"And the child grew and became strong, he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." -- Luke 2:40

Most of what we hear or read of this passage concerns the positive climate of Jesus' nurturing and the wonder of his wisdom.

Ok, fine.

However, I suspect that the boyhood of Jesus wasn't too different from that of his peers. No doubt he knew of the miracle of his birth and perhaps he had an early sense of mission. Surely these things set him apart from the usual frivolity of childhood and mindless adolescence . .

Or did they?

The writer of Hebrews has given us a passage with which interpreters have had a field day:

"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered." -- Hebrews 5:8

Many refer this to the agony of the garden. The "obedience" he "learned" would then be the obedience of the cross. Very theological. Although there is some contextual support for this view, it seems clear the translators did not understand it in this way. If they had, one would think they would have capitalized the word, "son," since it refers to his Sonship with the Father. However, none did. In addition, the wording of the statement seems forced with this interpretation. The inference is clear that suffering taught him obedience! To my simple mind, this does not easily fit the sad scene that was Gethsemane.

If the passage cannot be confined to the obedience to the cross, its larger parameters can mean only that he "suffered" in learning obedience to his parents.

Then with a smile we note that "the grace of God was upon him."

He, like most kids, needed it.

Now we must be sensitive here or our imaginations can run amok. We may be uncomfortable with the thought of Joseph giving Jesus a swat on the butt for carelessness with an adze.¹ (Perhaps the young Jesus was uncomfortable with it, too.) But does it stretch the imagination too much to see Mary saying to him the rough equivalent of, "I've told you a hundred times to clean up your room!?"

Doubtless, when the boy Jesus made mistakes, he suffered the natural consequences the same as anyone else. That he always did not live up to parental expectations is clear when he was lost from them for three days.

Now tell me, how would you feel if you lost your twelve-year-old for that long?

My youngest daughter was forever getting lost. Once at two years, she was left asleep in her playpen for a few minutes and when I returned to check on her she had disappeared! She managed to crawl out of the playpen. Apparently, it entered her adventerous head to explore the world. She walked from the bungalow in the back of her grandparent's home out to the street. Then she trundled down the street half a block to a busy boulevard. Not satisfied, she made her way along the boulevard to the next street, into the neighborhood liquor store. She was finally discovered by her frantic father being escorted by a kindly gentleman from house to house trying to find someone to claim her.

Next time was on the beach. While her mother was sunning with friends, and her dad was frolicking in the surf, this three-year-old girl-child decided to stroll. When we realized she was gone, we frantically informed the lifeguard station. A woman discovered her crying alone more than a mile away and advised the lifeguard.

Another time the family was visiting the church school during a weekday. We turned around and our little girl had disappeared once again. The police were called. In about ten minutes a black and white cruiser pulled into the church parking lot, my daughter standing on the front seat (before seat-belt laws) eating an ice cream cone. The officer had found her walking casually down the on-ramp to the San Diego Freeway! While she was away on each of these escapades, her parents imagined a thousand outcomes to her disappearance -- all of them terrifying.

The girl was curious. Curiosity is supposed to be a sign of intelligence. Not to say that her siblings were not every bit as intelligent, but the child's curiousity gave her parents nightmares.

Can you imagine Joseph and Mary's anxiety as it turned dark each evening? Was he lost in the wilderness of Judea? Was he lying broken and bleeding in some ditch, the victim of robbers or thieves? Kidnaped into Roman slavery? What?

As it turned out, in not-too-untypical-fashion for a youngster of this age, he had deliberately absented himself. Like millions of other kids he knew his actions would upset his parents. Apparently this did not concern him because he did it anyway.

After the initial relief of finding him unharmed, his Jewish mother scolded in Jewish mother language, "Why have you treated us like this?" Can't we hear Joseph saying (not too gently) to his son as they leave the temple, "Father's house or not, if you ever pull this stunt again boy, you won't be able to sit down for a week!?"

This is the only hint of the life of Jesus prior to his ministry. Why this event? Is it supposed to tell us that the early life of our Lord was not too different from our own? ...and, well, let's just leave it at that.

We note with affection (and some relief) that "the grace of God was upon him."

Turns out the the grace of God was certainly with my daughter, as with her brother and sister. So the next time you find yourself crying on the beach, or the next time you know you have disobeyed, remember this grace. Wherever you go. Whatever you do. It is with you as much as the color of your eyes.

-- PDM

¹ An ax-like tool for trimming and smoothing wood, with a curved blade at right angles to the handle.

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