Jesus returned with his parents to Nazareth….and was obedient to them…Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people. Luke 2:51,52.
The gospels really don’t tell us much about the childhood through young adult years of Jesus. He would have been about 30 when the gospels take up the narrative of his life. But he could not have succeeded in his mission without a childhood,
In Luke’s gospel we are told about an annual trip to Jerusalem that his parents took for the Passover commemoration. During that trip Jesus was 12 years old, only one year shy of being ushered into adulthood. Luke says that Jesus found his way into the company of the teachers in the Temple where he listened to their conversation and asked questions.
This is the first time we get a glimpse of Jesus’ maturity, curiosity, and sense of mission. When his frantic parents finally found him in the temple, asking, ‘Why have you scared us like this?” Jesus said, “Didn’t you know I must be in my Father’s house?”
The writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 5:8 that ‘Even though Jesus was God’s son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Jesus was, therefore, a learner, an observer, a question asker, and one who took opportunity to grow in every way possible.
Jesus’ childhood was in many ways like that of Samuel and John the Baptist, all of whom were raised by parents who attended to the spiritual growth and preparation of their children. They wanted their children to be fully prepared for the adult responsibilities that awaited them.
When Lent was first observed in the 2nd century CE, it was meant to be a time of preparation, both for baptism as well as for Easter. Mimicking the preparation inherent in the Christian life. Like Paul told Timothy. “Work hard so you can be a good worker who does not need to be ashamed,” 2 Timothy 2:15.
Jesus serves as a good model for the importance of early preparation. We’ve seen the result of that in children who excel in school, master a musical instrument, or start college early. Certainly, some of that success must be attributed to genetics as when one person is incredibly good at basketball or another who starts college before high school.
Nevertheless, great pianists still have to practice a lot, and football stars have to put in the hours in practicing. All that preparation is the enablement necessary to accomplish your mission. Like Jesus.
Prayer: Our Father in Heaven. Humanity is made better by the incredible gifts that fellow travelers bring to the experience: great athletes, brilliant and learned scientists, and Nobel Prize winning scientists. We pray you will help us to live up to our gifts, and may we use Jesus as our model of prepared One. In Jesus’ name. Amen.