A Growing Boy

In verses 31-32 Simeon reveals the purpose for which Christ was born. The consolation of Israel is also the light of the world. This babe will bring the light and glory of salvation not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. He is to be the Savior of the world! All the nations will come to him for light and life. Simeon has a 1-1-6 moment, the Gospel equivalent of Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:16 that he is “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

Simeon is not finished. The gladness of verses 31 and 32 come also with hints of sorrow in verses 34-35. The old man turned his cloudy eyes to the parents. Simeon blessed them with strange words. This child will be a light, but he will be the kind of light that exposes. Because he exposes, he will face opposition. That opposition will be a violent piercing—a piercing that will penetrate his mother’s heart also.

Simeon sees the salvation from the Lord in his arms, and he glimpses Calvary as well. In time, the poor will be lifted up and the wealthy, powerful religious leaders will fall. In time, this child will grow and an entire nation—an entire world!—will have to decide to either follow him or oppose him. Hearts will be revealed. God will see. Condemnation and salvation will come in one Savior sacrificed on a cross.

Jesus still exposes hearts and provokes opposition. Perhaps you don’t know what you think about Jesus. Maybe you’re aware of your slight opposition to him, but you don’t really know where it comes from or how it got there. It could have gotten there by any number of things you’ve been taught over the years. But the ultimate source of that opposition is your sin nature. You were born that way. All of us were. In our sin we have this opposition to Christ, to his claim on our lives, to his lordship and deity. And so we rebel against him.

But that rebellion will be put down. God will not always strive with us in our sin. If we continue in it, we will fall—or, rather, be pulled down by God. Christ was sent to save us and bring us into his light, but men love darkness rather than the light (John 3:19). Our deeds are evil, and we don’t want to be found out.

But God knows. He sees us in our sin. He sends us a Savior in Jesus Christ. Jesus is a Savior you either love or hate. The cross says he loves you. Unbelief and sin say we hate him. But repentance and faith say we love him. For our hate, we deserve and we receive death. For our love, we don’t deserve but we do receive life. Choose life. Choose Christ. Believe in him so that you might be saved.

If you believe the gospel, then tell others. What does Anna do in her old age? First, she thanks God. When you realize God has sent a Savior you ought to thank him. Don’t be like the nine lepers Jesus healed who went off with no word of thanks. Be like the one leper who returned out of gratitude (17:11-19).

The Christian heart should be a grateful heart. And as much as I want to encourage older saints, I also want to provide a respectful word of admonishment. Sometimes age has a way of making people bitter rather than thankful. There are churches filled with older saints, but they’re not like Anna. They’re hard. Their faces are shriveled in peevishness and unkindness. So my encouragement is this: Don’t let that be you and me. As we age, let us become more expert in giving God thanks for thousands of days of fresh mercy he has shown us. Anna gives thanks for her Savior.

Second, Anna starts gossiping the gospel. There were others longing for a salvation who did not know it had already come. I love Anna. She decided, I am going to go tell it on the mountain. I am going to tell it everywhere: that Jesus Christ is born. Anna becomes an evangelist. She uses her gift and call as a prophetess to declare the good news of Jesus’s birth.

She believes, and so she speaks. In speaking of Jesus, she becomes a real promoter of Jesus. She encourages others to trust in him.

This is Jesus’s revealed purpose: to save his people from their sin—both Jew and Gentile. He grew in wisdom and favor with God because from infancy he had people speaking this over his life. In supernatural ways and in ways as natural as his name, the Lord Jesus was constantly reminded of his purpose.

Jesus is the only Savior, so no one else has that purpose. I know you love your kids, but they’re not perfect. They can’t be the Savior; they need a Savior. That’s the revealed purpose for them.

Our kids do better when they have even a general sense of God’s purpose for their lives. Notice verse 33: “His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.” They are blown away. They don’t yet understand all that’s being said—which is an encouragement for parents everywhere. We don’t have to have all the details about our children’s future. We don’t have to have any of the details, and many things may leave us wondering. But we do know this: Our children were made to know and love God through faith in Christ. We know they were given to us so we might shepherd them to Christ.

How wonderful it is to tell our children they are loved by God—that God proved his love for them in that while they were sinners (even before they were born!), Christ came into the world and died for them. What a difference it makes to the sense of purpose, worth, and dignity of a child to know they’re loved—and loved most by God. Every parent can give a child that gift. We have reason to believe that every child who receives that sense of purpose will grow in wisdom before God.

Oh, what a blessing this woman must have been! Can you imagine what a resource she would be to younger women struggling with the desire to marry? Or how she could identify with the grieving widows in the community? And what a model of fruitful old age she is! Every day she’s in the temple worshiping, fasting, praying—“night and day”! And we think we’ve served the Lord because we attended a long service on Sunday morning or got to the football game after kickoff. Doesn’t she put us to shame? Doesn’t she prove that you never age out of worshiping God?

I know we have some women like Anna among us. There are older sisters going hard after God. When we talk about planting a new church, really being rooted in the neighborhood, seeking the welfare of our neighbors, some of the first people to step up were women like Anna!

Christianity is not “a young man’s religion.” Church planting is not a young, cool, hipster activity. Christianity and church planting belong as much to old men and women like Simeon and Anna. Shame on the church for any ways we have shut out our older members. They are gifts from God meant to give the church family gravity, stability, wisdom, and faith. One wonders if the church isn’t as weak as she sometimes is because she so often has no place for older people.

What did the growing boy Jesus have that our kids need? Righteous parents. Revealed purpose.

Luke 2:41-52

We said earlier that Mary and Joseph were righteous parents. Our last scene shows that they were also responsible parents.

They were responsible in religious devotion (vv. 41-42). The boy Jesus is now twelve years old. For the past twelve years, his parents have taken him on this annual pilgrimage to worship during the Passover.

They were responsible when it came to watching over Jesus. Now, we might not think so since verses 43-44 tell us they left Jerusalem and forgot Jesus. If you’re a parent and you’ve never left your child anywhere by mistake, the rest of us say, “Congratulations!” Kristie and I have left all three of our kids at church at one time or another. Driving separately, we each thought the child was with the other. But the kids are turning out okay—except for the fear of janitors turning off lights.

Mary and Joseph are so human! They spend five days looking for Jesus (vv. 44-46): They went a day’s journey thinking he was with the group. They returned to Jerusalem—another day’s journey. They searched for him in that big, crowded city for three days! You know they were distraught! They were probably quietly blaming each other. Joseph thinks, What kind of mother loses the Son of God? Who does that? If there’s one rule, make sure the Savior is in the caravan! Mary thinks to herself, Look at him looking at me. I know he blames me. But he is the man. He’s supposed to take care of the family. It’s his son. How could he leave his son in the city? I can’t do everything. I packed up the tent, made breakfast, fixed us some lunch. The least he could have done was keep an eye on the boy.

They lost Jesus, but they did not stop until they found him again. That’s responsible parenting. Sometimes responsible parenting is better seen in how you respond to your failings than in your successes. They respond to this danger with parental care, urgency, and love.

When they find the boy Jesus, he is sitting where they always took him—in the temple for worship and teaching. That speaks to their responsibility as parents too. Young Jesus has done this so much that it’s natural instinct for him. Verse 46 says Jesus sat among the teachers, listening and asking questions. He’s holding court with his elders. Everyone was amazed when they heard his understanding and answers (v. 47). Even his parents were astonished when they saw him (v. 48). By age twelve, Jesus is the wisest person in the land.

But you know, no matter how special our children are, we still act like parents, don’t we? Mary probably has that mixture of relief and fear. Because you’re afraid, you can’t help but scold the child even while you’re trying to say “I love you.” That’s Mary in verse 48.

Verse 49 proves that responsible parenting can give our children a higher level of responsibility than we imagined. Jesus replied to Mary, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” In that sentence the twelve-year-old boy demonstrates profound understanding of his identity and purpose. He knows he is the Son of God. No one else would have spoken this way at that time. That’s why no one understands him in verse 50.

Jesus makes it clear that God is his Father. He makes it clear that the Father’s business is his business. He is not being rude. We know that because in verse 51 he humbly goes home with his parents and submits to them. He is simply making it clear that he seeks God independently of his earthly parents. Worship is not for adults only. It’s for twelve-year-olds and younger and everyone at every age.

Many of you were converted at a young age. We praise God for you. That’s a wonderful testimony, and you should cherish it. God has granted you to seek him in your youth, just as the Lord Jesus sought the Father in his youth.

Many of you converted before your parents and had to learn the faith without them. That, too, is a tremendous grace from God. If your parents are not yet Christians, do not let that stop you from being about the Father’s business. Do not let that stop you from believing. Seek the Lord right now. Repent and believe.

Some of you have earthly parents who do not understand your faith. That’s a hard thing. But Jesus’s parents didn’t understand him. The Lord Jesus did not let that keep him from honoring his earthly parents as well as his heavenly Father. Do your best, with prayer and faith, to honor God and honor your parents. Submit to them as an act of submission to God.

If you’re one of those teenagers who think they know everything, then know these two things also: (1) You’re not the first to think you know everything, and (2) you don’t know everything. Many of us adults thought we knew everything when we were teens and acted the same way. Many of us found out the hard way that we didn’t know all that much. We didn’t even know something as basic as this: The main way God gets his voice into your life is through the counsel and leadership of your parents. Your parents are the authority God has placed in your life for your blessing and your protection. When you honor your parents you honor your God. They may not be good parents, so you may not be able to obey everything they say and do because you would then be disobeying God. When that happens, choose God. But resist the temptation to think you don’t need to submit to your parents. Even Jesus, the Son of God, “the wisdom from God” (1 Cor 1:24), went home and submitted to his parents.

What do growing kids need?

These things were used in our Lord’s young life to help him “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people” (v. 52). Can we ask for anything more for our children?