“TEEN JESUS!”

Me-Maw Thoughts

Number 714

December 17, 2024///

A while back I answered the phone at our church and the young man on the other end asked me a question I had never thought about.

He wanted to know what Jesus was like as a teenager!

I have wondered and posed the question before of when Jesus knew He was the Son of God on earth to save us from our sins! Was it in the manger, was it at two when the wise men gave Him gifts or was it as a little boy with Joseph in the carpenter shop as he worked with wood and realized He would create something wonderful of each of us just as he was learning to do with the wood!

I wonder! But if you are familiar with the story, you know the only thing we know from the visit of the wise men until Jesus was twelve is what we are told in the statement found in Luke 2.

Luke 2:40 (KJV)

 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

May we confess that same thing over our children that they are growing in spirit, filled with wisdom, and have the grace of God on them!

We know at age twelve Jesus knew who He was and who His Father was.

At twelve the word tells us Jesus was in Jerusalem with His family and after learning from and asking questions of the religious leaders, we find that His parents had been looking for Him.

When finding Him and expressing their concern that He had separated from their travel group, Jesus declared that “He must be about His Fathers (Gods) business.”

However, He knew that the time was not yet, so He went home with His parents and the word tells us again in Luke 2 what transpired between age twelve and age thirty as He appears when John is baptizing in the Jordan.

Luke 2:51–52 (KJV)

⁵¹ And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

But what was Jesus like as a teenager?

We know from the verses I just listed that He grew in Body (stature), Wisdom from His Father in heaven, and favor with those around Him!

We know because Jesus was perfect in every way that He did not talk back to His parents or rebel against them. He was not mean to his siblings or play tricks on the neighbors.

As they worked in the carpenter shop, maybe He and Joseph talked about His miraculous birth and Josephs visits from the angel with direction for the earthly parents of the Word made flesh come to us one silent night!

I wonder!

Did the teenage Jesus who was both divine and human have acne or win every game He played, or teach his siblings the things He was learning from His heavenly Father?

I wonder!

As he walked in the woods communing with God the Father, did he look at the trees and think about the fact that on a tree He would be crucified by the will of the religious leaders of His day who should have been open to the Messiah!

I wonder!

What we do know is that He was open to learning. He let wisdom from God fill Him and He was kind and loved by others.

We know that He waited until God’s timing to step forth into His destiny!

I encourage us to take lessons from this. We should grow in wisdom, respect and favor with God and man. We show know the timing of the next step of faith we are to take.

Just as Jesus received His instruction from his heavenly and earthly fathers, we should also learn from God and from others!

I wonder: what was Jesus like as a teenager?

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Father, thank you for this season when we can stop and celebrate the bundle of Love you sent to earth, that grew to bear our past, present and future sins and rise in victory. Because Jesus is victorious, we are victorious! Thank you for Love so amazing! In Jesus name I pray! Amen!

Do you wonder?
Love, MeMaw!