THE KING’S BUSINESS
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understand Him? Having made this needed assertion that God was His real and only Father, and given this d e a r proof of His consciousness of His Deity, Jesus fell back into His place as the son of Mary and Joseph. He doubtless helped His father about thé carpentering (Mark 6 :3) and His mother about her domestic work, and He was just as truly “about His Father’s bus iness” when carrying water and making fires in Nazareth, as when in the temple asking questions. For nearly twenty years longer He remained in the humble ob scurity of Nazareth. He did not chafe at that commonplace life, though conscious of power to fill a vastly larger sphere. This quiet life was a necessary preparation for the work the Father had given Him to do. During these years Jesus was growing, that is a boy’s chief business. If we too are in a humble sphere, where there seems to be little else to do, we can at least grow. Jesus could grow because He was a real, human being. He had voluntarily put aside Divine glory to become a real man (Phil. 2:6, 7; Mark 13:32). He was perfect as a babe and boy, but the perfection of manhood is a higher form of perfection thap the perfection of childhood, and more pleasing to Gpd : so it is written He “increased in favor with God” as He grew from perfect boyhood into perfect manhood. Thursdayj October 7. Luke 3 :l-6. Luke is very exact in connecting the com ing and ministry of John with current po litical and ecclesiastical history, John did not bring his' own message, but God’s. He did not attempt to speak to men until God- had first spoken to him. He had received his training for the work in none of the rabbincal schools'of the day, but in God’s school, “in the wilderness,” in solitude and communion with God (ch. 1:80). As he had received his message directly from God (cf. John 1:33) he waited for no call or ordination from men before delivering it. He sought not the synagogue or temple, but the open air for the delivery of his message. The substance of his proclama-
were things He could learn even from them. There is not the slightest suggestion that He criticized His teachers. He was a model Bible class scholar. He answered questions as well as asked them (v. 47), and His answers were so profoundly intelli gent as to “amaze” “all that heard Him.” It was more as the perfect human hoy than as the Divine Child that He was asking questions in the temple; so He owed the “understanding” He displayed not so much to His inherent- Deity, as to His Spirit- guided study of the word of God (Ps. 119: 99; Luke 24:27; John 3:34). Even Mary, who had watched Him and listened to Him for twelve _years, was astonished. Depths were now revealed into which even she had never been allowed to peer before. Mary, though His mother, had not understood Jesus. There seems to be a tone of com plaint, if not abruptness, in the question Mary put to Jesus. Mary was indeed a wonderful woman (Luke 1 :28), but she was not divine nor faultless. The Mary of the Bible is not at all the Mary of legend and adoration. While Mary and Joseph were surprised that JeSus was in the templev Jesus was surprised that they should search for. Him anywhere else (v. .49, R. V.), in deed surprised that they should search for Him at all, instead of coming right there, fully assured that He 'was there. There is no note of apology or regret in Jesus’ reply. Though the most-dutiful, tender and obedient of sons (v. 51; John 19:26, 27), He was conscious that He was something more than “the son of Mary” (cf. John 2 :3, 4), and that Mary must for her own sake he made to realize that fact. He points her from the human reputed (ch.' 3 :23) fatherhood to the Divine, real Father hood. Mary had said, “thy father (Jo- seoh),” Jesus answers, “My Father (God).” This is the first recorded utterance of Jesus, and like the last (ch. 23:46), its central thought is “God is my Father.” Wednesday ,■ October 6. Luke 2:50-52. Neither Joseph nor Mary: Understood Jesus even yet. Need we wonder? Do we
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