And When He Was Twelve Years Old

Luke 2:41–52 – Luke
First Sunday in Christmastide – December 28th, 2025 (am)

Phi.2:5 Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. That’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it? Jesus was in the form of God (Phi.2:6). He was the eternal Son, very God of very God; begotten not made, being one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made (Nicene Creed, 325 ad), Phi.2:7 but He emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Still fully God, He became fully human, two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and substance (Chalcedonian Creed, 451 ad). 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself yet further by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. As Paul wrote elsewhere, Rom.4:25 [He] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. 1Co.6:19 … [We] are not [our] own, 20 … [we] were bought with a price. … Gal.2:20 [We] have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer [we] who live, but Christ who lives in [us]. And the life [we] now live in the flesh [we] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us]. So, we’re not just called, we’re also equipped to Phi.2:5 Have this mind among [ourselves] which is [ours] in Christ Jesus.

But how are we supposed to do that? Does it ever feel impossible to you? Like it’s out of reach? Even a bit subjective? Like we might think we have the mind of Christ when we really don’t? Kind of like when we think our anger is righteous (cf. Eph.4:26). A big part of Paul’s answer comes in the next two verses of Philippians: 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, collectively, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Give yourselves to the humble obedience that displays the mind of Christ, just as Jesus modeled, and you’ll be demonstrating that you have His mind among yourselves.

But the details of Jesus’ obedience there in Phi.2 set a pretty high bar for what the obedience of faith (cf. Rom.1:5; 16:26) looks like: incarnation, crucifixion. Might there some other text that’s a bit more accessible, where we could more easily see ourselves in it? And I’d say our passage this morning might just serve that purpose well. Primarily it’s opening up a window that lets us know a little something about Jesus’ growing-up years. And it’s far less showy than the kinds of stories that are told about His childhood in the extrabiblical sources of His day (see Piper), stories that make him sound like a selfish and mischievous little prodigy!

By contrast, Luke’s account here spotlights at least three things we’d surely want to know about the young Jesus: (1) His disposition, we might say, just something of what He was like and how He behaved as a child, humanly speaking, (2) His focus, what was important to Him, what gained His attention, and (3) His uniqueness, how He stood apart from other boys His age as He was preparing for His earthly mission. This text doesn’t really fall naturally into these three parts, but these are a few things we’d probably most like to know. And I believe this passage will answer them for us as we just walk through it together. Then it should also yield some takeaways that are beneficial to our having the mind of Christ among us (Phi.2:5). So, let’s do that: Luk.2:41-52 as a unit.

Walking Through the Text

But first let’s remind ourselves of a bit of the background. Following Jesus’ birth with all of its surrounding events of worship and adoration (1-20), Mary and Joseph took Him to the temple, careful to handle everything according to the Law of Moses (22), the Law of the Lord (23) (21-40). Five times Luke explicitly affirmed that they kept the Law (22, 23, 24, 27, 39).

While they were there at the temple they met two different people who were faithfully looking for the coming of the Messiah. There was the righteous and devout Simeon (25) who blessed God (28) and Mary & Joseph as he held little Jesus (34). And then there was the aging, widowed prophetess Anna (36-37) who gave thanks to God and spoke of Him to all who [would listen] (38).

Following these two main sections, we have the story that draws our attention this morning (41-52). Every year Mary & Joseph traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover (41), again, just as the Law required. Passover was one of the three times of year that these pilgrimages were supposed to happen. The other two were the Feasts of [Pentecost] and [Tabernacles] (Exo.23:14-17).

The spring when Jesus was twelve years old (42) was no exception (42). At the end of that year, He’d become a son of the law (Piper), bar-mitzvah, and so a full member of the synagogue. Evidently it was customary for boys to attend the Feasts for a year or two prior to becoming a bar-mitzvah, so that they’d appreciate it more, and perhaps also to prepare themselves (Leifeld &Pao 85).

After this particular Passover Feast, 43 … as they were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem [without His parents’ knowledge]. Sometime later, the traveling custom in caravans was for women and small children to be up in the front while men and older boys were in the back (Morris 108). So, that may’ve been the case here. But a child Jesus’ age could easily be with relatives or with [friends], so it’s not surprising that neither Mary nor Joseph realized He wasn’t with the group.

Nazareth was about sixty-five miles north from Jerusalem, perhaps three days walk, and it was at the end of the first day’s travel that His parents first noticed He was missing (44). It was most likely the next morning that they set out for Jerusalem (45) to find Him (I wonder how well they slept?). And it was probably on the next day that they finally tracked Him down—thus, three days (46a). Jean & I lost track of our son at a wedding reception in a downtown hotel when he was three years old. And he was only missing for about ten minutes before we found him playing under a table with a covering that went nearly to the floor. Ten minutes! And that seemed like a lifetime! Imagine three days! And any other twelve-year-old would’ve been looking for them that whole time as well!

Now, add to this the fact that both parents knew this was no ordinary child. How would they feel? How would they pray? I’m sorry, Father, we seem to have lost the Messiah…

I’m sure there was nothing funny about it at the time. But you know Joseph & Mary had to be nervously attentive to every responsibility of parenthood given their knowledge of Who their firstborn actually was. How would they have been processing these three days in real time?

Well, Mary & Joseph finally found Jesus in the temple, dialoguing with the teachers (46a). Where had He slept those two nights? What had He eaten? Luke felt no need to include such details that we all might want to know in this account. But what He did include is what God wants us to know about young Jesus. 46 [When] they found him, He was in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. I wonder how this exchange compared with those of the man, Jesus, as He posed questions to the various religious leaders eighteen-or-so years down the road—getting them tangled up in the inconsistencies of their differing interpretations of the Law? Was that sort of understanding already evident here when Jesus was twelve? Luke does record that 47 … all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

And that uniqueness continued into His exchange with His mother and father. 48 … [W]hen his parents saw him, they were astonished, suggesting that this really isn’t where they expected to find Him. And his mother said to him, with a tone of correction (Morris 108) that’s not hard to hear in any language, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” This could be paraphrased: We’ve been worried sick about you! The range of meaning for the word behind great distress (L-N) can extend to torment (WSD) or even agony (DBL).

49 [But] he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? This is a bit different than it sounds. He’s not asking so much why were you looking for me, as why [didn’t you immediately know where to find] me? Why [wasn’t it obvious to you where I’d be]? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” John Piper suggests this as the main point made in this passage—the understanding Luke wanted to press while not excluding anything else he included here—this contrast: Mary’s your father (48) and Jesus’ my Father (49).

This may well have been a transition in this family’s life. Every indication in this exchange suggests that Mary & Joseph were used to treating Jesus as a normal, twelve-year-old son. But it appears here that [he chose] this crucial stage in his life, on the [sic] brink of manhood, to tell his parents in an unforgettable way that he now knows who his real Father is and what it will mean for his mission (Piper). Surely this is just one instance, and maybe the first, when the prophesy of Simeon would be fulfilled: 35 and a sword will pierce through your own soul also… 50 And, Luke records, they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. In some ways, every parent of children who’ve grown up can understand this lack of understanding—how soon it comes in life, how disorienting it is whenever it does come—but how much more so for this mother and earthly father of the eternal Son of God?

Even so, the family traveled home to Nazareth (51) together. And Luke was careful to record that Jesus was submissive to [his parents] still (51a), lest we believe that this encounter may have revealed disrespect or disobedience, or introduced some sort of new pattern in that direction. It didn’t.

Then Luke puts away this entire birth and childhood narrative by repeating two sub-conclusions he’d already used. The birth narrative (1-20) ended with him writing: 19 Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Then he concluded the temple story (21-40) with these words: 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Now he puts the whole section away with this summary: 51 … And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Finally, we should note that in his telling of the humility and incarnation of the Son, Luke anchored his narrative to Nazareth beginning, middle, and end (4, 39, 51). And it’s also notable that Mary was almost certainly his source for these stories (cf. 19, 51).

Conclusion

But what’s the takeaway for us today?

Three Brief Insights

1. Jesus understands our struggle to learn and to do what is right. Although He was fully divine, in His humanity He grew up as a virtually normal boy. We can see that not just through glimpses in the text like Mary’s address to Him in the temple (48); but Luke also made those explicit statements that He grew in wisdom (40, 52), not just in stature and social maturity. Jesus’ human mind and body developed as much ours has. Part of His emptying himself to become a servant, taking on the likeness of men (Phi.2:5-8), included humbling himself to the point of allowing His human mind to develop normally in terms of wisdom and understanding. We read in Hebrews that Heb.5:8 … he learned obedience through what he suffered. It’s not like the eternal Son didn’t know how to obey the Father before He took on flesh. Rather, Jesus learned what it’s like to obey—to deny temptation, to resist wrong-doing, to overcome annoying human weakness in His pursuit of obedience, and now not just to the Father but to fallen human parents and other authority figures.

This is one more way in which He identifies with us (Heb.4:15; 5:2). And that leads us directly to Insight #2.

2. Jesus understands the burden of living under imperfect authorities. As both a human boy and a grown man, He lived and thrived under the constraints of imperfect authority without being crushed or confounded or compromised by it. We see that right here. He was corrected by His mother even while He was clearly already on-mission. That could imply that He was falsely accused on some mild level. And certainly He was falsely accused during His earthly ministry, especially by those in governmental or religious authority over Him. He answered those accusations with a variety of responses from strong rebuke to complete silence. But here He answered His mother with truth and gentleness. And He continued on living in submission to His earthly parents’ authority.

As a brief aside, it’s interesting to note that Jesus’ earthly family was not entirely free of conflict. The introduction even of One Who is fully God doesn’t remove these moments of tension between parents and pre-teen children that we see in today’s text. Jesus understands our struggles first-hand! He lived among us. And He specifically modeled obedience to the fifth commandment—He honored [his] father and… mother (Exo.20:12), imperfect as they were, even at the tender, and often trying, age of twelve.

And that leads us into Insight #3.

3. Jesus understands that having His mind is actually possible for us even in a fallen world. This command from Phi.2:5 is both realistic and possible for us to experience. The restrictions and limitations, even the sinfulness of this world, need not keep us from having the mind of Christ among us. Even as the boy Jesus was growing into a man, He was able to walk in His Father’s ways without falling. Now, we all know He was still fully God even when He was young, so He could not have sinned—as theologians put it, the human Jesus was non posse peccare, not able to sin. But in His humanity, He did feel the same temptations that we do. His divine nature wouldn’t have spared Him the weight of that—it’s quite possible it magnified it. But, even so, Jesus faced each and every temptation all the way to the successful end of full obedience.

Wayne Grudem helps us understand what this means. Just as a champion weightlifter who successfully lifts and holds over his head the heaviest weight in the contest feels the force of it more fully than one who attempts to lift it and drops it, so any Christian who has successfully faced a temptation to the end knows that that is far more difficult than giving in to it at once. So it is with Jesus: every temptation he faced, he faced to the end, and triumphed over it. The temptations were real, even though he did not give in to them. In fact, they were most real because he did not give in to them (Grudem 539).

If the eternal Son of God humbling himself by taking on the form of a servant (Phi.2:7) is too big a concept for you to wrap your mind around as an example of how to live in a manner worthy of the gospel, then I urge you to consider the example of the boy Jesus from Luk.2. He modeled a right response to implied wrong-doing, submission to the imperfect authority, and focused engagement with His growth in godly wisdom toward spiritual and social maturity.

He took on the form of a servant (Phi.2:7) to become a suitable sacrifice for our sins, but also that He might be a high priest who is [able] to sympathize with our sufferings (Heb.4:15) and temptations. This means He understands our need. He knows the challenges we face. He emptied himself in order to face these things Himself. Jonathan Edwards put it this way: He is one of infinite condescension. None are so low or inferior, but Christ’s condescension is sufficient to take a gracious notice of them. … Yea, which is more, his condescension is sufficient to take a gracious notice of the most unworthy, sinful creatures, those that have no good deservings, and those that have infinite ill-deservings (Edwards 9). Therefore, no challenge or temptation is too small for us to seek His help toward having [His] mind, in obedience to Scripture’s command. We just need to want it, then to ask.

This brings to mind the little boy who was saving his pennies to buy a baseball bat. One evening his mother heard him praying: O Lord, please help me save my money for a baseball bat. And, [please] God, don’t let the ice cream man come down this street! (Tan 6523) That’s probably how we should pray. Father, help us have this mind among [ourselves] which is [ours] in Christ Jesus (Phi.2:5), this humble, obedient mind that Jesus modeled even at the tender age of twelve.

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Resources

Calvin, John. 1610. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. by, William Pringle, 1845. Logos.

Dockery, David S, ed. 1992. New American Commentary. Vol. 24, Luke, by Robert H. Stein. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Edwards, Jonathan. 1736. The Excellency of Christ, a sermon. Kindle edition 2023, e-artnow.

Grudem, Wayne. 1994. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Hughes, R. Kent. 1998. Preaching the Word. Luke: That You May Know the Truth. Wheaton: Crossway.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2007. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 10, Luke-Acts. Luke, by Walter L. Leifeld & David W. Pao, 19-355. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Louw, Johannes P., & Eugene A. Nida (l-n). 1989. Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, second edition. New York: United Bible Societies.

Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 1988. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Vol. 13, Luke, by Leon Morris. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Muck, Terry, ed. 1996. The NIV Application Commentary. Luke, by Darrell Bock. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Piper, John. 1981. The Son of God at 12 Years Old: A Sunday Evening Message from Luke 2:41-52. Desiring God website: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-son-of-god-at-12-years-old.

Swanson, James (DBL). 2001. A Dictionary of Biblical Languages, Greek, Second Edition. Logos Research Systems.

Tan, Paul Lee. 1984. Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations. Cleveland, TN: Assurance.

Zodiates, Spiros (WSD), gen. ed. 1993. The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament. Chattanooga: AMG International.

NEXT SUNDAY: My Beloved Son, Luke 3:15–22

LukePastor Daryle WorleyDecember 28, 2025Main Service, Jesus, Youth, Submission, Obedience, Mind of Christ