(5 January 2020)
Ephesians 1:3–14
Luke 2:40–52
The Lord Jesus Is Found in the Temple of His Church
Almighty God, You have poured into our hearts the true Light of Your incarnate Word. Grant that this Light may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.
The Lord Jesus “grew and became strong” (Luke 2:40); He “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). As His body grew and developed, His mind also increased in knowledge and understanding. For as our brother in the flesh, that we might “have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7), He lived by faith in the Word of His Father. Thus, He was catechized by His parents, who took Him up “to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover” (Luke 2:41); and when He was of age, He gave attention to the Holy Scriptures in His Father’s house (Luke 2:46, 49). Christ Jesus is still found in His Church, in “the word of truth, the gospel,” by which we are adopted by His Father and sealed with His Spirit (Ephesians 1:5, 13). Thus do we gain “an understanding mind” to go about our vocations, discerning “between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9). And so do we also go up to Jerusalem to stand “before the ark of the covenant of the Lord” (1 Kings 3:15), that is, in the Holy Communion of His body and blood.
Jesus Increased in Wisdom (Luke 2: 52a)
Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege
Jesus walked upon this earth as wisdom personified. So how is it that He grew in wisdom? The answer no doubt lies in His State of Humiliation. The Son of God became flesh and entered His State of Humiliation, wherein He did not fully or always use the divine powers communicated to His human nature. One aspect of this is that as a “regular” human He had to grow, and He did not use His divine powers to enhance this growth. Sunday’s Gospel describes His growth: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
He had to grow physically (“in stature”), for when He entered this world He started, like you and me, as a mere zygote.
And being nourished like other babies in utero, He grew in the womb, then, nourished as all other humans, He grew as a child and ultimately He reached full manhood. He also had to grow in His relationships with others (“in favor with God and man”). He thus grew in His relationship to God, to family, to His immediate neighbors, to His fellow Jews and in His relationships to foreigners (such as the Romans) whom He encountered outside of Judaism. Thirdly He had to grow in knowledge and wisdom. The omniscient Son of God who could enter His State of Humiliation by virtue of His incarnation, had to be “schooled” by parents and rabbis, and as He thus grew in knowledge He—the one called wisdom in the Old Testament—grew in His wisdom…which especially included His fear, love and trust toward God, which was reflected in His relation to His neighbor.
It is apparent from Sunday’s Gospel that at age twelve Jesus knew His identity as the Son of God, for He asks His parents, Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? Many have asked, “When and how did Jesus realize this identity as the eternal Son of God?”
Though we have no definitive answer to this, it seems apparent that—consistent with the aspects of His State of Humiliation—Jesus came to realize the fullness of His identity from His growth in God’s Word (our Old Testament). No doubt Mary informed Him of His miraculous conception and of God’s Word to her, but then as He was schooled in the Scriptures He soon came to realize that these Holy Writings are about Him. Certainly at His Baptism the Father revealed His eternal Sonship. However, consistent with His State of Humiliation, He had already grown into this understanding. For as He grew in wisdom, having also perfect understanding and a perfectly working mind, He—through the same Scripture that reveals God’s wisdom to us—fully grasped and remembered every prophecy and jot and tittle of Holy Scripture. Since the Scriptures were primarily about the Messiah, Jesus at some point realized—through the same Word by which Timothy realized the Christ (2 Timothy 3:15)—that He is the long awaited Christ, God’s eternal Son.
Not only did the Lord Jesus realize His eternal identity, but He realized His destiny as mankind’s Savior. From that very Temple where Jesus walked as a child of twelve, and in which He would hold forth also as an adult, Jesus Christ understood perfectly all the aspects of sacrifice, and with His perfect grasp of all biblical knowledge, he realized that these sacrifices in His Father’s house were perfectly portraying the sacrifice of Himself—in fact that was their purpose. From the Jewish Scriptures He knew that He must be crucified. Thus for us he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26). Now in Him wisdom has been imparted to us, for He and His work of salvation bespeak and embody true wisdom.
Jesus Increased in Wisdom (Luke 2: 52a)
Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege
Jesus walked upon this earth as wisdom personified. So how is it that He grew in wisdom? The answer no doubt lies in His State of Humiliation. The Son of God became flesh and entered His State of Humiliation, wherein He did not fully or always use the divine powers communicated to His human nature. One aspect of this is that as a “regular” human He had to grow, and He did not use His divine powers to enhance this growth. Sunday’s Gospel describes His growth: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
He had to grow physically (“in stature”), for when He entered this world He started, like you and me, as a mere zygote.
And being nourished like other babies in utero, He grew in the womb, then, nourished as all other humans, He grew as a child and ultimately He reached full manhood. He also had to grow in His relationships with others (“in favor with God and man”). He thus grew in His relationship to God, to family, to His immediate neighbors, to His fellow Jews and in His relationships to foreigners (such as the Romans) whom He encountered outside of Judaism. Thirdly He had to grow in knowledge and wisdom. The omniscient Son of God who could enter His State of Humiliation by virtue of His incarnation, had to be “schooled” by parents and rabbis, and as He thus grew in knowledge He—the one called wisdom in the Old Testament—grew in His wisdom…which especially included His fear, love and trust toward God, which was reflected in His relation to His neighbor.
It is apparent from Sunday’s Gospel that at age twelve Jesus knew His identity as the Son of God, for He asks His parents, Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? Many have asked, “When and how did Jesus realize this identity as the eternal Son of God?”
Though we have no definitive answer to this, it seems apparent that—consistent with the aspects of His State of Humiliation—Jesus came to realize the fullness of His identity from His growth in God’s Word (our Old Testament). No doubt Mary informed Him of His miraculous conception and of God’s Word to her, but then as He was schooled in the Scriptures He soon came to realize that these Holy Writings are about Him. Certainly at His Baptism the Father revealed His eternal Sonship. However, consistent with His State of Humiliation, He had already grown into this understanding. For as He grew in wisdom, having also perfect understanding and a perfectly working mind, He—through the same Scripture that reveals God’s wisdom to us—fully grasped and remembered every prophecy and jot and tittle of Holy Scripture. Since the Scriptures were primarily about the Messiah, Jesus at some point realized—through the same Word by which Timothy realized the Christ (2 Timothy 3:15)—that He is the long awaited Christ, God’s eternal Son.
Not only did the Lord Jesus realize His eternal identity, but He realized His destiny as mankind’s Savior. From that very Temple where Jesus walked as a child of twelve, and in which He would hold forth also as an adult, Jesus Christ understood perfectly all the aspects of sacrifice, and with His perfect grasp of all biblical knowledge, he realized that these sacrifices in His Father’s house were perfectly portraying the sacrifice of Himself—in fact that was their purpose. From the Jewish Scriptures He knew that He must be crucified. Thus for us he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26). Now in Him wisdom has been imparted to us, for He and His work of salvation bespeak and embody true wisdom.
Luke 2:40
Τὸ δὲ παιδίον ηὔξανεν καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πληρούμενον σοφίᾳ, καὶ χάρις θεοῦ ἦν ἐπ’ αὐτό.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
Luke 2:41
Καὶ ἐπορεύοντο οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ κατ’ ἔτος εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ τῇ ἑορτῇ τοῦ πάσχα.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
Luke 2:42
καὶ ὅτε ἐγένετο ἐτῶν δώδεκα, ἀναβαινόντων [c]αὐτῶν κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς ἑορτῆς
And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.
Luke 2:43
καὶ τελειωσάντων τὰς ἡμέρας, ἐν τῷ ὑποστρέφειν αὐτοὺς ὑπέμεινεν Ἰησοῦς ὁ παῖς ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ.
And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it,
Luke 2:44
νομίσαντες δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐν τῇ συνοδίᾳ ἦλθον ἡμέρας ὁδὸν καὶ ἀνεζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς συγγενεῦσιν καὶ τοῖς γνωστοῖς,
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,
Luke 2:45
καὶ μὴ εὑρόντες ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἀναζητοῦντες αὐτόν.
and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.
Luke 2:46
καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ ἡμέρας τρεῖς εὗρον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων καὶ ἀκούοντα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπερωτῶντα αὐτούς•
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
Luke 2:47
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες οἱ ἀκούοντες αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ συνέσει καὶ ταῖς ἀποκρίσεσιν αὐτοῦ.
And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Luke 2:48
καὶ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν ἐξεπλάγησαν, καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ• Τέκνον, τί ἐποίησας ἡμῖν οὕτως; ἰδοὺ ὁ πατήρ σου καὶ ἐγὼ ὀδυνώμενοι ἐζητοῦμέν σε.
And when his parents[a] 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.”
Luke 2:49
καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς• Τί ὅτι ἐζητεῖτέ με; οὐκ ᾔδειτε ὅτι ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου δεῖ εἶναί με;
And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”[b]
Luke 2:50
καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ συνῆκαν τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς.
And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.
Luke 2:51
καὶ κατέβη μετ’ αὐτῶν καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Ναζαρὲθ, καὶ ἦν ὑποτασσόμενος αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ διετήρει πάντα τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς.
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.
Luke 2:52
Καὶ Ἰησοῦς προέκοπτεν [l]σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ καὶ χάριτι παρὰ θεῷ καὶ ἀνθρώποις.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature[c] and in favor with God and man.
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software
ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Image Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcuts “The Visit of the Magi” © WELS For personal or congregational use
LCMS lectionary summary series © 2016
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