The Boy Who Is Lord By Mark Driscollናሙና

A child of God

When they found him at the temple and requested he return home with them, Jesus chose to obey his parents. Granted, unlike other children, he never sinned. But he had sinful parents. I know it’s hard enough as a sinner to put up with sinful parents. Imagine being sinless with sinful parents. Yet, Jesus honored them and obeyed them anyway.

Think about it: pre-teen Jesus is having a nice conversation with the seminary professors at the temple. Rather than sitting down to learn from the lesson, Jesus’ parents want to drag him back to Nazareth. Instead of arguing like most kids, Jesus “went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them” (Luke 2:51a). He spent the ensuing years living as a normal child – doing his chores and homework. Children of all ages, take note: We’re to honor and obey our parents whether they understand us or not. Jesus’ parents didn’t fully understand him, but he still submitted to them.

In doing so, Jesus was a blessing to his mom. “And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart,” Luke reveals (Luke 2:51b). It is possible and right that children would be a blessing to their mom, and to their dad. The fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Do you want that? Do you want that for yourself? Do you want that for your children?

Jesus honored his parents, and as a result, the next verse tells us, he “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Murdered at roughly the age of 33, Jesus’ days were not especially long in the land, but he lived an incredibly fruitful life—because he honored and submitted to his heavenly Father (Matt. 26:39; Luke 23:46). “I glorified you on earth,” Jesus said, “having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). And he honored and obeyed his earthly parents as God commanded.

How did Jesus manage to endure life as a perfect child with imperfect parents? Like all other aspects of his ministry, Jesus submitted to his parents by the indwelling presence and power of the person of the Holy Spirit.

To be a good child (of God and of our parents) means to honor our heavenly Father and our earthly parents. In order to do this, we need a new nature, patterned after Jesus’ perfect nature, filled by the same Holy Spirit’s power as Jesus, to follow in the example of Jesus.

The Lord Jesus was the perfect, sinless, obedient, Spirit-filled child. He gives us his perfect obedience, he dies for our sin, and he rises and gives us a new nature and a new power to follow in his example.

How about you? Do you need to thank your parents? Do you need to apologize to your parents for your imperfections? Do you need to forgive your imperfect parents?

God became a man. What’s astounding to remember, however, is that God also became a really little man. He became an unborn baby. He became an infant. He became a kid. He became a teenager. I would have skipped junior high and started in my twenties, at least. God experienced it all.

Jesus isn’t just for grown people. Jesus is for all people. Whether you’re a child, an adolescent, or an adult—whatever stage of life you’re in—we can all look to Jesus and know that he has been there. He is our compassionate high priest who listens to us, suffered for us, forgives us, leads us, and reminds us that we have eternal hope, joy, and love, so long as we stick with him: God with us.

What does honoring your parents look like in your particular stage of life? Do you need to apologize to them? Thank them? Speak more respectfully of or to them? Or simply obey them?