12–Year–Old Jesus (Luke 2:39–52) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

I won’t speak for all males, but I know one who can’t multi–task. A couple years ago, on a Sunday morning, I had 6–month–old Eden in her carrier walking through the hallways a little before Sunday School. I think I remember someone asking me a question, but after that it all gets a bit foggy until I rounded the corner by the men’s bathroom and saw Julie in the foyer. Her expression indicated something was up, but I didn’t immediately know what. So she said, “Where’s Eden?” My face confirmed what she already knew. I turned around and mall–walked back toward the Adult Sunday School hall. As I rounded the corner again, there were a group of ladies standing by the Ladies Sunday School room. As I recall, some of them were laughing. A few of them, like beloved Ms. Pernie, looked ready to have a word with me. They’d all arrived to their Sunday School classroom with a baby sitting outside the door. They’d picked her carrier up and took her into their classroom. I will say, in my defense, if there were a place to leave a 6 month old by herself, that was pretty strategic. To compound the guilt I felt, this all happened on Father’s Day 2015. That story was part sermon intro and part prayer request for the rest of my family.

If you’ve never seen a parent momentarily lose their kid, hang around after the service today and just pay attention. You’ll find one. And you probably won’t even have to ask, just look for the dad or the mom walking faster than everyone else with a look of panic.

Parents have been doing this for centuries, and one of the most famous of temporarily lost kids is the story in our text today. Luke includes it not as an interesting story, though it is that, but so we might see and hear how Mary and Joseph’s son grew up. And even more importantly, so we might note His self–awareness.

Luke 2:39–52 will show us that: as Jesus grew, while his understanding amazed some, others did not understand.

Jesus Grew Up

It’s likely that around the holidays you saw kids you haven’t seen in a year. We all say the same things over and over, “Wow, she’s really gotten tall!” Or, “What are you feeding this boy?” Subconsciously, we often think if we’re not there to watch something change, it doesn’t. Everything freezes the way we left it.

But, as far as I can tell, babies turn into 1 year olds. Then they move on to 2. Eventually they start school. Then, in our terms, they become tweens, then teenagers, then (we hope), they become men. It’s happened to everyone in the room. Though my children can hardly believe I was their age once and teenagers think, “Mom and Dad have no idea what it’s like to be a teenager!,” as far as I know, you can’t just skip to 20.

And this gradual growth is even true for Jesus of Nazareth. So because we spend a whole bunch of time thinking on Him as a baby in Bethlehem and even more time considering His life as an adult male, we might be tempted to think he transformed from one to the other. God flipped a switch and Jesus the baby was with John the Baptist getting baptized.

But that’s not what happened, of course. And Luke is the only Gospel writer who gives us a glimpse into the period between Bethlehem and the baptism.

v. 39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. We left last week’s text with a 40-day-old Jesus who’d just met Simeon and Anna. The other Gospels give us a few more details about things that happen shortly thereafter (the flight to Egypt, etc.), but Luke picks back up the narrative at the point when Jesus and his family return to Nazareth. As you recall, Nazareth was little more than a village. Most of us have places we grew up in and call our hometown; this would be Jesus’.

And what Luke does next is summarize 12 years in Nazareth in 1 verse: v. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was up[...]