The Perfect Preteen
Devotions for Growing Christians
The Perfect Preteen
Luke 2:39-52 -When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. 41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
46After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”49”Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Every parent knows that there are no perfect preteens! In fact, many parents of pre-teens and early teens say that this age can stretch a parent’s patience to the limit! Younger children are more easily disciplined, and hopefully most older teens have learned some degree of responsibility. But preteens are another story!
Well, what about the Lord Jesus? Did Jesus go through the preteen years? He certainly did! But Jesus was unique. He was the perfect pre-teen! He“grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with men” (Luke 2:52).
Background Notes
In this last section of Luke 2 gives us the only recorded event from the boyhood years of the Lord Jesus - His Passover visit to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, when He was 12 years old. Between His infancy and the beginning of His public ministry, the biblical record is silent about the events of our Lord’s life, except for this one event. Some apocryphal literature from the 2nd and 3rd centuries purports to record boyhood acts and sayings of Jesus, but Christians have never accepted this material as historically reliable. The Passover visit to Jerusalem is the only inspired account of any event in the boyhood years of Jesus.
During all those “silent” years the Lord Jesus was living a perfect life. At the time of Jesus’ baptism, God the Father’s voice came from Heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son; with Him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This statement was made before our Lord began His public ministry or did any miracles. It described the Father’s absolute approval of Jesus’ life as a boy and young man. “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights” (Isaiah 42:1).
The Mosaic Law commanded that all Jewish males go up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate certain feasts of the Lord (Deuteronomy 16:16). In accordance with the Law, Joseph and his family joined the caravan that traveled from Nazareth to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. For Joseph and Mary, this was a special visit to the Holy City and the house of the Lord, because their oldest boy, Jesus, was now 12 years old. Thus he was on the threshold of the “official” age when Jewish boys become men. The boy Jesus was preparing to become a “son of the Law” - to take his place of responsibility in the religious affairs of the community. Before the next Passover festival, He would officially become a man.
Traveling up to Jerusalem by caravan was an exciting time. It was especially exciting for country folks who looked forward to visiting the big city: Jerusalem, “the city of the Great King”! It was also a time of worship, because the group would sing the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) as they climbed the roadway up to the Holy City.
Can you imagine the Lord Jesus singing with the rest of the pilgrims? “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem... That is where the tribes go up to praise the name of the LORD” (from Psalm 122). Here was the perfect preteen singing God’s praises! This visit to Jerusalem was part of His preparation to return, years later, as the perfect Lamb of God.
Doctrinal Points
1. The Lord Jesus, as God, was an unusual child.
In Luke 3:49 we have the first recorded words spoken by our Lord Jesus. (Obviously Jesus spoke during His boyhood, but these are the first words recorded in the Bible.) Notice that these words are a claim to His deity. When His mother Mary said, “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” he responded, “Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s House?”
The Lord was drawing a distinction between His earthly father, Joseph, and His heavenly Father. Notice that the Lord did not say, “Didn’t you know I had to be in our Father’s house?” He said, “in My Father’s house.” Before His ascension, the Lord said to Mary Magdelene, “I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (John 20:17). As believers, we are sons of God, but we are not in the same relationship to God the Father as Jesus Christ, the Son of God! His relationship is unique.
At 12 years of age Jesus was fully aware that His relationship to God the Father was unique. He was the eternal Son of God - the second Person of the Trinity. He was God who took on human flesh - God incarnate. Although He grew naturally from infancy to manhood, He was an unusual child because He was fully God.
He wasn’t unusual in appearance or in physical strength, but in His behavior He was sinless. He was the perfect child. His parents never had to give Him a “time out.” Ask any parent today and they will tell you a child like that isn’t just unusual - that child doesn’t exist! No wonder verse 51 says that “His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” He was certainly an unusual child!
Think of our Lord’s unusual behavior during the time His family was in Jerusalem for Passover. The other boys from Nazareth were probably running around the city, taking in the sights and playing games. On the trip home they were likely goofing around, out of the sight of their parents, at the outskirts of the homeward-bound group. Our Lord, however, was in the Temple, discussing God’s Word! He was “in the Temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (v46). He wasn’t being flippant or argumentative. He was a child who loved God’s Word and wanted to discuss God’s Word. And “everyone who heard Him was amazed at his understanding and His answers.”
After this event in Jerusalem, Jesus returned home to Nazareth, and was obedient to Joseph and Mary. What an unusual statement about a 12-year-old! The fact that He was the Son of God meant that He was the perfect preteen. The Lord Jesus, as God, was an unusual Child.
2. The Lord Jesus, as Man, was a normal child.
If you had lived in 1st century Jerusalem and had seen the caravan from Nazareth arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover, would you have been able to pick Jesus out from the other preteens in the group? Would He have had a halo? Sorry, no halo! Would He have been dressed in a white robe? Not unless you’re looking at an artist’s rendition! No halo or a white robe in the Bible - not even when He was an adult! At age 12 the Lord would most likely have worn a hand-me-down, well-worn, earth-colored robe for the long trip. Maybe He had a new tunic in his pack to wear to the Temple on the feast day, but it would likely have been earth-tone as well.
From a distance, Jesus was just an ordinary boy, indistinguishable from the other 12-year-old boys in appearance. We probably wouldn’t have been able to pick Him out of the crowd. Why not? Because He was truly human! He was “fully Man.” As a human child, the Lord Jesus lived a normal Jewish boy’s life in an ordinary small town in Israel. As a normal human child, He grew and matured from infancy through boyhood to manhood. He ate, slept, learned and grew. He grew physically, mentally and socially: “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (v40).
However, if we were to come closer to the group of boys and circulate among them, it wouldn’t be long before we’d recognize Jesus. He would be the friendly, unselfish boy who always helped, who shared with others, who was responsible, who was obedient - the boy everyone loved! “Jesus grew...in favor with God and with men” (v52). Certainly the boy Jesus was an unusual child because He was 100% God, but He was also fully Man. He was 100% human, and therefore the Lord Jesus, as Man, was a normal child.
Practical Application:
Be a friend like Jesus!
In the last verse of Luke 1 we read about the growth and maturing of John the Baptist: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.” There’s a significant difference between that verse and the final verse of Luke 2, where we read about the growth and maturing of the Lord Jesus: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with men.”
John the Baptist was “strong in spirit ‘ - that is, he was spiritual and dedicated. He pleased God and was greatly used by God, but John the Baptist was austere, ascetic in his lifestyle. He probably wasn’t the kind of person we’d naturally find attractive, or with whom we’d easily make friends. On the other hand, Jesus was not only strong in spirit and spiritual - He was friendly and sociable as well. Jesus grew in favor with people, as well as with God!
At one point during His public ministry, Jesus spoke about the differences between John’s asceticism and Jesus’ accessible lifestyle. “John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine...The Son of Man came eating and drinking...a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:33-34). Jesus was open and accessible to people. He was well-liked, as a boy and as an adult. “He grew in favor with God and men.”
Jesus made friends easily. He would probably have been voted the best-liked student in Hebrew School! He reached out to people in a kind and loving way, and He encouraged them. He helped them in times of need - whether a small physical need, like the need of a meal, or a great emotional need, like the death of a loved one. As He was then, so He is now. “What a Friend we have in Jesus!”
Our Lord Jesus “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) - and He asks us to follow His example. Jesus specifically asked us to serve others when He washed his disciples’ feet. “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:14-17).
Jesus wants us to be friendly, open, and accessible to people, as He was. He asks us to be humble, kind, compassionate and gentle (Colossians 3:12-14). He asks us to come alongside people who are in pain or distress, comforting and encouraging them (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). He asks us to bring healing and strength to people who are frail and weak (Hebrews 12:12-13). He asks us to serve others, as He has served and cared for us. “I have set you an example, that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15).
He’s our perfect Model! Be a friend like Jesus!
- Dave Reid