POINT 3 THE MESSIAH WILL OBEY THE FATHER COMPLETELY (LUKE 2:41-50).

COMMENTARY

Verses 41-47 / Once again, these verses paint the picture of a faithful family honoring and obeying the Law of Moses. The law had instructions for the dedication of a child and the offerings that would be acceptable at such a time, and the law also had instructions for annual festivals. These festivals commemorated significant events in Israel’s history. Foremost among these was the celebration of the Passover. This annual celebration required the people to stop and remember God’s faithfulness to preserve His people during the plagues, and specifically the final plague, to help them escape from Pharaoh’s rule over them in Egypt and to lead them to the promised land (see Ex. 12).

The salvation that the Passover commemorated was a foreshadowing of the salvation to come in Jesus. This faithful family brought God’s greatest salvation to the temple at the time when a great salvation in history was celebrated. With Jesus’s death, the perfect blood to spare sinners from spiritual death was shed, and those covered by His blood will be saved. All others face the wrath of God.

After the festival, Jesus’s parents accidentally left him behind in Jerusalem. At this time, it would have been the custom for groups to make this pilgrimage together. In such an event, families often would split up and the husband might go separately, or he might even travel ahead in the journey to ensure safe travel. Somehow, Jesus was overlooked, and He did not go with the family back home, presumably to Nazareth. After some period of time when His parents couldn’t find Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem to continue the search for their Son there.

You might imagine a pre-teen boy being left behind and getting into all sorts of mischief. But not Jesus. Mary and Joseph searched for Him and found Him in the temple among the teachers. Unlike the concept of adolescence today, in Jesus’s day, it would have been common for boys of this age to be settling into their family business, learning a trade, and preparing for responsibility and adulthood. Thirteen was the common age of adulthood, and here Jesus was twelve.

What’s compelling in this narrative isn’t merely the maturity that Jesus showed but the fact that He seemed to be settling into His Father’s business already at this age. He was in the temple. He was asking questions of the religious leaders. And His questions and His answers gave some indication of unique wisdom and insight into God’s will and ways. He was set apart, and others not only took notice, they were “astounded.”

Verses 48-50 / Jesus’s parents found Him and spoke to Him, and you can almost hear the frustration in their words: “Why have you treated us like this?” But Jesus responded calmly, saying, “It was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house.” Luke used the term “it is necessary” often to show how God’s plan must and will be fulfilled (4:4; 9:22; 13:33; 17:25; 19:5; 22:37; 24:7,26,44). 3 Jesus may not have fully known all that was expected of Him at this point, but He did know that He was to teach and point people to the Father and to His kingdom. Despite His parents’ frustration, He was obeying the Father by being in the temple. The Almighty God and His will should always be our highest priority.

Jesus also knew who He was and whose He was. Jesus was making a statement of identity. He knew Himself to be the Son of God. He knew that God was His Father. His unique life and mission wasn’t lost on Him. Scholars debate the exact point in time when Jesus understood who He was and what He came to do because the text doesn’t say exactly. But Luke did give an indication that Jesus knew more than others, even His parents. Here, Jesus was making a statement about His identity to those who would listen, and this pattern of self-revelation would continue throughout His earthly ministry.

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EXTRA

POINT 1: THE MESSIAH WILL FULFILL THE LAW ENTIRELY (LUKE 2:21-24).

COMMENTARY

“Vv. 22–24 generally reflect the protocol of Lev 12, where a birth mother’s purification is followed by an offering in the temple. Luke departs from Lev 12 in two respects, both of which can be explained by his interest in highlighting Jesus rather than Mary. The first is the reference to ‘their purification’ (v. 22; NIV ‘the purification’). Torah required only the purification of the mother, but Exod 34:19–20 requires also the redemption of the firstborn, which Luke appears to include in the purification of Mary, thus their purification. The second departure concerns the offering of ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons’ (v. 24). This offering, which was prescribed for Israelites of humble means and thus identifies Mary and Joseph with the lower economic classes in Palestine, was prescribed for the purification of a birth mother (Lev 5:11; 12:8). Luke ascribes this offering to the presentation of Jesus in the temple (v. 22) in a manner reminiscent of the presentation of Samuel at the sanctuary in Shiloh (1 Sam 1:22–24). The two exceptions to the protocol set forth in Lev 12 thus accentuate the presentation, even manifestation, of Jesus in the temple.” 5

ILLUSTRATION

“Jim was never one for following the rules until he enlisted in the military. After he graduated from boot camp, he had two days to get across country to his next assignment. On the second day, he called his father midmorning from his hotel room. “Why aren’t you on the road yet?” His father asked. “Well, I’m all ready to go, Dad,” Jim replied, “but the sign on the door says ‘Checkout at 11 a.m.’ ” 6

Obedience is only right when it considers to whom you’re being obedient. First and foremost, you should be obedient to God. If others try to sway you from that, no matter who they are, you should always prioritize what God says to do.

POINT 2: THE MESSIAH WILL BRING SALVATION GLOBALLY (LUKE 2:27-32).

COMMENTARY

“We are not told Simeon’s vocation; all we know is that he is ‘righteous and devout’ (v. 25). Among the ‘righteous’ (dikaios) of the Old Testament were Job (Job 1:1) and many of the prophets. The word ‘devout’ (eulabes) was used in Greek culture of statesmen (Plato, Statesman, 311b); Philo used this word to describe Abraham (Philo, Who is the Heir? 6 § 22). Whereas the shepherds symbolized the average person on the street, Simeon represents the testimony of a wise elder who has walked with God. Part of his wisdom is seen in that he is looking for the hope of the nation, the consummation of God’s promise—‘the consolation of Israel’ (v. 25). Saints in touch with God’s heart often await expectantly the completion of God’s promises. This revered saint is led to see what the arrival of this child means. Simeon, like Zechariah and Mary, is expectant that God will deliver Israel. He has not given up believing that God will complete his promise, and his living in light of that hope brings perspective to the present. The Spirit, the source of all revelation and testimony, has told him that before he passes away, he will see ‘the Lord’s Christ.’ Therefore, when the child Jesus arrives, he is there and is led by God to offer a note of praise (known as the Nunc Dimittis, a name that comes from the Latin beginning to the hymn). In that song, which includes some prediction, not all the notes are happy, for the career of the Lord’s Christ, though glorious, is not absent of trial and disappointment. The locale of Simeon’s prophecy, the temple, is significant for Jewish readers, for this prophet is testifying to Jesus in the midst of the nation’s most sacred locale. Simeon begins by saying that God can take him now, for he has fulfilled his call of seeing the child who is the Christ. Once again, Luke has emphasized how God has performed his word.” 7

ILLUSTRATION

It’s easy to think of the nations as some remote bush in the back corner of Africa, and that is certainly one way to conceptualize God’s mission to bring salvation to the nations. He makes His way to places like this through the faithful witness of Christians who are willing to go and share the gospel of Jesus, and we should praise Him for their faithfulness (see Rom. 10).

But it’s also interesting to consider that many of us are in supposedly reached parts of the world. It’s easy to see places like the United States as the base of God’s operation, but this is not the case. God’s saving activity began in the Near East, and Jesus’s ministry focused on Jerusalem and the surrounding region. From there, places like the United States are about as “end of the world” as it gets. We should give thanks to God that in His good providence, testimony of the work of Jesus Christ made its way to us. Jesus is a light to our nation—to our hearts—by virtue of the faithful outworking of Jesus’s mission to be a light to the nations. And we can still be a part of that work as many people in United States, whether long-term citizens or new immigrants, still need to hear the good news of Jesus and the salvation and hope He brings.

POINT 3: THE MESSIAH WILL OBEY THE FATHER COMPLETELY (LUKE 2:41-50).

COMMENTARY

“As the scene opens, Mary and Joseph are the subjects of the action, but as it unfolds Jesus takes on an active role—for the first time in the Gospel. As the scene closes, he went to Nazareth, accompanied by them; he has become the subject of the verbs. This active role requires explanation, for it distances him from his parents, and this is the function of Jesus’ words in 2:49. Finally, the pericope contrasts two sorts of piety, not in order to negate the one but to underscore the preeminence of the other. It is a good thing to keep the Passover, but the sort of pious environment to which Jesus has become accustomed at home serves and must serve the more fundamental purpose of God. Not even familial claims take precedent over aligning oneself uncompromisingly on the side of God’s purpose. Jesus’ words, then, are pivotal, and contain within them both an affirmation of his particular relation to God and his commitment to God’s purpose. The first is emphasized by the dramatic development of the story, wherein Luke repeatedly refers to Jesus’ parents, Mary refers to Jesus as child and speaks of Jesus’ father, and Jesus counters by naming the God of the temple as his Father. That is, Luke has staged this interchange so as to pinpoint as the primary issue, Who is Jesus’ father? To whom does he owe primary allegiance? Jesus’ aligning himself first with God’s aim comes to the fore especially through his use of the expression ‘it is necessary’—employed regularly throughout Luke-Acts as an indicator of salvation-historical necessity.” 8

ILLUSTRATION

Complete obedience is rare. Parents of little kids know that discipline centers around a failure to obey completely. A child is asked to clean his room and he crams the clothes under the bed, or she is asked to wipe off the kitchen table and makes a singular sweeping motion with a cloth in a general direction of the table. Half-hearted, half-way obedience is normative.

Had Jesus obeyed in this way, He would not have been able to offer perfect righteousness to sinners as a gift. Jesus had to obey all the way and perfectly. He could not cut corners or offer general compliance. He had to be faithful, completely. Imagine how this must have felt for Jesus through these years. Perfect obedience when His peers were surely being foolish. But the glimpses we are given of Jesus demonstrate that He was perfect, down to the letter of the law. This perfect, all-the-way faithfulness is necessary for our salvation and is a model for us to follow in our effort to worship God through our obedience as well.

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