Luke 2:39 – 40

The Family Returns to Nazareth

³⁹ So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of G-d was upon Him.
The birth of our Lord Jesus was not like any other before or since; He occupies a unique space between divinity and humanity, Son of G-d, and Son of Man, sent from Heaven by the Father into the lineage of David at a moment in time.

He has been referred to as the Second Adam, but he is first among the Reedemed (Matthew 27:50-53), and as it’s been preached, He was everything Adam was not, but suffice it to say in one aspect He went through something Adam did not: childhood.
As Son of Man, He could not exert the inexhaustible powers of His divinity to save a dying world, though it would have been more expedient. He suffered as we do, faced temptation as we do, faced challenges to His authority, treachery, denial, rejection and betrayal.
And with this brief glimpse into His childhood (the one we have, though as John said, He said and did many other things that are not written in the Book (John 21:25), we have the seedlings of the ministry to come.

When the family left Jerusalem and had to go back for Him, they found Him in the midst of the rabbis, who were amazed at His understanding and questions, this seeming son of an unremarkable carpenter. Later, we see that the crowds He spoke to are amazed at the authority which He taught them, which was unlike that of those who were to become the enemies of His ministry.

His answer to them gives inkling to the scope of His ministry that is beyond that of His immediate family. “Why did you seek Me?” later turns into this statement when He’s told His family is outside: (Mark 3:31-35)

³¹ Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. ³² And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”

³³ But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴ And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

He grew in other ways as well: in favor with G-d and men, but what we must keep in mind as we alternate between stumbling and sailing smoothly is that nothing is outside of the Father’s will, for our Shepherd’s hands can’t be pried open.

And while we are free to stray and leave, the question becomes ‘why would we’ or as Peter asked, “To whom shall we go?”. What would we be returning to?  Were our eyes on the Lord, or on the person who said they came to us on His behalf, then caused more harm than good.

Even as a child, Jesus was so focused on glorifying G-d and undoing the damage caused by humanity’s limited grasp of eternal matters concerning our souls, that almost everything else did not matter to Him. He wasn’t foolish regarding more practical matters, such as where to eat and sleep, but even so, He finished a ministry that was constantly under siege, and in the fullness of time, sabotaged by a pretender who’d seen all the things the others had seen, but couldn’t get his need to outweigh his faults.

But we know His ministry will never be destroyed, because the seed planted by the Creator can’t help but grow. (Mark 13:31)

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus,

     We who follow You have seeds that need to grow, and children that we need to protect and watch over.      

     Let us remember that You are the Vine, and we are the branches, and so to abide in You the seeds in us that need to be watered in Your will, which is also the Father’s, are the only ones that will grow. Let everything else become a cursed fig tree within us, bearing no fruit ever again because it denied You.

     In Your authority you amazed the rabbis and the rabble of Israel with Your understanding and teaching, and with ability to turn back on Your challengers how weak and selfish they were in their work. But You touched them, and told them how much G-d loved them anyway.
     Yet as a child, You still subjected Yourself once again to Your earthly parents when they came back for You, because Your time had not yet come. Likewise, let us now become subject to Your authority, because You are the Way, Truth, and Light, and the only Name under Heaven by which we are saved.

     As the season of Your birth nears, let us ignore the clamor of those outside telling us we are out of our minds, and if need be, include those who seek You into our families who are not of our family, that we might broaden the scope of our calling in You to love those not like us.
      And in the days, trials, and triumphs to come, help us to grow in favor with G-d and man, doing all things well, and walking in our authority as the eternal
children of the King of Kings.

     May it be done to us as You have said.

      Amen.