Wayne Jackson wrote this article which appeared in the Christian Courier of October, 1981. The paper was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and was edited by Jackson.
Three times each year all Hebrew males were required to appear before the Lord in the great festivals of the Jewish religion (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16). These festivals were: Passover (Leviticus 23:5), Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-22) and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34-43). The Old Testament law anticipated the celebration of these feasts at Jerusalem (cf. Exodus 34:23-24) and so Luke the historian informs us that Joseph and Mary, "went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover" (Luke 2:41). As a side note here, it is significant that Mary accompanied her husband on these trips from Nazareth to Jerusalem, though she was not required to do so; a token of the spirituality characteristic of the godly mother of our Lord. At any rate, Joseph and Mary attended the feast, accompanied by the boy Jesus, who was twelve years of age. Let us look briefly at this account.
When the days of festivity were fulfilled, the Lord's parents (Joseph of course, by adoption only) began their homeward trip. After traveling about a day's journey, it was discovered that the boy Jesus was not in the traveling group (it was probably quite large) and so, with urgent dispatch, Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem to search for the lost son. It was three days before they finally found Jesus, but eventually they discovered Him, "in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them, and asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). Not only was Jesus respectful of those teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, but He also stunned them. The text says, "all that heard Him were amazed (the imperfect tense stressed their repeated astonishment) at His understanding and His answers." When Joseph and Mary came upon Jesus among the scholars, Luke says, "they were astonished" (literally, struck with amazement, not even they had fully realized the depth of His divine brilliance), and Mary asked, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing."
In response to that anguished question, we have the first recorded words of the Lord Jesus and they are in the form of a query (the questioning method was to become one of the Savior's powerful teaching tools). "How is it that you sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" (KJV) or as the ASV has it, "...knew ye not that I must be in My Father's house?" The Greek text literally expresses it: "...I must be in the things of My Father." Plummer notes that, "Engaged in My Father's business" is a possible translation but "in My Father's house" is more probably the meaning in this context ("Luke," International Critical Commentary; cf. Arndt & Gingrich, Greek Lexicon, p. 554). There is, perhaps, not a whole lot of difference ultimately except for the fact that the concept of where-ness best fits the immediate situation. Be that as it may, there are three points of interest upon which we will no focus.
My Father - Did you notice that Jesus did not say "our" Father, thus identifying Himself with Joseph and Mary as in some sense being children of God? No, it is "My Father" in a unique sense. As one further studies the New Testament record, he is impressed with the fact that Jesus never puts Himself in the same class with others with respect to their relationship to the heavenly Father. For instance, there is the case of John 5. A certain man who had been afflicted with an incapacitating infirmity for 38 years was instructed by Christ to, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." Immediately the man was restored to health and he took up his bed and walked (vs. 8-9). Since this incident occurred on the Sabbath day, the gnat straining Jews attempted to charge the Lord with violating the Sabbath. It has always amazed me that these Jews could be wholly unimpressed with the miracle and thus focus upon Christ's alleged violation of the Sabbath. In answer to their charge however, the Lord said, "My Father worketh even until now, and I work" (vs. 17). There is that "My Father" phraseology again. He was suggesting that He shared a nature with the Father that was unlike anyone else. And the Jews understood perfectly well what He was saying. John, the author of this narrative, nails it down for us. "For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (v. 18). Modern scholars who attempt to water down the force of the Lord's claim are perverters of the word of God!
There is another dramatic usage of this type of language that we need to mention. On the day of His resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus confronted the weeping Mary Magdalene near the empty tomb. After a brief conversation during which she ultimately recognized the Savior, (though she had not at first) Mary caught hold of the Lord, necessitating this response from Him: "Touch me not..." (John 20:17), literally, "stop clinging to Me" as expressed in the Greek Testament. Though He has not yet ascended unto the Father, He instructs Mary, "...go unto My brethren, and say unto them, 'I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God." There is an obvious contrast between the My and your in both instances. Now this brings us back to Luke 2:49 again. By the use of that "My Father" in that situation, we must conclude that even at the tender age of twelve, Jesus already had a consciousness of His unique relationship to the Father. But exactly when did this awareness come upon Him? We cannot of course answer that. Later, Christ reflects a knowledge of having shared the glory of God before the world even existed (John 17:5) and yet, the Bible indicates that Jesus developed mentally even as other children do (Luke 1:40, 52). Be that as it may, at least by the age of twelve the boy Jesus knew of His special relationship to God.
The Temple, "My Father's House" - The great truth that we have just emphasized is further borne out by the fact that Jesus, in the temple (Luke 2:46) was "about the things" or "in the house" of His Father. God's house was His house too and this could only be true because He was the Son of God. There is an interesting account near the close of Jesus' ministry that highlights this narrative in a wonderful way.
When the Lord and His disciples came to Capernaum on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, some Jewish officials approached Peter and asked (with obviously designing motives), "Does your Teacher not pay the half shekel?" (Matthew 17:24). Now this half shekel (two days wages for a working man) was the tax that every Israelite twenty years of age and older was required to pay for the maintenance of the temple (Exodus 30:12-14; 38:26; II Chronicles 24:6, 9). The apostle replied that the Lord did pay such tax and he thus proceeded to go into the house where the Master was. Undoubtedly Jesus surprised Peter when He revealed by subsequent discourse, that He knew the nature of the conversation that had been conducted outside. Christ asked, "What thinkest thou, Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute, from their sons or from strangers?" The apostle correctly responded that toll is received from foreigners, not sons. The Lord then replied, "Therefore, the sons are free. But lest we cause them to stumble, go thou to the sea and cast a hook and take up the fist that first comes up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thous shalt find a shekel; take that and give unto them for Me and thee" (17:25ff).
Do you see the Lord's argument? A son is not required to pay tax to his father. The temple is God's house. Thus, His Son would not be obligated to pay the tax to maintain it. But Jesus was that Son! Hence, He was free (from the payment obligation); nevertheless, to prevent their stumbling, He paid anyhow! Yes, when Christ was in the temple, He was in His Father's house. And that is why he could, with perfect justification, cleanse the temple of those unscrupulous money changers declaring, "Take these things hence; make not My Father's house a house of merchandise" (John 2:16). The Lord's connection with the temple is a demonstration of His deity. In this connection we feel compelled to make one further observation. A few days before His crucifixion, in a blistering sermon of rebuke, Christ said to the Jews, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). Though the term "house" in this passage likely encompasses the whole of Jerusalem, it certainly includes the temple. But notice how now it is "your house;" that has a very ominous ring to it and it previews the wrath of God that is to be visited upon these rebellious Jews who are rejecting Heaven's Gift, namely the Son Himself (cf. Matthew 24:1-2). Those dispensational pre-millennialists, who allege that God will rebuild that temple during the so-called "tribulation period" ought to learn something from this verse!
That Compelling "Must" - Finally, we cannot ignore the sense of urgent destiny that Jesus had in His youth and which remained with Him all His earthly ministry. To His parents the remarkable boy said, "I must be..." The word "must" translates the Greek term dei, which frequently denotes, "that constraint which arises from divine appointment" (J. H. Thayer, Greek Lexicon, p. 126). In his gospel account, Luke especially employs this word again and again to suggest that the events and activities in the life of Christ were not those of mere accident or fate. He was carrying out a divine program (cf. Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Ed., Colin Brown, Vol. 2, p. 665). Observe the following:
1. In Luke 4:31ff, there is the record of Jesus performing many astonishing miracles in the city of Capernaum. The fame of such rapidly spread throughout the area so that the multitudes sought after the Lord and attempted to detain Him but He declared, "I must preach good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also for therefore I was I sent" (43). Compelled by the sad plight of lost men, the Lord thus proclaimed the good news of the coming reign of God. Can we not catch the spirit of that urgency? Like the prophet Jeremiah, we ought to have burning hearts that cannot contain the word of God (Jeremiah 20:9).
2. As Jesus passed through Jericho in route to Jerusalem and His appointment with Calvary, He encountered a rich chief publican who, being small of stature, had climbed a tree to catch a better glimpse of the passing Christ. When the Lord came to the place where he was, He looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for today I must abide at thy house." But why "must" He? Surely there was no physical necessity for it; no, but there was a spiritual urgency involved. As the chief publican (tax collector employed by the Romans), Zacchaeus was a social outcast as viewed by the Jews and the Lord must emphasize as He had so often done, that God's love and grace must be extended to all segments of mankind. This is stressed repeatedly in Luke's gospel (cf. Luke 5:29-32; 15:1ff; and here at the conclusion of this context, Luke 19:10). In this connection one is reminded of an important circumstance in John 4. You will remember that this chapter largely deals with a great evangelistic effort which the Savior wrought among the Samaritans (with whom the Jews had no dealings). Well, the apostle commences this chapter by observing that the Lord departed from Judea toward Galilee and, "He must needs pass through Samaria" (4:3-4). But there was no geographical necessity to go through Samaria. In fact, Jews normally detoured around Samaria by way of the Jordan Valley to avoid the dreaded Samaritans. One is inclined to believe therefore, that his is another of those divine compulsions to reveal the universal love of God!
3. As His ministry matured, the Son of God progressively employed those urgent "musts" with reference to His impending suffering and death. "The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and the third day be raised up" (Luke 9:22; cf. 22:37; 24:7; 24:26; John 3:14).
What we are saying by all of this of course, is simply this: from at least the time that He was twelve years of age until He left the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ was conscious that He was operating according to a heavenly program. He was implementing a divine plan. His role in all of this was most assuredly a matter of His own voluntary will. He emptied Himself in becoming man (Philippians 2:7). No one took His life from Him as though He had no power to resist. He laid it down willingly (John 10:17-18; Galatians 1:4), yet according to the plan that had been determined before the foundation of the world (cf. Acts 2:23; I Peter 1:20).
Perhaps we may raise this thought in conclusion. Would it not be possible for us to believe that god has a special role for us in His divine scheme? Does He not providentially work to enhance the service of His people today? Can we not catch the spirit of history and so be impelled by a "must" attitude of accomplishing His will? May it be so!
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