Luke 2:41-52 - "My Father's Business"

47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 48 So when they 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." 49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"   Throughout his Gospel, Luke is reminding us of the full humanity of Jesus Christ and at the same time His deity. Here he recounts a few days of the childhood of Jesus when He was twelve years old. After Jesus and His parents had observed the Passover in Jerusalem, they had gone a day's journey from Jerusalem when they discovered that Jesus was missing. It took a day to return to the city and two more days for them to find Him. During those three days, Joseph and Mary had been very anxious” (v. 48). This word is also translated “sorrowing” or “distressed”. It is worth noting that Luke's phrase "Joseph and His mother" (Luke 2:43) suggests the Virgin Birth, while the phrase "Your father and I" (Luke 2:48) indicates that Joseph was accepted as the legal father of Jesus (see Luke 3:23).   Whether Jesus had spent the entire time in the temple, we don't know. It certainly would have been safe there and the Heavenly Father was watching over Him. We do know that when Joseph and Mary found Him, He was in the midst of the teachers, asking them questions and listening to their answers; and the teachers were amazed at both His questions and His answers.   Mary's loving rebuke brought a respectful but astonished reply from Jesus: "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" (v. 49). It can also be translated "in the things of My Father", but the idea is the same. Jesus was affirming His divine sonship and His mission to do the will of the Father. What was His “Father’s business?” John says it clearly in John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  The Father’s business is the redemption of mankind! His business is the salvation of sinners by the perfect and sinless life of Jesus, His death as our substitute, His blood sprinkled on the altar in heaven, and His resurrection!   The word “must” was often on our Lord's lips: "I must preach" (Luke 4:43); "The Son of man must suffer" (Luke 9:22); the Son of man "must be lifted up" (John 3:14). Even at the age of twelve, Jesus was moved by a divine compulsion to do the Father's will. Since Jesus "increased in wisdom" (Luke 2:52), we wonder how much He understood God's divine plan at that time. We must not assume that at the age of twelve He was omniscient. Certainly He grew in His comprehension of those mysteries as He communed with His Father and was taught by the Spirit.   Jesus is a wonderful example for all young people to follow. He grew in a balanced way (Luke 2:52) without neglecting any part of life, and His priority was to do the will of His Father (see Matt. 6:33). He knew how to listen (Luke 2:46) and how to ask the right questions. He learned how to work, and He was obedient to His parents. The Boy Jesus grew up in a large family, in a despised city, nurtured by parents who were probably poor. The Jewish religion was at an all-time low, the Roman government was in control, and society was in a state of fear and change. Yet when Jesus emerged from Nazareth, eighteen years later, the Father was able to say of Him, "Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22).   May the Father be able to say that about us, and like Jesus, we should always be about our Father’s business of bringing lost sinners to salvation!   God bless!