Sermon: The Boy Jesus (Luke 2:41-52)

The Boy Jesus
Sunday, January 25^th, 2026
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Luke 2:41–52

Prayer

O Father we acknowledge that while one person plants, and another person waters, it is You who give the growth. And so as we hear now Your Word preached, and we desire to make progress in grace, we ask that you would give the increase, make us to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, even fruit that remains, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

Children, Teenagers, I have a question for you: What would you do if you had three whole days to do whatever you wanted? No parents. No grandparents. No babysitter. No restrictions. No school. Let’s say you had the whole weekend all to yourself, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. What would you do with three full days of freedom?

• While you think about that, I’m going to ask your parents a question.
• Parents, how would you feel, if your children, your teenagers, were left all alone for three days without your supervision?
  • Would you be stressed out, or relieved? Would you be anxious and worried about them, waiting for the police to call, or would you not sweat it?
    • Granted, a lot depend on the ages of your children. I know I would be stressed out, I don’t think my children could survive three hours without supervision! So how would you feel?
• Alright, thought experiment over. Everyone come back from that dream (or nightmare).
• Children, what you want to do when nobody else is watching, reveals if you are good or bad, whether you are good and deserve more freedom, or whether you are bad and need more discipline.
• Teenagers, What you do when nobody is telling you what is right or wrong, reveals whether you deserve more freedom or less. Whether you are mature enough to drive a car, or have a smartphone, or hang out with those friends, or play that sport, or be in a relationship, or be left alone at all. What you do with the small measure of freedom you have, reveals whether you deserve more freedom or less.
• And this is because, age and maturity are not the same thing. God intends for your age and maturity to grow together, but because of our sin and our stubbornness, it often does not happen that way. In fact, some people never mature into who God created them to be. There are people in their 50s and 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, who are still like toddlers and teenagers in their heart, petty, bitter, entitled, resentful, and there is nothing more tragic than that.
  • It says in Proverbs 19:29, Judgments are prepared for scoffers, And beatings for the backs of fools.
  • It says in Proverbs 1:32, For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
  • Too much freedom given too early will destroy you. Adam and Eve plunged our whole world into sin because they were impatient with God. Because they thought they were smarter than God, that they could handle right now what God had reserved for them later. And because of that disobedience, that failure of the test, God kicked them out of His house. They could not be trusted to tend and keep God’s garden sanctuary, because they could not tend and keep their own heart.
  • It says in Proverbs 4:23, Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it flow the issues of life.
  • It says in Proverbs 16:32, Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit [is stronger] than he who takes a city.
  • It says in Proverbs 14:12, There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. And this our first parents learned the hard way.
• So what about you? Are you impatient? Are you quick to get angry? Have you learned yet that shortcuts are actually the long way around? Does your maturity match your age? Does the wisdom of your soul fit with the stature of your body?
• You see none of us can stop growing older even if we wanted to. But to grow in maturity requires a deliberate choice. A choice that you must make each day to follow Jesus or not. To obey your parents, or not. To obey God, or not.
  • God says to His people (after 40 years in the wilderness taking the long way to the promised land) in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
  • Paul says likewise in Ephesians 6:1-2, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
• God wants you to grow in maturity, because maturity means life. Maturity means eternal life. And isn’t that what you want?
• If so, the boy Jesus will teach you. Here in our passage, we have Jesus at twelve years of age, with his parents, and without them. With supervision, and then without supervision for three whole days. And at the end of this scene, what does Luke tell us? And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
• So what we can learn about maturity from the boy Jesus?

Outline of the Text

There are three principal actions that contribute to our advance in grace, and we’ll use these three actions as the basic outline for our text, and then note some lessons connected to these actions.

• In verses 41-45, we have the Public Worship of God.
• In verses 46-47, we have Personal Study of God.
• And then in verses 48-51, Obedience to God-Given Authorities.
  • Three actions: Public Worship, Personal Study, and Obeying God’s Authority, these are the three principal actions that Jesus models as the path to maturity.

Verses 41-42 – Jesus Worships with God’s People

⁴¹Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

• So first observe that Jesus has godly parents with godly customs, and therefore Jesus follows them in those customs.
  • Joseph and Mary have made it a habit every year to attend the Passover in Jerusalem. How much time did that take?
    • It’s about 90 miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem. And so to walk that distance would take at least 3-4 days or more depending on the pace and the roads. And altogether this would have been 2-3 weeks away from home, 2-3 weeks of not working, of living on the road, of lodging with strangers, or just sleeping in tents outside, and yet that journey was formative for God’s people, and something Joseph and Mary wanted to do together as a family.
  • We know from Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 that grown men were required to appear before God three times a year (for Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles). And yet Mary and Jesus accompany Joseph on his journey, because they too want to appear before the Lord. They want to partake of the Passover and remember God’s great deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
  • So this was the custom of Jesus’ parents, and Jesus embraces these customs as his own.  Of course, according to His divine nature Jesus is the one who gave these customs, and now according to His human nature he gets to observe them.
• So parents, do you have godly customs? Do you prioritize the public worship of God over everything else? Do you “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy?” Do you honor God with the first fruits of your increase? Are you showing by your actions where you heart is. Are you teaching your children what is actually important to you?
  • If not, you are putting a stumbling block in the way of your children following Jesus. How can you say to them, “follow me as I follow Christ,” if you are not following Christ?
• Children, do you walk in the same godly customs as your parents? Do you choose not only to walk in them, but also to enjoy them and make them your own?
  • You have a choice about whether you will conform or not to the ways of God. And this is one of those places where you should not try to stand out, you should not try to distinguish yourself, you should not pretend or think you are too cool for church. Too cool to raise your hands and sing, or get on your knees and confess your sins. Corporate worship is not the place for individual personal self-expression, it is the place to conform yourself to the Word of God, and to the customs of the people of God, not to invent your own. These are the old paths, and God wants you walk in them.
• It says in Proverbs 4:10-15,Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.
  • This Jesus models for us by conforming to the customs of His parents, customs that He had no need to observe being God-in-the-flesh and yet observed for our example.
  • If ever there was someone who did not need to go to church, it was Jesus. And yet Jesus travels to Jerusalem, he observes the Passover, to teach us what we need. To teach us that we need to go spiritually up to Jerusalem, we need to ascend in our affections to the city of peace, to heavenly Zion, and by keeping that custom of seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God (Col 3:1), we shall attain to that peace.
• So this is Lesson #1 from the boy Jesus: When your parents go to church, go with them joyfully. Go with them willingly. If they are sick and you can drive, ask if you go without them. Make corporate worship the thing around which everything else revolves, sanctify this day like God commands.
  • Can you say with the words of Psalm 84:10,For a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
    • Because that is the desire of a mature soul. And if you are old enough to sin, you are old to enough to be godly, but godliness will not happen on its own, you must choose to walk in the ways of the godly, and dwell where the righteous dwell.
• This brings us to a second lesson which we find in verses 43-45, and that is: Love God’s house even more than your parents do.

Verses 43-45 – “I Thought He Was with You!?”

⁴³And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

⁴⁴But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

⁴⁵And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

• So observe first that Jesus is twelve when he stays behind in Jerusalem, he’s not 5. Joseph and Mary have made this trip many times before, for 11 years straight they have done so without losing the Messiah.
• Second observe, that Joseph and Mary traveled with friends and family, kinsfolk and acquaintance. There was a large caravan of people making this journey, and it would be very easy for Jospeh to think Jesus was with Mary, and for Mary to think Jesus was with Joseph. I am sure that this has happened to some parents in this room (I thought he was with you). Meanwhile little Johnny’s hanging out with the deacons cleaning up.
• Now it is one thing to get left behind, another to choose to stay behind. And one of the things Jesus is illustrating for us here is what he will say later in Luke 14:26, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
  • In other words, your loyalty and love for God must take precedence over your loyalty and love for anyone else (even yourself). As much as Joseph and Mary are godly parents and indeed far more godly than any of us, Jesus is more loyal to His Father in heaven and desires to linger with Him for as long as he can.
• So Children, praise the Lord if you have Christian parents who bring you to church. But do your parents proud and surpass them in your own love for God, in your own obedience to Christ, in your own humility and holiness and pursuit of God.
  • Nothing makes godly parents happier than seeing their children outdo them in godly and holy living, to turn out far better than we taught them. And so children, you have that choice. You have that responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required, and you cannot love God too much. This Jesus shows us, by staying behind in Jerusalem.
• This brings us to verses 46-47, where we see what Jesus did with his three days apart from His parents.

Verses 46-47 – Personal Study of God

⁴⁶And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

⁴⁷And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

• First note that doctors here refers not to medical doctors but to the professional theologians or teachers of the law. These would be the most respected authorities when it comes to interpreting Scripture, and it is there, sitting in their midst, that Jesus hears, asks, answers and astonishes.
  • When Jesus has three days apart from His parents, what does he want to do? He wants to have a three-day Bible conference. He wants to be about His heavenly Father’s business, and that business revolves around discussing the Word of God with the wise.
• Now again remember, Jesus was already full of grace and truth, wisdom and knowledge from infancy. He was already the God-man. Luke told us earlier in verse 40 right before this scene, And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him [that at 40 days old].
  • So Jesus did not acquire divinity at some later stage of development, he was born Christ the LORD. He was born worthy of worship, and as the one In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).
  • And so when Jesus is said to increase in wisdom in verse 52, this either refers to the increase of human experience, or the increase of revealing to other the wisdom he already has.
• And so here’s the lesson: If Jesus knows everything, and yet chooses to sit with fallible human teachers, to hear them, and question them, and answer them with understanding, then how much more do we who were born in ignorance and sin?
  • Jesus is already perfect, and so he is modeling for us how we can become perfect/complete/mature, even in our youth.
  • Paul says in Colossians 1:28 that the goal of his ministry is to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” And how does Paul intend to accomplish that? He says, Christ is in you, the hope of glory Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
  • So perfection comes from hearing good preaching, receiving stern warnings, and being taught in wisdom. And this is exactly what Jesus’ ministry will consist of as well.
• And so Children, are you making use of the preaching, teaching, and warnings you hear from this pulpit? Do you like the boy Jesus, seek out the wise and listen to them, and ask them questions?
  • Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4, there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit.
  • And it says in Proverbs 24:6, For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
  • It says in Proverbs 13:20, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
  • So young people, do you surround yourself with older wiser counsellors? Do you learn from and imitate the strengths and graces that are diversely shown in God’s people.
    • We are not all equally expert in the same field, we are not all equally wise and mature in the same areas, we need one another to see what we can’t see, and we should imitate the best qualities in every Christian we know.
    • The fool is the one who does not ask advice, who refuses to be taught what he does not know.
      • It says in Proverbs 18:1-2 of such people, Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
      • It says in Ecclesiastes 9:17-18, The words of wise men are heard in silence more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
• So where can wisdom be found? Chiefly in Christ and keeping His Word.
  • It says in Psalm 119:24, Thy testimonies also are my delight And my counsellers.
  • And in Psalm 119:9 it says, How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
• The purity of your life will only be as great as your taking heed to God’s Word. If you fill your mind with TV shows, video games, social media, and vanity, it will hollow out your soul. Whatever stokes your desire for carnal things you must forsake. You must avoid. You must hate. This is the love of God, to hate evil.
  • It says in Psalm 97:10-12, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
• Finally we come to where Jesus is found by his searching parents.

Verses 48-51 – Obedience to God-Given Authorities

⁴⁸And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

⁴⁹And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist [know] ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

⁵⁰And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

⁵¹And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

• Here we see that Jesus is subject/submissive to God in the first instance, and to his parents in the second instance. This is the biblical order of authority for children. God first, parents second.
• No human authority is absolute, no king, no pope, no pastor, no parent, no husband or master. All authority is derived from God and is therefore limited by the Word of God. If ever we are commanded by our superior to sin, we say with the Apostles, we must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).
  • And so see how Jesus, the absolute sovereign of all and source of all authority, voluntarily submits himself to many imperfect and sinful authorities throughout his life. And he does this without ever sinning himself.
  • This is the mindset of Christ. It says of him in Philippians 2:6-8, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
  • Jesus submitted to his parents. He submitted to Caesar. He submitted to Pontius Pilate and suffered for His righteousness. And because of this, it says in verses 9-11, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Conclusion

The test of youth is, Will you be patient? Will you wait on God to give you the desires of your heart? Will you cheerfully obey the authorities He has placed over you, even if or when they are unjust, even when they hurt you, or sin against you? Will you forgive them? Will you love them? Will you refuse to revile them in return?

• Parents are not perfect. No human authority is perfect. But if the perfect boy Jesus submitted himself to God, and obeyed the authorities over him in the flesh (both godly and ungodly), then how much more should we who are not divine?
• Jesus so loved you that he suffered crucifixion to save you. He spent three days in death, to save you from death. And that is maturity in the fullest sense: To love deeply, and to suffer for those you love.
• Jesus says in John 15:13,Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
  • If you want to be mature then you must love unto death. For this is what Christ did for us, and what we must grow up to do for one another. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.