The Obscure Years V

A very wide fence is thrown up around the boyhood days of Jesus in Nazareth.  In Luke 2:40 the Word simply says, "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him."   I suppose there are some who can take those few words and write volume after volume, but what I can discern is mostly what the heart hears and not what the mind knows.  Those early years for Jesus were surely much like the years of any child.    

Such an assumption can be made from the mysterious reality that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine.  The description of Him growing up seems to speak to His physical growth, His discerning spirit, and the way He experienced the blessings of the Father in heaven.  Much was expected of Him since He was the oldest son.  Not even the unusual circumstances of His birth would change this cultural reality.  The Temple story which finishes out the rest of the second chapter gives us insight into the spirit of Jesus which was already more attuned to the things of God than the ordinary pursuits of life.  At an early age He knew He was the son of Mary and Joseph, but also the son of the Most High.    

Those years of growing up in Nazareth were years which were surely shaped by His awareness of His story which was told to Him over and over again.  His parents were two godly people whose visible faith encouraged Him in His own search for the road which was unfolding before Him.  And, most importantly, the Spirit of all that was of God was growing in Him and finding not only a fertile heart, but a desire to do nothing more than to be obedient to whatever God had planned for His life.  Nazareth was then the place of beginning which would lead finally to the cross, the empty tomb, and eternity.