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(The life of our Savior) Jesus growth and first Passover. Chapter 2.5
Luke 2:40-52
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Our last study we had Joseph and Mary returned to Israel from Egypt (they went there to escape Herod killing all the babies, which was to trying to kill the baby Messiah) to a northern town named Nazareth in the region of Galilee.
There is some time that goes by and the next text that we are going to study in the Bible is in the Gospel of Luke and we see that it is recorded that Jesus was 12 years old.
Before we start going through the study we need to lay some foundation and understanding about the time of year it was and what was going on. It was the time of the Passover which is around our March/April.
Passover what is it and what does it mean?
If you don’t know some of this Passover stuff we are about to cover, hold on to your pants. I’ll try to break it down so it’s easy to understand.
- The first Passover was during the time of the Israelites being held in slavery in Egypt when things started to go bad for them. (In the book of Exodus 1-12). This is roughly 1600 years before our current time we are reading in the Gospels.
- It was the last plague that God Almighty used to free the Israelites from Egypt
- Pharaoh kept refusing to release the Israelites so God with each plague kept raising the stakes/consequences (there were 9 plagues)
- The final plague was the “Passover”, which was the spirit of death killing each first born thing in Egypt (Children, cattle, everything)
- God told the Israelites to prepare a special dinner with specific instructions and with the blood from the lamb they were cooking they were to rub blood on the door posts outside the house they were living in and the spirit of death would “Passover” them and not kill any of their first born. They knew the time this had to be done by, when the spirit of death was going to be unleashed by God.
- When Pharaoh’s first son was killed he was furious and heart broken. So he told the Israelites to leave as soon as possible. (No time to go into much detail here but Pharaoh watched them leave as he had ordered and after seeing the Israelites actually leave made him mad and when they were a distance away he chased after them, and that’s where the dividing of the Red Sea comes in).
- The Passover is a yearly festival/celebration of this happening, God freeing them from Egypt
The reason this is so important to understand is this is a HUGE deal for the Jews, not only back them (2,000 years ago, but still today the Jews celebrate this feast). And in Jesus time there would be 2-3 million people flocking to Jerusalem to join the feast/celebration. So it is important when you hear the word Passover feast you understand what’s going on in Jerusalem.
Imagine it like today if everyone in America traveled to New York for the 4th of July. As we did this it was intended to be an orderly remembrance of what our forefathers did for us. It was not to be a party. This should help us understand what’s taking place through Jesus life when it comes to the Passover.
Luke picks up the life of Jesus in an interesting place, recall Luke read all the others writings (Matthew, Mark, John) and wanted to cover stuff they did not about the life of our Messiah. So Luke turns to a time in Jesus life where He is 12 years old, this means He is not truly doing His ministry yet. This is the Son of God literally as a child, simply amazing to think about.
This is sometime after Jesus and His parents return from Egypt. Recall the went to Egypt to escape Herod the Great, not to be confused with the Israelites in Egypt as slaves thousands of years ago.
Luke 2:40 There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.
So we read and we will see that Jesus was fulling being blessed by God with wisdom that passed any other 12 year old, and I love the words “God’s favor was on Him”. This happens in our life today and when God’s favor is in/for us the blessing and doors that are opened can’t all be counted.
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual.
Twelve years old for young males was when they started to go to Jerusalem because they had to start learning their duties for the Passover festival.
43 After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, 44 because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.
The things people did back then to travel for something like this blows my mind, and we think we have no time today and can’t drive 20-30 minutes somewhere. We see that Mary and Joseph went yearly to the Passover feast. The distance they traveled by foot was about 90 miles, with elevation might I add.
45 When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. 46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Man, the worry and agony that must have been in Mary and Joseph mind about losing their very special child. Think about this, Jesus at the age of 12 was alone for three days in and around the temple talking with the religious teachers. We can only imagine what was talked about. As Luke writes everyone was amazed at His understanding and answers.
48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.
There are so many things in our lives that we see and hear that we don’t know or understand until days, months or years later what the purpose was for. This was a repeated thing in the life of Jesus, our Messiah. Even at the age of twelve. Reading that Jesus was so connected to God the father even at a young age is chilling.
51 Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.
To think all the things that Mary saw until to death of Jesus on the cross is something to just be in awe.
52 Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
Luke wrote that Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor. Jesus had the perfect balance in everything. No part of Him was overemphasized, underdeveloped. He developed physically, intellectually, spiritually, and socially. We should be balanced in the same manner.
(The life of our Savior) From Egypt to Nazareth Chapter 2.4
Matthew 2:19-23, Luke 2:39
Our last study we went over Joseph and Mary getting out of town and fleeing for Egypt by the voice of God telling Joseph to leave, because Herod was going to be looking to kill the baby Messiah. Furthermore, Herod the Great killed all the male babies in that region where he thought the baby boy would be, being that the wise men didn’t return as he wanted to tell him exactly where Jesus was.
Sometime has went by, we aren’t sure how long exactly but we do know it’s before Jesus turning 12 years old, but in Matthew chapter 2:19 the Bible reads, But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said. 20 “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Childs life are dead.”
21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard (Joseph) that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee,
The region of Galilee is about 65 miles north of Jerusalem.
23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Nazareth was a rather obscure town, not one that was considered a great town by any means. It was a small town way north of the big city Jerusalem.
Nazareth is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament writings, Matthew wrote in verse 23 that he lived in Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. Not singular but plural. But there are several places in the Old Testament where it refers to the Messiah being despised. Not by one prophet but by many, just as Matthew has said by the “prophets”.
Something to take note of, Jesus was a fairly common name in these days, so by placing Jesus name “the Messiah” with a place, Nazareth an actually town, where He grown up helped people to know truly who they were talking about as well as all the things we are going to look at below.
David wrote a Psalm with the same parallels to the suffering Savior.
Psalm 22:6 David wrote “a reproach of men and despised by the people.”
Psalm 69:10, when I wept in my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
This chapter in Isaiah is subtitled “the suffering servant”
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken by men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 49:7 thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, to the despised One
Micah 5:1 now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.
Nazareth held Roman garrison for the northern areas of Galilee. Therefore the Jews would have little to do with Nazareth and largely despised it.
It was like Matthew was referencing this town and the Messiah because they were looked at in the same way by almost everyone, as nothing good.
Jumping a little into the Bible a few studies ahead in John 1:46 Nathanael says when he hears of the Messiah, the One talked about by the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth.
Nathanael reply is priceless in a way…..
John 1:46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said come and see.
Just thinking about how I think as a human and how off I am in my silly short minded ways just as Nathanael was here. But the greatness that comes from reading this verse and saying to yourself as you read it, oh yes, something great can come from Nazareth.
Jesus of Nazareth is one of many names used in reference to Jesus of the New Testament. It is packed with meaning that held much relevance in His day and in ours. Jesus of Nazareth highlights both Has prophetic fulfillment as the divine Messiah and His human nature as One who lived among humanity.
Luke adds one verse about Jesus and His parents returning to Nazareth. Luke 2:39 when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to their own city of Nazareth.
Recall Luke had read all the other letters (Gospels) and wanted to cover different stuff than the other three writers.
(The life of our Savior) The Gospel’s overview. Chapter 1.2
The life of our Savior
I hope at this point you are as eager as me to start diving into the four Gospels, but I’ve wanted to cover a basic foundation of information about the details of these four letters (the Gospels).
What does Gospel mean?
Gospel means the “Good News” about the Savior of the world.
It might be overwhelming at first to hear about the four letters, who wrote them and why they wrote them but it is good to know this information and it will help make sense of why this was being written by this person and too whom was the letter for?
These four Gospel letters were written within 20-30 years after Jesus death and Resurrection give or take some years.
The Gospel of Matthew: 50-70 A.D.
Matthew was a tax collector (a person who was really looked down upon during this time); he was one of Jesus first disciples. Matthew was Jewish and wrote his letter to show the Jewish people that Jesus was truly their Messiah. Matthew used a lot of Old Testament writings to show that Jesus fulfilled the scriptures about Him being the Messiah. Matthew also used the blood line (chapter 1) to show the Jewish read that Jesus came from Abraham blood line and therefore the family of David to fulfill God’s promise. Matthew uses nine additional proofs beyond the Abraham and David proof that Jesus fulfilled prophecy as being the Savior of the world. However, Matthew letter is also intended for all readers not just the Jewish community.
The Gospel of Mark: 50-60 A.D.
John Mark was his full name and he is the cousin to Barnabas. On the first missionary journey of the apostle Paul, Barnabas was alongside helping spread the Good News. Mark went on this trip to start but then had to leave without notice. It is agreed that Mark and Peter were very close and in Acts he is first mentioned with his Mother and they opened their house as a meeting place for believers in Christ. It is also thought that Mark’s house was the upper room. Most scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel was written in Italy and in the city of Rome, and there Mark and Peter are strongly thought to have been martyred. So Mark’s letter is addressed mainly to the gentile reader. Mark’s letter is the shortest but he gets to the point for a Gentile reader and talks about , the cross, discipleship, teaching of Jesus (Mark uses teach/teacher or Master 40 times), Messianic secret (Jesus telling His disciples to keep it secret till God’s time is right), Son of God references.
The Gospel of Luke: 60-70 A.D.
Luke was most likely a gentile by birth, and very smart individual. He was a physician and was also the writer of the book of Acts. Luke was a good friend of the apostle Paul; he was with Paul from his second missionary journey until his imprisonment in Rome. Paul called Luke a “fellow labourer”. The style of Luke’s writing is both professional and formal, he was very serious about seeking the truth and getting down everything he wanted to get down, in writing. It is highly thought that Theophilus was a high ranking Roman official and Luke wanted to share his letter with him and wanted him to share it with others. Luke wanted to show Theophilus that the place in God’s kingdom for a Gentile was based on the teachings of Jesus.
The Gospel of John: 65-70 A.D.
The writer of this letter is the apostle John the disciple whom Jesus loved. John also wrote the letters in the New Testament, 1 John, 2 John and 3 John. God also gave John visons about the final showdown between good and evil while he was in prison towards the end of his life, which he wrote down the book of Revelations. John’s letter was to convert new believers but also to build up those who have already been following Jesus. The letter John wrote is the only one that lists more than one Passover that happened during Jesus ministry, which is big because it shows us a great timeline to Jesus life on earth. It is stated that 92% of Johns Gospel is different than the other three, in regards to writing down stuff they didn’t not about our Savior.
So now that we have covered a little background on each writer what is interesting is that the harmony of these Gospel’s is when laying them all out and weaving in and out of each other we can see a lot clearer the life of Jesus here on earth and what our Savior did and why.
When you go through Jesus life like we are going to do using all four letters and putting them together as one we find out so much more about His life and ministry.
Luke Five and 32 