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Could I have a show of hands of all the 12 year olds we have here today. There are a few, thank you! Whatever happened to the scripture in Matt 18:3 were Christ said:

“Truly, I say to you unless you turn and become like children (like 12 year olds), you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

Now, with this scripture in mind, I like to ask the question again: How many 12 year olds do we have here today? Could I have a show of hands again! Ah – that’s better, thank you.

So, now that we are all in the right frame of mind, please turn with me to Luke the 2nd chapter. In verse 41 we find ourselves in the Passover season. Here we read that Jesus the 12 year old went with his parents, as was their custom, to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. We are all familiar with the story. His parents assuming that Jesus returned with some of the relatives, was not to be found. So, his parents returned to Jerusalem and after three days found Him, as it says in verse 46, on the basketball court playing ball! No, that’s not what it says. They found Him watching TV with his friends! No, we know for sure that’s not what He did! They found Him in the temple. What a wonderful place to be, in the temple, as a twelve year old.

Now before I go any further in the story, allow me to interject here that this account of Jesus’ childhood is obviously very important, and it is my purpose to explore why and what we can learn from it. After all, what better way is there than a 12 year old to teach other 12 year olds.

Just consider the fact that this is the only account of the life of Jesus between His birth and the beginning of His public ministry some 30 years later.

What can we learn from that and why are the gospels silent about the life style of Jesus between the age of 12 and 30?

Well, the obvious reason is that, all that was needed to be said, was said, in this one account of the 12 year old, in the temple, at the Passover, in Jerusalem. This one account was obviously not an isolated occurrence, rather than it tells us what the custom, the predictable pattern, the attitude of Jesus and His parents was. In fact, in verse 42 it tells us that they – that is Jesus and His parents, His family, went up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Passover “according to custom.” In other words, they did it every year. It was their way of life.

Let’s now consider why God chose the Passover for this one account in the early life of Jesus. Why not Pentecost, Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles? Well, I believe that God used the Passover as this one example because without the Passover all other holydays are meaningless. The Passover is the beginning point of ALL that is to come.

You see, without the Passover there is no beginning, for without the sacrifice of Christ there is no life! Without our acknowledgement and recognition of that fact, there would be only death!
The message is loud and clear, we have to begin with the Passover, 14 days after the beginning of each new year, as instructed in Lev. 23.

So, with this in mind, lets go back to the account in Luke and see what Jesus, our example, was doing after He kept the Passover.

As I have said, His parents found Him in the temple, a wonderful place to be - to be in the house of God - to be in the place where God dwells. They found Him sitting among the teachers, the doctors, and the elders of the church. Notice, He was sitting! That was a sign of respect and recognition of those who were older than him. That is good and right for a 12 year old to do, to sit before you stand, and to recognize your elders.

What was He doing? He was listening to them. Now, there is a lost art, something we do not teach in our schools, and all too often not even in our homes. Several weeks ago, I had occasion to listen to our Pastors wife address the ladies of the church and she said that when she goes to the temple – that is her bedroom, she kneels before God as a sign of respect and first of all allows God to speak to her by reading the Bible which requires listening. In other words, she first listens to God and then speaks and answers Him.

That is precisely the sequence, the lesson, Jesus is teaching us in this account.

Next, we find that He was asking them questions and they, the teachers, “and all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” (verse 47).

So, now let’s review what we have learned so far. And keep in mind that this account of the 12 year old Jesus was written for our admonition and for our learning as it tells us in 1 Cor. 10:11.

First of all we must begin with the Passover.

Secondly, we must be in the right place, in the temple, that is the church. We must be there at the right time – the holy days - the Sabbaths, and we must be in the right company – the ministry and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Third, we must show respect to those older and wiser and listen to them.

Fourth, we must ask questions which will give us good understanding, which then allows us to, hopefully, give good answers.

But, there is more. In verse 48 it tells us that His parents were astonished when they found Him in the temple and his mother said to him:

“Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.”

Here now in verse 49 we find the very first recorded words of Jesus in the Bible, when He answered His parents and said:

“How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my fathers house!”

Or, as it says in the King James:

“Did you not know that I must be about my fathers business!”“And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them” (vs. 50)

You see, His parents should have understood, considering the miracle of His birth, but they did not, just like your parents, your husbands, your wives, your children, your employers will not understand when you must be about your Father’s business and go to the Passover, Sabbath services or the Feast of Tabernacles.

But, as we see in verse 52, Jesus was obedient to His parents, as a 12 year old should be, and so “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

Now, from the account in Luke it would seem that this is the end of the story, but it isn’t – for I am convinced that Jesus continued quietly and persistently to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right company, to learn and be obedient to His parents and to grow in favor with God and man for the next 18 years.

Our life is very much a parallel to these 18 years in the life of Jesus.

This is not our public ministry. This is the time period to quietly learn and grow and prepare ourselves for the real work that is yet to come. Christ’s real work consisted of 3 1/2 years of public ministry, at the end of which He again found Himself in the Passover season. This time however to fulfill and complete the work His Father gave to Him, the work He came to do.

And so, in conclusion let us turn to John 19:30. We started with His first Passover at age 12 and here now we come to the very fulfillment of all the Passovers. Here, recorded for us are His very last words that become so very important for us today. Remember His first recorded words in Luke:

“Did you not know that I must be about my fathers business?”

And, here now, His very last recorded words in John 19:30, when He said:

“It is finished”

He completed what He came to do. He finished the Father’s business.

Yes, it is good and necessary to be at your first Passover, but brethren it is absolutely essential that we find ourselves at the next Passover and the next Passover until we come to our last Passover, to the point were WE can say with Christ, “It is finished.”

The Passover account of the 12 year old Jesus laid the foundation, it provided a beginning, and it supplied an example, but it is Christ AS OUR PASSOVER that makes it possible for us to say with Him: “It is finished.”

Not because of what we have done, but because we have believed in a childlike way, like little children do, in what He has done for us.

For that, let us praise God our Father and our elder Brother, Jesus the Christ.

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