Our reading today is Luke 1-2, and I’m calling the episode “The Child’s Answers.”

We’re obviously just a couple weeks past Christmas, but it’s always good to read the account of Jesus’ birth. But in reading such familiar chapters as these first two of Luke, we run the risk of not really hearing them, don’t you think? Every Christmas season, we hear these verses read. So can we find anything new? Is it important to see something new? I think the answer to that question is probably different for each person, because each of us has a completely unique walk with God. At my age, I’ve probably heard or read Luke 1 and 2 many hundreds, if not thousands of times. And I love it when God shows me something I haven’t seen before.

Let’s see if this gives you a new insight. When Jesus was twelve years old and stayed behind in the temple, as Mary and Joseph were returning to Nazareth, we are told in Luke 2: 46 and 47, “46Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.”

Verse 46 said Jesus was listening to them and asking them questions. Listening and asking. But 47 says those who heard him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. His answers. 

What do you make of that? If He’s listening and asking, why is He giving answers? 

In the past, when I read these or heard these verses, I never thought very deeply about this little vignette. I just thought of the boy Jesus as sort of just a smart, as in intelligent, 12 year old. Sure, He is God, but He’s also just a kid. I thought He was just asking good questions for a kid. But today, as I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that in listening to the rabbis, and asking them questions, the questions were more like the probing questions that a university professor might ask a classroom of grad students. Jesus wasn’t asking questions to gain understanding, he was asking questions to cause the rabbis to think deeper. Which would precipitate questions from the rabbis to Jesus, asking for clarification and direction, perhaps. Or hints, like a student might ask a professor. And I think the answers Jesus gave might have brought more questions to their minds than answers. 

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1 ERV; Ch. 2 NASB

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