And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them question. (Luke 2:46).
I desire you to pick your Bible and read Luke 2:41-52 afresh before you start hearing God from this article. I said read the passage afresh because I believe as an adolescent you know the story very well. But, reading that passage again will bring the Word afresh to you. God has made Jesus a Pattern for all the adolescents. It is only a wise adolescent that will see what God wants him to learn from Jesus. The life Jesus lived on earth is so challenging that once any adolescent imitates, Him that adolescent will surely be a great blessing to this awkward generation. Blessed be God who did not withhold the life of Jesus as an adolescent from us. In few verses God embedded great lessons for any adolescent who has eyes to see and ears to hear.
There is no other way to describe the life Jesus lived on earth as an adolescent than to say it is the greatest life. The word ‘greatest’ was used to compare Jesus with any other adolescent in the Scripture or in contemporary times. That word ‘greatness’ was used because it is overwhelming to see Him at twelve showing such great qualities of life. Also, I believe that if any adolescent becomes wise enough to imitate Jesus he/she will fulfill God’s purpose for his/her life in a greater dimension. Guaranteed!
If it pleases God, we hope to x-ray Jesus’ life as an adolescent in subsequent editions. What I intend to do under the leadership of the Holy Spirit is to open the discussion up and trust Him to bring the details later. It will run like a series. I counsel you to pray to God to help you to understand and then pattern your life with the example He will show you in Jesus Christ.
Jesus at 12 years
I deeply want to let all of you adolescents to know that it is not for story telling that the Holy Spirit brought the life of Jesus out in the public at twelve years. I would have asked you what you think about Jesus’ life before twelve years. How was His life at Nazareth? Since this is not our focus now; let me straightway tell you that at twelve years Jesus had started showing signs of where He was going in life. He had started making great teachers of the law and His parents to wonder at Him. I mean at twelve years.
Is it strange to you that those that heard Jesus at twelve were astonished? Is it strange to you that His parents were amazed where they saw Him? Surely, part of the things that amazed His Parents was that they found Him with teachers of the Law. Do you know why it took them three days to find Jesus in Jerusalem; it was simply because they were looking for Him at the wrong place. Wrong place? Yes! They least expected Jesus not to be among other adolescents of his age. I realized that some features psychologists thought should characterize the life of an adolescent were missing in the life of Jesus. What do you expect Jesus to be doing at twelve years? To be a play boy? Honestly, where Jesus was found at twelve showed us where every adolescent should be found at age twelve. I wish to ask some of you that are above twelve years, where did your parents usually find you when they were looking for you at that age? For some of you that are twelve years or will be twelve this year, can you see where you should regularly resort to? Can you see where you should be found if someone is looking for you? May God give you understanding, Amen.
At twelve, several adolescents want to be independent of their parents. They want to show they are no longer toddlers. They do not like to sit with their parents or be controlled in the public. Hence they sneak away to avoid their parents from seeing them. This was not the case with Jesus. He did not sneak from His parents to be independent. He joined them to finish the feast. It was when they had fulfilled the days that something happened. He wasn’t disobedient. When other adolescents who just came for the ceremony were going, His passion drove Him into the temple to listen to teachers of the law. He tarried behind in Jerusalem.
At 12: Jesus Showed a Quality of Life that Can Tarry and Wait on God
As we look at Jesus, the question that keeps coming up is can we get an adolescent like Jesus again. The first thing I saw about Jesus is that He didn’t just attend a ceremony like others. He was longing for something more and He waited until He got it. Those that came for ordinary ceremony had gone when the days were fulfilled. But because He came looking for more of God, He didn’t follow others to go. He withdrew and tarried until He got what He was looking for. The point here is that at twelve, Jesus had developed the inner strength to tarry and get what He was looking for. Today, you see so many adolescents longing for something yet they cannot hold on a little till they get it. God didn’t tell us how He fed, or took His bath for three days. The issue is that when you see a life that meant business, food would not be a matter. Where to sleep cannot be a matter. So when Jesus tarried all night waiting on God, He didn’t start that at age thirty, rather He began at twelve to show He could deny Himself comfort to catch something.
Today’s adolescents are looking for easy life and at the same time they are dreaming to be great people tomorrow, but for a little delay in church service, they complain. None has the tenacity to tarry until they get what they are looking for. In fact, almost all the adolescents are not looking for anything serious in relation to God. But Jesus had the strength to tarry behind when others who just came for ceremony had gone. I wish all the adolescents reading this article will stop attending church service, retreats, conferences and other Christian programmes as a mere ceremony where they mark time and days. I wish they will be going to Christian programmes seeking for divine encounters from; and they are ready to tarry until they get results of what they are looking for. What are you longing for in life? Are you ready to tarry for what your heart is longing for?
At 12: Jesus Showed Great Longing for the Word
Jesus was an exceptional adolescent. I try to imagine Jesus sitting in the midst of teachers of the law. My question is where were other adolescent that attended that feast? They must have gone where their interest was captured. Today, so many adolescents behave like little children. They cannot even sit among elders for a long time and receive instructions let alone listening to the Word of God. Jesus’ interest in the Word started even early before He became twelve. What He demonstrated at Jerusalem is the quality life He came with. It appears He has been longing to be in Jerusalem. I see so many adolescents between ages twelve to nineteen still full of childishness such that it appears no one can mature in understanding that age. This is because of wrong focus in life. Some of them are interested in video games, wrestling, football, sleeping fun, etc. None has interest in God’s Word.
Gather adolescents and teach the Word for about two hours nonstop and you will see a set of people with no interest in God’s Word. Jesus was not compelled to listen to the Word of God because He had interest in it. Once you are not interested in a thing, you cannot stay. Again, I wish to ask you adolescents, what are you interested in? What is catching your attention?
But, I must remind you that as an adolescent, you ought to have interest in God’s Word. Failure to get this, you will miss out in God’s purpose in life except there is divine intervention. What we read in Luke 2:52 (And Jesus grew in wisdom…) came as a result of this early interest in God’s Word. God’s Word causes a man to increase in wisdom. How I pray that God will cause you in mercy to have an overriding interest in God’s Word as a teenager.
How old are you? Twelve years? This is your right time to show great interest in God’s Word, and deliberately follow Jesus. Jesus’ interest in God’s Word was so strong that for three days He was still at it. In fact it appears that the parents interrupted Him. Can your interest be as strong as Jesus’ own? If you are up to fifteen years, time is already going. Soon, you will be twenty years and it will start getting more later. This is the right and best time. Are you finding it difficult running after God’s Word as a teenager? Cry out to God for help, He will touch your interest and direct it aright.
At 12: Jesus Understood and Engaged in His Father’s Business
We thank God that we have seen children who have known the Father at twelve. They have known Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Yet, there is something here that God is showing us through the life of Jesus, which is possible in the life of every adolescent. It has to do with KNOWING THE FATHER, UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE FATHER IS DOING AND ENGAGING IN WHAT THE FATHER IS DOING. Take a look at what Jesus replied in verse 49: He said, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father? (The Message). Oh! Could it be that Jesus expected them to know at this age where He should be? But the matter now is that He had known the Father at twelve. He had known what the Father is doing and He was at it. How many adolescents are seeking to know what God is doing? If any adolescent claims to know what God is doing, is the person engaging in that now? If God gives us space we still have to bring details of all these. The reason is that the best time to start to engage, in a preparatory, in what God is doing is at the adolescent stage. This time remains the best time.
We saw Jesus sitting down, listening and asking questions from people He will take over from in the coming days. He knew that the temple is critical to his life on earth. He needed the knowledge of God’s Word so much for the coming days. Where can we get this kind of adolescent again? But I want all the adolescents that read this to know that ‘with God all things are possible’.You must come to God in faith and trust Him do such a deep work in you.
At 12: Jesus Remained Submissive to His Parents
A man who will command authority tomorrow must learn to be under authority today. It does not matter what you know, or the kind of understanding you are operating with. What is important is following the way of the Lord. God wants all children to be subject to their parents. God put Jesus under His parents and He expected Him to be obedient and submissive to them. Jesus did that as an adolescent. In this end time when the spirit of disobedience is in charge, when strange spirits are turning adolescents into strange children, God’s standard has not changed.
One thing almost all adolescents complain is that their parents do not understand them. Jesus was not understood either, yet in the midst of that he submitted. Although He needed to keep learning from those teachers of the law, they wanted Him to go home. He went down with them. I didn’t see Jesus enter into dispute with them. Jesus possessed submissive spirit as an adolescent. Submission to authority is missing today because so many adolescent refused to look at Jesus. The most fearful thing is that majority of the adolescents have lost favour from God and men because they cannot submit to authority that God placed over them. What so many adolescents do not know is that each time they tactically snob authority over them, God who placed them under that authority will not be happy. The human authority also will not be happy. It is important to state that a growing life needs favour from the parents, teachers, elders and others in the society.
I believe God has challenged you to see what is expected of you to become. Except you have decided to be otherwise, God can make you to be like Jesus as an adolescent. There is nothing that God did in the life of Jesus that He cannot do in your life if you ask and believe Him for it. The most interesting thing is that God is willing to do great things through you. But if you allow the spirit of this age to carry you to the desert of this world, you will find yourself to blame. The only way to escape is to come to Jesus whom God has shown to us as example to follow. He has made a pattern to follow. Come to Him in Faith and a new thing will begin in your life. Let us pray.