Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sermon preached on Luke 2:40-52 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 06/27/2021 in Novato, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Luke alone among the canon of Scripture tells us about this adolescence period of Jesus. Later on, some of the heretical and inauthentic gnostic gospels surfaced that delved into various fanciful accounts of Jesus’ boyhood. Yet, in comparison to what we have in the Bible, they come across as but a perverted picture of Jesus’ childhood. More so, those gnostic fabrications of Jesus’ youth present an unbiblical Christology, an unbiblical description of the person of Jesus. Yet, what we have here in Luke fits so wonderfully with biblical Christology. Here we learn some important things about the humanity of Jesus. Here we also have a subtle reminder of the divinity of Jesus. And together we realize the importance for Jesus to be our mediator that he be both human and divine, two natures, united in the one person. So then, our passage for today will help us to delve into some Christology to learn more about the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We’ll have opportunity to think a little further on what it means for Jesus to have these two different natures yet united in one person.
Let us begin in our first point by observing what we can learn here about the humanity of Jesus. Start by noticing how our passage starts and ends. It brackets this material about Jesus when he was twelve years old with a statement about his growth. Verse 40, “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.” Verse 52, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” We can notice in those verses physical growth. In Jesus’ humanity, he began as a baby, and had a real body that grew just like we grow. When it says that he grew, our most natural way to read that would refer to physical growth. When it describes in verse 52 that he grew in stature, it is especially a reference to the growth that comes with age. Jesus had a real body and at this age of twelve, he would have surely been going through puberty which maybe some of our youth right now can identify with. He surely tripped over his own feet at times, scraped his knee or elbow at times, got a bruise here or there, etc. This is important to understand because it is too easy to make that mistake that because he also had a divine nature that somehow his humanity was lost or swallowed up by his divinity. But his going through life as the second Adam was as a human man, with all that entails. Yes, because he is the God-man that has certain ramifications like that he won’t actually ever fall into sin. But the fact that he was the God-man was not such that took away his humanity. That humanity includes his physical growth that we see described here.
But it also includes his internal growth. Dare I even suggest that he grew in a spiritual sense. I mean things like how verse 40 speaks of him growing in wisdom. We also see him in verses 42 and 43 learning theology from the teachers at the temple. In terms of his humanity, Jesus was not omniscient, all-knowing. In terms of his humanity, he wasn’t born into infinite wisdom. Those are qualities of the divine. And, yes, sometimes by the Holy Spirit we see moments where Jesus is given a gift of special knowledge. But in general, Jesus according to his humanity did not have all knowledge and wisdom. He had to grow in knowledge and wisdom. Even later, when he began his ministry, we see that there were things he didn’t know according to his humanity. For example, in Matthew 24:36, he doesn’t know the day or hour of the end of this present age. Or in Mark 5:30 he realizes someone touched him and power went out from him, but he looked around not knowing who specifically had touched him. In Mark 11:13, it describes that Jesus had to inspect a fig tree in order to determine it didn’t have any figs on it. Jesus in his humanity didn’t have all knowledge and wisdom. But we see him here as a child hungry to grow in his knowledge and wisdom. If you are sensing some mystery in this you are right to do so!
Along these lines, we see Jesus even grew in terms of practicing submission to his parents. To clarify, I am not saying that Jesus was ever insubordinate to his parents. We can’t fault Jesus for any sin here. But we do see him learning here what submission looks like. What I mean is that we have this situation where he in verse 43 stays behind in Jerusalem at the temple when his family and friends set out for the long journey back to Nazareth. They had come for the annual pilgrimage feast of Passover where God’s people would travel from all over to keep Passover at the temple in Jerusalem. At the end of the weeklong celebration, they all set to return home, but Jesus stayed behind. Now I can only imagine how it happened that Mary and Joseph ended up leaving without Jesus, but it apparently was a large group full of extended family members and surely other neighbors and friends. Probably a large caravan of people from their community in Nazareth would have travelled together. I understand that the men tended to walk with the men and the women with the women, and I’d imagine the youth probably walked with the youth. One way or another, Jesus’ absence went unnoticed until the end of the first day’s journey back to Nazareth. That’s when the individual families would have returned together for the night in their own little area among the encamping caravan. That’s when they discover Jesus isn’t there. They ultimately head back, which would have been a day’s journey back to Jerusalem. Finally on the third day from leaving him there, they find him in the temple. But you notice Mary seems upset. Verse 48, she says to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” Jesus himself seems surprised, that he thought they would have known where he was. But then in verse 51, it reports that he then returns with them to Nazareth and was submissive to them. Apparently, Mary and Joseph had not been clear with Jesus on what they expected from him. While we might wonder how Jesus could not have thought it would be a problem for him to hang back in the temple, any parent with a twelve-year-old can appreciate how sometimes they can be rather clueless on such things in a childlike innocence. The point is that Jesus had to learn stuff like this. He had to learn his parents’ expectations and then had to put submission into practice. We see him going through this right here. That’s all part of being a human, and this example of learning submission is but one instance of the truth taught in Hebrews 5:8 which says of Jesus, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”
So then, in our first point for today I’ve wanted to appreciate how this passage especially gives us a unique window into the humanity of Jesus from the vantage point of his growth and maturing. Yet, this passage is not without reference to his divinity either. To be sure, this passage by itself doesn’t narrowly require an interpretation that Jesus was also divine. But when we interpret what we see here from what we know from elsewhere about the divinity of Jesus, we can recognize that aspects of his divine nature come forth here too. So then, let’s observe what we can about Jesus’ divine nature here.
We begin this second point then by remembering that Luke already told us last chapter that Jesus would be both Son of David and Son of God, verses 32 and 35. That he is Son of David is a reference to his humanity. That he is Son of God is a reference to his divinity. Notice how that truth is brought out again in this passage. Mary scolds Jesus in verse 48 and refers to his father Joseph. But Jesus responds in verse 29 saying, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” There Jesus mentions his father and he clearly is not referring to Joseph but to God. Now true, there is a way all God’s people can refer to God as father, and Jesus himself would later teach us all to pray to God as our heavenly father. But in light of Luke’s statement last chapter, we recognize there is a special way in which Jesus is God’s Son as the Second Person of the Trinity in a way that you and I are not. As Luke will record of the Jesus’ transfiguration in Luke 9:35, God speaks from heaven and says of Jesus, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
Surely, we can also recognize his divine nature by what happens with Jesus in the temple with all the teachers. By the way, given that this is in the aftermath of Passover, they probably had additional teachers from all over that were still in town and making use of the time there at the temple with the other teachers and religious leaders. And so, in that context, we see Jesus was not only there listening and learning from the teachers, but that all the teachers were very impressed with how much he knew and understood for his age. This is verse 47, “And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Let me give some background here. This was normal at the temple that students would come to the teachers and the teachers would ask questions and the students would give answers, and in turn the students might ask some questions from the teachers to learn more. This would have been typical catechizing and instruction going on with Jesus. He’s in the role of a student. We shouldn’t think that he as a twelve-year-old has suddenly shown up and began to amaze them as some prodigy and himself taking on the roll of a teacher. Again, I would refer you to today’s first point that he was growing and learning. But as he is here learning and answering questions and asking questions, people recognize something special with the boy Jesus. They were impressed and amazed at how much he knew and how much he understood.
Now, again, one might interpret this as simply the blessing of God upon a human, and that would not be far from the truth. But surely his divine nature plays into this. He was the God-man and thus while a true human, we properly understand him uniquely as a divine person. If we try to so remove his divine nature from his experience as a human, we would be in error. We would end up in the heretical view of Nestorianism which basically makes Jesus into two persons, a divine person and a human person. Rather, the orthodox explanation is called the hypostatic union; the hypostatic union. That the second person of the God-head, the Son of God who existed from all eternity, at a point in history, took unto himself a human body and a reasonable soul and became man. Thus, he is the God-man with two natures but united together into one divine person. Again, there is a great mystery here. But surely his astonishing excellence as a student learning theology here at the temple must reflect his divinity. Just as his divine nature means that Jesus is impeccable – that while a sinless human could hypothetically sin and become sinful, Jesus as a divine person could never actually fail in such a way. So, in a similar way, the divine person of Jesus, even as a boy, shows what a human par excellence can look like, because of how his divine nature affects his person, communicating various graces to his human nature. Jesus would be the best a human could be, and that would be true from his birth, and it would be guaranteed to be the case because of the hypostatic union of his divine nature with his humanity. Sound confusing, and mysterious, but also glorious? If so, good, because that was what I was hoping to convey!
Let us now turn to our third point and think about these two things together in terms of his work. The person of Jesus is perfectly suited for his work. Jesus is the perfect mediator between God and man because he is God and man. I think it quite appropriate to recognize that from today’s passage. Starting in verse 40, we see how it says that God’s favor was upon him. In other words, God was pleased and positively disposed toward him. That’s said prior to the events in our passage but with a reference to his starting to grow up. While we could appreciate that due to him being a divine person, God would always be well pleased with him, but we should also appreciate this especially from the perspective of his growth as a human. As a righteous human that had never sinned, God’s favor rested upon him. And as he grows up and learns obedience even unto God, God is well pleased with the growing fruit of Jesus’ obedience. In fact, the end of our passage culminates in that very point. It speaks there of Jesus increasing in favor with God. That is said after the events at the temple and in the context of his continued growing and maturing and learning wonderful things like theology and submission. That being said, while we can think of his humanity here regarding God’s favor upon him, this divine favor is an inevitable conclusion because of his divine nature being so united with his human nature. So, we are right to remember his divine nature when we consider God’s favor so resting upon him.
And yet don’t miss what else is told to us there in verse 52 about a growth in favor. There, it not only speaks of his favor with God, but also of his increasing favor with man. Again, see this in light of the events there at the temple, which would be an example of this broader point. At the temple, people are starting to notice Jesus. His understanding and insights were beginning to be recognized by people and that has started to win Jesus favor with them. Even his own mother is left in wonder about him as we see in verse 51, who she of anyone should have expected such things from him. But I love how this point about favor with man is not mentioned in verse 40 but it is mentioned in verse 51. Currying such favor with man is something that happened over time as he grew into a commendable man of God that other people couldn’t help but notice. But such a good reputation does take time, and this passage clues us into this taking place through Jesus’ youth.
So then, our passage tells us how the God-man Jesus has found favor with both God and man. As the one who would be the mediator between God and man in the new covenant, he is perfectly suited for this role. But that being said, I would be remiss to not point out that this is not the first time the Bible records a statement like what we have in verse 52. It is actually said long before in 1 Samuel 2:26 about Samuel after his birth. 1 Sam. 2:26, “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.” You know, Samuel is such a type of Christ in so many ways. Samuel’s birth, while not a virgin birth, was a divine opening of the womb in response to the humble Hannah’s prayer. That included a dedication of Samuel’s life unto special holy service to the LORD all his days. We see Samuel serving in offices of prophet, priest, and judge. And even in his youth, we see him then growing in favor with both God and man. That was something that continued to grow throughout his rather commendable life. And indeed, in his own ways, and for the times, Samuel served as a mediator between God and man.
Yet, with Samuel, he grew old, was about to die, and he made his children judges but they were not faithful to the task. As some of us studied recently in Psalm 146, Samuel was a human who was going to die like all humans, and couldn’t be a long term solution for leadership among God’s people or to be a long term mediator between God and man. And so, the people asked Samuel to given them a king. This displeased Samuel as he felt they were rejecting him. But God told Samuel that actually they weren’t rejecting Samuel but himself. But God gave them a king like they wanted, having Samuel anoint Saul as King. But when a worldly king proved bad for them, God then had Samuel appoint a better king, a king after God’s own heart. So Samuel appointed David as king. So, while Samuel himself looked like such a wonderful mediator between God and man, someone who enjoyed such favor from both God and man, he wasn’t going to live forever, and even himself had his failings like appointing his faithless sons to succeed him. But even David wouldn’t be a long terms solution for God’s people.
So Samuel found favor with God and man, but he was only a type of someone greater to come. David too had ways he looked like the Messiah to come, but still anticipated one greater to come. Yet, one thing that is highlighted in David’s life, is how at times he showed himself having favor with God and man, and at other times not. Gods’ favor was on David from the start when he picked David over all his brothers because God saw David’s heart. And David quickly won the favor of the people when he had victory over Goliath. And yet David incurred God’s strong rebuke and displeasure when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. God’s chastening even brought many enemies against David, people who did not favor King David and many sorrows came upon David because of this. Such things certainly marred his ability to be a proper mediator between God and man.
And so we looked for another. And that came in Jesus. And this Jesus like Samuel and more so grew in favor with God and man. And yet, we know Jesus did not find favor with every man. David’s sufferings where enemies hated him became a type of the sufferings from men that Jesus would experience. Indeed, so many sinful men rejected Jesus and ultimately crucified him. Yet, in that, we find that he showed himself better than both Samuel and David. For as a man, in his death, he purchased the souls of those who he came to redeem, identifying with them and representing them, in his humanity. As God, his death was of sufficient worth to pay for all the sins of the elect. And as God, death could not hold him. And so, he rose from the dead to live forever more. And he ascended up into heaven and is seated before the throne of God, ever living to make intercession for us. There, the God-man Jesus serves as our perfect mediator. So then, may we acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, submit to him as Lord, and seek his help and salvation as our only mediator between us and God.
In conclusion brothers and sisters, I give us one final application for today. This passage reminds us what growth should look like. There is physical growth and we thank God for such. But there is also spiritual growth to be had; growth in wisdom, knowledge of God, and maturity. In our union with Christ Jesus, let us aspire for the kind of growth that we see he even ran toward in his time on earth – even when he was young. Let us sit under faithful teaching, let us seek God in his word and at church, let us look to be about the things of our Heavenly Father. Should not Christ’s own example here be a model and reminder for us? See this as another picture of what it looks like to “put on Christ”. Amen.
Copyright © 2021 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
