God and be in His presence.

Now, with that, let's look at Luke chapter 2, and we're going to be looking from verse 40 all the way to the end of chapter 2, verse 52. Okay, so as I read this passage, please follow along in your hearts.

Verse 40. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began a search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 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. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, Why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. And he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. This is the word of the Lord.

And the passage tells us that the parents did not understand what Jesus said, and that is exactly what we're going to try to do today, is understand exactly what Jesus was telling us and why that matters for us, okay?

Now, we have to remember that Luke is not just reporting a bunch of random stories or moral stories from Jesus' life. As we remember from the sermon on the first chapter, in the beginning, Luke very clearly states why he is making this account. It is to strengthen the faith of Theophilus about the things that he has been taught. And because the whole Gospel of Luke is about Christ, we can say he wants to strengthen the faith of Theophilus about the things he has been taught about Christ. So this passage, in some way, is teaching us something about Christ.

And how do we know what exactly it's teaching us? If you look at the structure of this passage, I want you to draw your attention to verse 40 and verse 52, the beginning and ending verses. Do you see something interesting that's happening there? Verse 40 and verse 52 are pretty much the exact same words are repeated in both. So we can see that it's the whole passage, the whole narrative about the boy Jesus in the temple is sandwiched between these two bookends that Luke provides us. And usually when that happens, it gives us a clue of what the passage means. When we understand these bookends, what is Luke telling us in these bookends in verse 40 and 52 We can use that as a lens to view and understand the rest of the passage, the rest of the narrative, okay?

So let's look at it. What are the bookends saying? Verse 40 says, And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. And verse 52 talks about Jesus increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. The first thing that we note here It's obviously clearly talking about the growth of Jesus, the growth of Jesus, that he had to undergo physical growth in stature, he had to grow in strength, mentally he had to grow, he grew in wisdom, he grew spiritually, and he grew socially, in favor with God and in favor with man.

Why is this so important for Luke to mention this? Because up to this point, if you remember the previous passages that we have looked at, I mean, Jesus, nothing about Jesus is ordinary, right? He's born of a virgin. He's conceived by the Holy Spirit. The prophecies are saying that he will be the Son of the Most High, okay? And whereas John the Baptist, When Luke describes John the Baptist, he says, the prophecy says that he will be the prophet of the most high, but when he describes Jesus, he says he will be the son of the most high.

So there's this divinity being highlighted to us, and here, Luke brings in the passage about Jesus growing up, highlighting, of course, his humility. His humanity, I'm sorry. So Jesus had to go through the same process of maturation and growth that we as humans do.

Now, if you think about it, this actually contrasts and attacks certain, defends us against certain early heresies that attacked the church early on. And one of those heresies, one of those teachings is called Deceitism. Deceitism. And this teaching was a part of a larger framework of Gnosticism that we've all heard of. But what Gnostics essentially believed is that all flesh, all material things are evil, and all spiritual things are good. And because of that belief, they had a teaching called Deceitism, which taught that Jesus could not have been human. He could not have been truly man. And why could he not have been truly man? Because all flesh, all matter is evil, And so, God could not become man, and therefore, he couldn't truly suffer, he couldn't truly die for our sins. All of that was an illusion.

And Luke here, by the grace of God and foresight of the Holy Spirit, is defending the church against us thinking that Jesus was an illusion, he was pretending to be a man. No, Jesus was truly man, because he had to go through the process of maturation. And yet, there's something special about him. Luke doesn't just tell us, yeah, Jesus had to grow through the growth just like you and me, he was a human being, period. No, he highlights for us that yes, he's a human being, but he's not a mere human being. How do you know that? I think the fact that Luke says that he grew in favor with God. And in verse 40, it says that he, the favor of God was upon him. That gives us a clue that even though Jesus had to go through the process of maturing and growth, there was something very special about him.

Notice, in the previous chapters, in chapter one, verse 80, Luke uses a very similar description for John's growth. He says, John grew in strength. But he doesn't add that he grew, that the favor of God was upon him, or that he grew in favor with God. Now, it doesn't mean that John wasn't favored by God. He was very much favored. In fact, Jesus himself in the Gospel of Matthew says that of all born of women, John is the greatest. But I think Luke is trying to tell us that Jesus is the greater John. He has a greater mission. And as we're gonna see in the next passage, John himself is going to admit that as well.

But this description, especially verse 52, description of Jesus' growth, is also extremely very similar to one other passage from the Old Testament, where the growth of one other person is described. Okay, and it's the growth of the prophet Samuel, if you remember, and I'm going to read from 1 Samuel 2,verse 26, and just listen how in 1 Samuel, the growth of Samuel, the prophet Samuel is described.

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. It's like Luke took that Old Testament description of the growth of Samuel, copy pasted it to describe Jesus. I think he's trying to link these two characters.

And we're not gonna do a deep dive into what Samuel has done, but we all have what Pastor Lucas walked us through, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, and we know that Samuel was an instrumental, I mean, he stands out among all the prophets because he brings in this radical revival, spiritual revival into the nation of Israel. He plays a key role in forming Israel as a monarchy. And if you remember, it is Samuel who anoints David to be king, God's chosen one.

So I think Luke is trying to tell us, yes, he's a human, he had to go through growth, but there's something very special about him. He's going to bring a change that has never happened before that only he can bring.

Okay, so as we're gonna look at the passage, that something special that I've been talking about, we're gonna learn that that something special is that he's also God. That Jesus is man, yes, but he's also God. So what is the true nature of Christ? Is that he's truly God and truly man, okay?

So, now that we've understand kind of the theme of this passage, let's dive into it, okay? And dissect and try to understand what Jesus' words meant and what Luke is trying to communicate by this passage.

In Luke chapter two, verse 41 and 42, I'm going to read that for us, and then we're gonna analyze it. Now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom.

Now, apparently the trip to Nazareth is about 80 miles long, and today it's what, about an hour travel, but back then it was three days, three, four days travel, and usually they traveled with a caravan. And some scholars, some commentaries say that it's very possible that this is Jesus' first time to go to Jerusalem for Passover. I mean, because He's 12 years old now, maybe that's why Luke is mentioning it. He's 12 years old now, and in Jewish tradition, When a child turns 13, especially the male children, they become the son of commandment. It's their coming of age, and now they're ready to learn in the synagogue and officially start participating as adults in the services, in the rituals and sacrifices.

And so Jesus is about to turn 13. He's 12 years old. And usually what they would advise the fathers to do is to bring along their children so that they could observe the feast, the Passover, the sermons, so that when they do turn 13, they can start participating and jump right in to performing the rites and they're not lost when they actually are there to do it. So maybe we can infer that it's probably Jesus' first time.

Now, if you remember what Passover is, I mean, it's quite a significant celebration, significant holiday that celebrates a very important event in Israel's history. This is when Israel was led out of Egypt by God's grace, and they were spared from God's judgment. Israel was spared from God's judgment. Why were they spared from it? Because if you remember, the Passover lamb was sacrificed, its blood was applied in the doorposts, and God's judgment passed over Israel, not because they're Israelites, but because of the blood of the lamb that was applied to the doorposts.

And so Israelites remembered that God showed mercy to them that day and delivered them out of Egypt, and they celebrated it every year. Now, you can imagine, as Jesus is participating in these Passover sacrifices, he's hearing the sermons. He sees the lamb being slaughtered on the altar. He hears the sermons about God delivering Israel, that the firstborn sons were taken away, And Jesus, observing all this, is connecting the dots in his head. About how he fits into this picture when he sees the lamb sacrificed.

And perhaps by the next day, by the end of the feast, he had a whole bunch of questions that were brewing up in his mind. And so it is no wonder, perhaps, that Jesus, in his excitement, as soon as the feast was ended, when everybody else was leaving, he still had a hunger to learn more about his father, his plan of redemption, and how he fits into that picture. And so he, in excitement, runs to the temple. Okay, now let's read the next verse, Luke 2, 43through 45.

And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. So the parents left, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

And when I read this passage, I think a natural question arised in my mind, and maybe yours as well, why did Jesus not tell them? Even if he did plan to stay behind, couldn't he have said, you know, Mom, Dad, I got to learn about my Heavenly Father. I got to stay. And, you know, this is very important. Could he have not negotiated with them, told them that he's staying? But he chose not to stay, and the passage never tells us why he chose not to tell them, and the passage never tells us why he chose not to tell them. It does tell us why he chose to stay, but not why he chose not to tell them. It is a mystery to us, and as we will find out, it was also a mystery to his parents, because they're gonna ask him why he put them through it, okay?

And some people explain it, you know, they say he clearly disobeyed, you know his parents These are of course skeptics that say this we can clearly rule this out because even Luke Says he was submissive and obedient to his parents. I think Luke's trying to make sure we don't misread this as Jesus misbehaving and rebelling Some say hey, you know what Luke started this by highlighting Jesus humanity and Why couldn't this be a sign of Jesus' humanity? A 12-year-old boy who's super excited about something. I mean, the whole world is gone for him. He only sees the temple, learning about his father. He sees these teachers that he can ask all kinds of questions from. And he just runs. And he didn't have the same social awareness as this 30-year-old man would. So he's 12 years old.

Some say that maybe. Some say that the parents messed up. It's a Home Alone story where they leave Kevin behind, if you remember. And some say, this is Mary and Joseph just being parents, I guess, who forget their children. Luke doesn't tell us that Jesus is lost. It says he stayed behind. Sounds like an active verb. Sounds like he made that decision. He doesn't also tell us that the parents messed up. Doesn't give us any signs that it was the parents. The parents themselves seem to not believe that they messed up. They probably have done everything right. It certainly doesn't tell us that Jesus disobeyed.

So, let's see what does Luke tell us. So, he stayed behind and the parents didn't know. These are the facts that we have. So, let's be content with these facts and let's read on, okay? You stayed behind and let's read verse 2, 46 through 48.

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. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. " Okay? Now, if you think about it, before we go into the interaction and the whole, you know, interaction between the parents and Jesus, note this. Here that Jesus is sitting there and astonishing people. Luke uses this language a lot, that people marveled at him, that he astonished, he amazed people. And I think whenever Luke uses these words, he's trying to underline something for us about Jesus, okay, something very special. And some people say that, This sign of Jesus astonishing the teachers is a sign of His divinity. You know, this is God who is omniscient, He knows everything. And so, obviously, He's divine, He has superhuman knowledge, that's why He's astonishing these teachers. But I don't think so. I think this passage is highlighting His humanity, but not His mere humanity. It's highlighting His perfect humanity.

Because notice that Jesus is not sitting there among the teachers at 12 years old teaching them, okay? As he would later in his ministry. But he's asking questions. It says he's asking them questions. And perhaps because he was sinless, because he was a perfect human that we all should have been but we failed, he didn't. And so he could grasp concepts about God, he could learn about God so much more quickly. There was no sin that was stopping him from learning about God. And so even the questions that he's asked, perhaps, led these teachers who were giving him answers to places that they've never gone before, led them to think about concepts and connecting dots that they've never have been able to connect before. Okay? It's astonishing. It was astonishing to them.

Now if you think about it, what would have these questions been? This is speculation territory. We don't know exactly the conversation. Luke doesn't record them for us. But if we just maybe use a little bit of logic and allow ourselves a little bit of speculation, this was the time of the Passover. This is the time when Jesus saw all these events happening, all these symbols. And maybe a lot of his questions concerned the Passover. You know, what does it mean? You know, why is God having us sacrifice this lamb every year? What is it pointing forward to? Could it be pointing forward to something? Maybe he's bringing up the Isaiah passage about the suffering servant, that he will be pierced for our transgressions. What does that mean? Does that connect to the Passover somehow? And the teachers listening to this maybe are thinking, hey, I've never thought about this before, and they are astonished.

But we don't know the exact content of these questions, but we do know that as a result of this time spent in the temple in Jerusalem, one thing was solidified in Jesus' mind, his own nature. Jesus came to the full realization of who he was and what his mission was, okay? So in Luke chapter two, verse 48 and 49, we see Jesus testify and give us his own account of his nature, okay? Now, it's interesting because the gospel of Luke starts with God breaking his silence after nearly 400 years of being silent because of Israel's sins. He breaks his silence by prophesying to Zechariah. And in this chapter, in chapter two, we hear Jesus' words for the first time. Jesus breaks his silence for the first time and reveals something about himself.

Now let's see what that is, 48 and 49. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress. And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? Now, it seems like the parents looked everywhere else before they headed straight to the temple, okay? And Jesus rebukes them for it. He corrects them for it. Now, it's hard to be angry at the parents because if you're a parent and you've ever lost a child, it sounds like everyone has that story, you know, where they lost a child. I personally was lost once as a kid. You can imagine that, you know, yes, the parents would be angry. You know, you didn't tell us. Don't you know I'm responsible for you? Why would you put me through this?

I mean, it's hard to judge Mary for bringing up this concern to Jesus, but Jesus doesn't snap back. There's no sign that Jesus is upset, but he gently corrects them. He says, why were you looking for me? You should have known that this is where I would have been. How would they have known? Luke doesn't necessarily disclose this, but I think perhaps raising him as a human being Maybe Mary had a tendency to forget that she's raising the son of God, God himself. She's nursing him, and we can imagine that, yes, it would be perhaps hard to always remember that this human being that's walking around you, that depends on you, is God incarnate.

But Jesus corrects her and tells her, don't you know that I must be in my father's house? The temple should have been the first place that you should have been looking for me. Now why Jesus says the temple should have been the first place he should have been looking for me, Jesus says, because this is my father's house and this is where I must be. I must be in my father's house.

Jesus very often uses this word must. And it's a Greek word, dei, meaning must. And he attributes it usually to his divine mission. Whenever he talks about the son of man must be crucified, he must be delivered to the Gentiles, he uses this word. And here he says, I must be about my father's business. Another translation says, about my father's business. I must be in my father's house.

What's really peculiar and interesting and special about this way of Jesus' description of himself is that not many people, in fact, no one in the Old Testament, in any of the, in the entirety of the Old Testament describes God as my father. In fact, God is described as a father in the Old Testament 14 times, only 14 times in the entirety of the Old Testament. And it's often used as more of a corporate father. He's the father of our nation. But Jesus calls God his father 60 times in the Gospels, 60 times.

And so, nobody walked around calling God the father, and Jesus shows up, this 12-year-old child, and says, God is my father. I have a special relationship with him. Why? Because he's the son of God. Okay, so he is shocking them, he is astonishing them, but he is revealing who he is. He is human, yes, who grew, who had to go through a process of maturation, but he's also God.

And some people say that Jesus became God at his baptism. When I was a child, one random person, my friend's friend, my friend's father's friend, we're sitting, I was a guest in their house. He just turned to me and started, you know, attacking different things about Christianity. One of the things he brought up is, did you know that Jesus, you know, he wasn't really born God, he became God? And at the moment, I was like, what is he talking about? I couldn't, I was a child, I couldn't argue with him. But it's a very prevalent theory apparently that Jesus became God at the point of baptism.

But Luke here is telling us, no, Jesus was God and he knew about it from his very childhood because he called God his father. Now, parents, it says that the parents did not understand him. And I think the question that comes up in our minds, I mean, couldn't it be clearer? He's literally telling them, I must be in my father's house. You should have been looking for me. This is where I belong. This is who I am. I'm God. I'm a human, but I'm also God.

But the parents marveled, it says. He didn't understand. Nor did his disciples. Very often, he would just straight up tell the disciples in the Gospels, hey, the Son of Man is to be delivered. He should suffer for people's sins, to deliver them from their sins, and then he will rise again. I mean, it's straightforward. But they still failed to grasp it and maybe we can judge them and say maybe they were just dumb.

But imagine if somebody showed up today claiming these things, giving these parables. Probably 99% there will be a cult leader, someone who's trying to start their own cult. And when you subject them to scrutiny, all of them fail. Well, Jesus was subjected to scrutiny, he didn't fail, and he proved it, of course, by his resurrection. Here he's proving it. As well by his amazing insights that he's special. But we can see how this can be mysterious, but it's a mystery no more, of course, because of the Holy Spirit that guides us into these insights.

So, and again, I want to kind of mention that this doctrine of God being fully God and fully man is called, the doctrine, this teaching is called hypostatic union. Hypostasis is person, it's a Greek word for person, and union, You know, it's union. Hypostatic union, meaning Jesus unites within himself, within one person, two natures, fully God and fully man, and they don't mix, nor are they separate. And how is that possible? It's a mystery for us. But it matters. This doctrine matters to us tremendously.

Why? Because only the God-man can be the perfect mediator for us. As I have started in the beginning of the sermon, have you ever felt like you fall short? We all do. Have you ever felt like, no matter how much you try, even as a Christian, when you pray, even after knowing the Word of God, that there's still sins that you wrestle with, there's still imperfections in your life that make you feel distant from God. This is the solution, the nature of Christ, Him being the God-Man. Why? Because only the God-Man can be the mediator between God and man.

Now, I want to draw your attention to something here. Because I think Luke is trying to make a point for us about one very specific place, and that place is the temple, okay? In this passage, we see that Jesus is standing in the middle of the temple. The whole story revolves around the temple and happens in the temple.

Now, if you look back in chapter one, the way Luke starts his gospel, Where does it start? It's in the temple. The revelation is revealed to Zachariah in the temple. And this whole, chapter one and two are introductions to Jesus' ministry. Chapter two, three, Jesus is gonna be 30 years old and gonna start off his ministry. Chapter two, the introduction ends with Jesus in the temple. So it starts with God speaking in the temple, ends with God speaking in the temple, the introduction ends. And the whole gospel of Luke, actually, Ends in the temple the disciples being in the temple. So I think that the theme of the temple is worth exploring here and then maybe it will help us connect the dots of Why it matters for us that Jesus is God man. Now if you think about The temple, okay The what is the purpose of the temple What is the purpose of the temple? The purpose of the temple is that we are sinful men that do not deserve to be in the presence of God. God can't be in our presence, not in an absolute sense, he's omnipresent. He can't fellowship with us. He can't be with us and fellowship with us because he sees our sins, he knows them. And as a righteous judge, he has to judge them. So we can't have peace and fellowship with God on our own. So what does God do? He provides a way. Even though he's the judge, he's also our merciful creator. He wants to fellowship with us, so he provides a way through the temple for us to be able to fellowship with God.

So the temple is this almost a bridge between man, in Israel specifically, and God. And whenever you enter the temple, that's when you enter the presence of God. Now, it wasn't the entirety of the temple that God was present in. It was actually a very limited experience, because there was a place in the temple called the Holy of Holies. There's a one place where God's presence would be. It was the Holy of Holies. And only one person could enter that place, that's the high priest. And only once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest could enter into that space and into the presence of God.

So the temple does offer God's presence. It does provide a way for us to be in his presence, but it's so limited. Not most people, 99% of the people weren't able to experience and enter His presence. It had to be a very special person, at a very special time, at a very special place.

But here if you think about Jesus being God. He's fully God, He's truly God. He's not half God, no. He is this God in whose presence it's so difficult to enter for sinful man. And you see Jesus sitting in the temple court. He's not in the most holy of holies. He's sitting in the court interacting with people. God himself interacting with men, with sinful men. It's like God came out of the Holy of Holies through Jesus and is having fellowship with man.

Why? Because Jesus would become the mediator between God and man. Jesus in himself unites God and man in his own nature. And his mission is to unite God and man as well, okay? So he can represent God perfectly on God's behalf because he is God. He can bear infinite judgment of God. And Jesus at the same time can represent us perfectly because he lived the life that we should have lived from verse 50 all the way to the end.

And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth. And was submissive to them, and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. "

Jesus lived that perfect life that we imagine. Imagine, what would be the perfect life? What would it look like if I lived a perfect life, if I was the perfect father, if I was the perfect husband, if I was the perfect worker at my workplace, perfect brother? Jesus was that. He was the perfect son. He was the perfect, he is our perfect father in a sense, but he's our perfect brother. He's the perfect worker. He satisfied every letter of the law and fulfilled it on our behalf. And so if you feel like you're standing at the edge of the canyon here, and God is all the way there on the other end, and you cannot cross it, Jesus, by His life of righteousness and submission, He built that bridge for us to be able to cross into that, and He carries us through that bridge.

So what is the call to action for us today? As we contemplate Jesus's nature, Him being fully God and fully man, and Him uniting us to God, let's lean on Him. Even as Christians, very often we forget that we have a resting place. Of course, this is not a license to sin, as people accuse us of doing. It is, but it is a security. It is a security that no matter how flawed we are and how much failure we experience in our lives, that we have someone who has done the work that we should have done on our behalf. So let's lean on that.

And as we find security in the fact that Jesus redeemed us, he's done what we should have done, Let's follow his example out of a sense of peace, not to try to earn it, not to try to gain God's favor, knowing that Jesus gained his favor. He grew in favor with God, and his favor was upon him, and it's through him that we can be favored with God.

Let's pray.