T(r)oy's Marbles

But before we do this, I would like to make one small clarification: By saying Jesus was always fully aware of his divinity, I in no way mean to give the impression that Jesus didn’t change and grow as a normal human would. This does, of course, include his mental capacity. Luke 2:52 tells us that Jesus “grew in wisdom”. I take this to mean that, though Jesus was always fully aware of his divinity, his understanding of himself grew over time in the same way that my daughter’s understanding of herself is growing with each passing year. In other words, when Jesus was six, he understood his full divinity as a six-year-old would. When he was 10, he understood himself as a ten-year-old would. This is important to keep in mind as we look at the first text of Scripture that addresses Jesus’ awareness of his full divinity.

Read Luke 2:41-52 carefully now. You should know that this is a story about Jesus when he was just a boy.

41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

A couple things about this passage:

1. Notice that in verse 46 we are told that Jesus was “asking them questions.” Have you ever noticed how Jesus uses questions to teach? Sometimes people will ask him a question and he will answer with a question! I’m convinced this is one way Jesus was showing himself divine.

Think about it: in the book of Job, when God wanted to show Job and everyone else that he was indeed God, what did he do? He asked a load of questions! This could be one reason why it is written about Jesus that He taught in a new way: with authority (see Mark 1:27). I’m convinced that when this story tells us “Jesus was asking them questions”, it shows him assuming his authority through his unique interrogative teaching method that He would continue to use as a full grown adult.

In other words, it is quite probable that when the text in Luke 2 tells us Jesus was asking the religious leaders questions as a boy that he may have, in fact, been “grilling them” with some “thought-stoppers” like only God could do. Usually, by the way, we picture this scene as Jesus learning from them and showing respect to the adults--and “getting along” quite nicely with them--but perhaps it was the other way around: perhaps they were learning from him! I think this is the case here and I think this is one indicator that Jesus was aware of his divinity. Verse 49 confirms that he thought this explicitly at the age of 12…

2. Verse 49…”Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Here Jesus demonstrates an understanding from a very early age what he confirms later on in life: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) Here, as a boy, he affirms his unique relationship with the Father.

3. Some people might say to that: “How do you know he was saying that? Perhaps he meant something else by that.” That’s where verse 50 comes in. After Jesus asks this extraordinary question (notice: another question!), Luke records their response: “But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” This response (dumbfounded-ness) dates all the way back to the time of Job as we have already noted. When God asks a question, humans can’t understand the answer hidden underneath it! This also echoes what John says about Jesus in John 1:10- “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” You can find numerous instances of this throughout the gospels. One such instance is found in verses 47-48 in our Luke 2 passage: “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

At first glance this so-called “amazement” appears to be something good, but other texts show that this “amazement” was not so much “Wow! Good job!”; it was more like: “Who does this kid think he is, anyway?”

By the way, normally we think of this text in the first light, not in the second light. But the text goes on to confirm that the sense of it is more “incredulity” than “positive amazement.” Look at verse 48: “When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this?’” These are words of chastisement. Jesus’ parents expressed “amazement” and “astonishment” the same way the religious leaders did, “Who does this kid think he is?” Well…Jesus put them straight: “I’m God.” And he did this as a boy.

Later, in Luke 4, when Jesus commences his ministry as an adult, this scene from Luke 2 is mirrored. In Luke 4:16-30 we read:

16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn't this Joseph's son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”
24 “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed–only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Here in Luke 4 we see Jesus in the synagogue (in Luke 2, he was in the temple in Jerusalem). Jesus does a similar thing: He claims outright to be God when He refers to Himself as fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. Then we see a similar wording in Luke 4 to the scene in Luke 2. Luke 4 records how they responded after He made this claim: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.”

Again, you need to understand the culture: they were “amazed” in the sense that they were asking “Who does this guy think he is?” That’s why they ask, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?" Jesus is offended by this. (When you first read this text you wonder why Jesus is attacking them when they just got done “speaking well” of him. It’s because they weren’t “speaking well” of him in the sense that we mean: they were being sarcastic…).

So, Jesus chastises them for their lack of belief (4:23-27). This made them mad: verse 28 says that everyone was “furious” when they heard this. “They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.” (verse 29) Weird scene, huh? At the beginning they “spoke well of him” and at the end they are about ready to kill him! Those two don’t seem to go together, but that’s because we don’t properly understand what Luke means when he says “they spoke well of him.” What he means is the same as what he meant earlier in Luke 2: they were amazed—in a negative kind of way…

Interesting, huh? Jesus is not only rejected at the temple in Jerusalem (which is to be expected I guess, since he was just a kid and they were the chief thinkers for all of Israel), but he is also rejected in a little town called Nazareth, while visiting a small synagogue as a full grown adult! Luke 2 (the scene when Jesus is a boy) and Luke 4 (the parallel scene when Jesus is an adult) stand close to each other in Luke’s narrative for a reason. Luke is trying to tell us: this Jesus is the real deal. He’s fully God and He has always been aware of that fact.

By the way, did you note this significant fact in Luke 2: Jesus is 12 years old. That’s pretty darn close to the time in his life when, as a good Jewish boy, he is expected to affirm his Jewish identity and belief. At this pivotal time in his life, Jesus is not saying “I believe in God” (like a good Jewish boy is expected to do); rather, He’s saying “I am God.” Then, Luke 4 is significant because it’s the first time we see that Jesus is given the opportunity to read the scroll and teach in the synagogue. This was probably when he was 30, another key year in a Jewish man’s life—he’s given more privileges, more responsibility. Now that he’s 30 he gets to wear the hat of “teacher.” And what does Jesus do with this opportunity? He uses it to preach the shortest sermon ever. He simply claims to be God and challenges people to “get on the Jesus boat”, or get left behind! Amazing!

So, to answer your question: Jesus claims to be God even as a boy. He did not grow into his awareness of his divinity when he became older.

But, if this is true, then why isn’t there more recorded about Jesus’ claims and activities when He was a kid? There are several answers to this, but we will look at that in another letter, okay?

Until tomorrow.

Your friend,
Troy