Lost and Found (2)

Luke 2:41-52

I will start where we stopped in the Armenian sermon. The young Jesus’ statement to his panicking parents is just amazing. "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"

2. The young Jesus (almost teenage) introduces the Heavenly Father to us.

Jesus reminds his parents of the promises they heard 12 years ago. He reminds them of his identity which was revealed to them before his birth.

-Jesus is reminding his mother Mary what the angel told her,

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."… “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."” (Luke 1:30-33)

-He is reminding his father of his dream,

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."” (Matthew 1:20-21)

“Mom and dad, do you remember what the angel told you? Here I am in my Father’s Temple, in my Father’s house. The owner of this house is my Heavenly Father.”

Jesus is declaring to his parents his real identity. He is not just a boy; he is the Son of God.

In the Old Testament, the writers mentioned God as Father but only as an adjective. It was mentioned 14 times, and never in a personal sense. Some examples:

-King David in his psalms uses the image: “You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.” (Psalm 89:26)

-In Isaiah we read, “Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father” (9:6)

Here Jesus introduces the concept that we can call our Lord and God, Father. Later in the Lord’s Prayer he goes further calling Him Abba, daddy.

Jesus is actually telling his earthly parents that his Heavenly Father has a mission for him, and he is here to fulfill his Heavenly Father’s will. “Didn’t you know I had to be…” I had to do my Father’s will. I am here with a mission.

More examples:

I must (had to) preach… (Luke 4:43)

The Son of Man must (had to) suffer… (Luke 9:22)

The Son of Man must (had to) lift up (John 3:14)

What a shock for Joseph and Mary who are trying to understand all this. They are also learning that their son is introducing the Almighty God, El Shaddai and Adoni, as Father, and is here to fulfill His will.

The text says Mary kept these things in her heart. They did not understand much that day. It all made more sense later on.

3. The young Jesus is Growing Up physically (structure), intellectually (wisdom), and spiritually (favor with God and men).

Jesus grew up like any other young child and was obedient to his earthly parents.

^51”Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.”

The text goes on describing the process of his growth as a young man.

a. Jesus increased in wisdom. He was growing up intellectually. Please notice that wisdom is more than knowledge or information.

I find that we are bombarded with knowledge. We read a magazine while the TV is on. The news is read while other headlines are moving on the lower part of the screen. Knowledge is all over us, too much. This is not wisdom. Wisdom in biblical terms is the “fear of the Lord.” It means finding meaning in our lives. Asking God through Jesus to help us mature in life. Learning and exploring life and putting everything in perspective.

b. Jesus was growing in structure; it means he was physically growing up. It is wonderful to have a healthy body. There is nothing wrong in doing sports; in fact, it is good. But I wonder if sports became our new god?

c. He found favor with God and men. In Armenian Shnork kedav.

Favor literally means grace.

The boy Jesus was maturing spiritually in his relationship with his Heavenly Father on one side (vertical) and also with men, with the society in which he lived (horizontal).

Yet, in this sentence there is much more. Our author Luke is telling his readers an extremely important fact.

Let us go to the Old Testament. Israel was in bad shape during the time of Eli the priest. He was a weak priest, allowing his sons do all kinds of wicked things. In those times a boy called Samuel was born. (Please read 1 Samuel for details.)

We read about the boy Samuel: “And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men.” (1 Sam. 2:26)

We had same sentence in Luke. Why?

Luke is reminding how God was with Samuel; he was God’s obedient child who came and changed the history of Israel. Here we have a “new Samuel.” Here we have a “new boy” who found favor with God and men. And this is not just a prophet, he is Son of God, he is the Messiah.

What is the application of this sermon?

Watch out parents and everyone in CACC.

Jesus was lost and his parents found him. However, Jesus was “home” and perhaps his parents were lost. Jesus was always there. Actually, we are often lost as parents. We do not know where we’re going.

I have been a parent for 18 years. I am a student and I will stay a student to learn to be a parent. The best school in learning to be parent was and is the Word of God. Sevan and I learned to go to God every day; He will teach us something new. Whatever we learn, we tried to apply first in our lives, and then we gave it to our children. We are not perfect parents. We make many mistakes. But we learn from our HEAVENLY FATHER how to love, how to prioritize our lives.

Jesus is our example this morning. His parents did their best. They did not understand many things, but they helped their child grow in wisdom, in structure, and Jesus found favor with God and men.

Let me challenge you.

Many of you are thinking which school your child will go.

Start a banking account for the university.

Find the right educational DVDs and books for a healthy growth.

These are great. Please do not put the Sunday school and the church at the end of the list. That should be on the top of your list.

May God help us that we find favor, grace with God and men.

Amen