Alone on Your Own

Alone on Your Own

Sexagesima

2 Timothy 4:9-16 (ESV)  9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sometimes we feel like Greta Garbo, “I vant to be alone.” But, there are times, when we need company and support but have none. We are alone and on our own.

1. Paul Alone

The letter we call Second Timothy, or, if you’re Donald Trump or British, Two Timothy is the last letter Paul wrote that is included in our Bibles. He was in Rome, a prisoner for the second time. While his first Roman imprisonment and trial resulted in his release, he did not expect it would go well this time. He wrote to Timothy, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.”

He had had a preliminary hearing. He had not yet gone to trial, but he expected when trial took place he would be condemned. He very much wanted to see his son in the faith and trusted assistant Timothy one more time, so he urged Timothy, “Do your best to come to me soon...Do your best to come before winter.”

He explained to Timothy that he was very much alone. Various of his partners in ministry had gone to places where their ministries were needed. He says, “Luke alone is with me.” Luke was the physician who had traveled with Paul and who would write two books, one his Gospel account of Jesus and the other his account of the Apostles called Acts.

There is a mystery here. There was a church in Rome which had received the letter that is the  greatest theological exposition in the New Testament. Where were the members of that church? Why were they not ministering to Paul in his need? We don’t know. Perhaps it was because of persecution in Rome.

Then there is a sad story here. One of Paul’s partners in ministry had not gone to another place to build up the church, but “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Demas who had been with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment loved this present world more than the kingdom of Christ and the world to come. How painful it must have been to Paul that Demas had left Paul in a time of great need and had turned away from Christ and the Gospel.

We might be surprised to find a man such as Paul feeling so vulnerable and expressing so poignantly his feelings of abandonment and loneliness. He was a profound theologian, and he was a strong leader. But his theological depth and strength of personality did not immunize him from the need for friendship and companionship or from feelings of human loss and loneliness. He was open about his emotional life as when he expressed the feelings of hurt the Corinthian church inflicted on him or the all but inconsolable grief he would have felt had his friend Epaphroditus died of an illness.

Paul had felt most alone and on his own at the time of his first the hearing. “At my first defence, no one came to stand by me but all deserted me.” It’s hard to imagine a more difficult situation than being on trial for his life and having no one at all to stand beside him but rather knowing that they had abandoned him. Where was Luke? Perhaps he had been sent or called away for ministry. We don’t know. We have to think he would have been there if he could, but we also know that Paul felt there were those who could have been and should have been with him but weren’t.

Yet Paul was not bitter. He believed that there there were Christian brothers who should have been in court with him. They weren’t, and that was a failure of Christian duty. But Paul prays as Jesus and as Stephen the Martyr prayed before him, “May it not be charged against them!”  

Paul was neither the first nor the last to go through being alone and on his own. There was Joseph in the pit where his brothers threw him, then alone in the strange world of Egypt, and then thrown into prison because he would not give in to the temptations of a wicked and selfish woman. There was Elijah the lone prophet of the Lord facing the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. There was Daniel thrown into the lion's’ den because he dared pray to the LORD.

But preeminently there was our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane as he asked his three closest disciples to watch and pray with him in his hour of distress but found them each time falling asleep. And, when he was arrested, all of them forsook him and fled. And,  when Peter made his way to the courtyard outside the place where Jesus was being tried, Peter three times denied he know the Savior. No one has ever been more alone and on his own than the Lord Jesus, when his disciples left him alone, and most of all, when on the cross he bore our sins and was abandoned by the Father as he bore the penalty of our sins.

There are times when we may feel most alone and on our own…

...when you are in the MRI machine and listening to that jackhammer sound

...when on Friday afternoon you get called in and told you are being laid off

...when you come home to find that your husband or wife has left you

...when you come home to the empty house after burying the person you loved most

...when you are in the depths of depression and no one understands or can help

...when the person you thought would never abandon you or give up on you does

...when you are where no one can accompany you, walking through those last steps of the valley of shadow of death

There may be times when we all will feel alone and on our own either because no one can or no one will go with us where we must go. We as Christians bound by the bonds of love and should consider it a sacred privilege to stand by and with one another and to give comfort and support when fellow believers walk through the lonesome and dark valleys of life.

2. Paul Not Alone

Though Paul found himself alone and on his own when he went to court, he found he was not altogether alone. “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.” He had a friend in court who stood with him to comfort him, support him, and give him courage. The Lord is the Lord Jesus who, when he gave the church the commission to go and make disciples, had promised, “I am with you always.” Paul had found this to be true. When he earnestly prayed that something he called “a thorn in my flesh” would be removed, the Lord did not remove the thorn but said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” During his first imprisonment in Rome he wrote to the Philippians, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” He found in this experience of having ni human help that the Lord was with him.

He is with us, too. Our subjective experience - our feelings - may vary. But we have the promise. “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and so we take that by faith. David wrote, “Even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up.” We may feel alone, but we are not alone for the Lord is with us. We may feel we are without help, but we have a helper at our side.

The strength the Lord gave to Paul helped him to give witness to his faith in Jesus as Messiah, Savior, and Lord - to tell how though he had been a violent persecutor of the church and enemy of Christ, he had nevertheless found mercy from Christ Jesus who came into the world to save sinners, even Paul, and  how Christ had put him into service as an Apostle to Gentiles, and given him the privilege of preaching Christ’s grace and mercy. So when Paul might have shrunk in fear because he was alone and on his own in court, because the Lord was with him, he could proclaim the message of Christ in the Roman capital in a Roman court.

When he went into court that day, he felt as though he was putting his head in a lion’s mouth. But, the lion had not bitten his head off, because the Lord rescued him, as he had rescued Daniel before him. So, for then, his life was spared.

But he knew that was temporary. All our physical deliverances are temporary. I sometimes feel like as we age we spend more and more of our time dodging bullets, but we know as Paul did that sooner or later there will be a fatal bullet. For Paul that came in condemnation by a Roman court and execution by a Roman sword.

But Paul is confident that will not be the end. “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. The Lord will not let the evil man does, nor the curse of sin, not even death death, inflict ultimate harm on Paul. The Lord will bring him safely through death, safely into the heavenly kingdom. Paul had earlier written that to depart his life is to be with Christ, that to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. We will safely pass through death and into the presence of our Savior. There, with him resting from our earthly labors we will await the glorious day of resurrection.  

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

With such confidence we can say as Paul did, “To him be the glory forever and forever. Amen.”

The Christian Life: Short Form

The Christian Life: Short Form

Second after Epiphany

Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, who does govern all things in heaven and earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epistle: Romans 12:6-16

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;

8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Homily Text: Romans 12:9-16

You want to bake a cake? Set out butter and eggs. Locate the cake pans. Get out the mixer, mixing bowls, and spatula. Preheat the oven. Find the flour, sugar, baking powder. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s the short form for cake baking.

In verses 9 through 16 of Romans 12, St. Paul gives us the Christian life in short form. I have gathered his 12 exhortations under 5 general subjects.

1. Hate Evil

The Bible teaches that there is good and evil. God is good and everything that pleases him is good. Everything that is opposed to God and displeases him is evil. God tells us what the distinction between good and evil means for our lives. The 10 Commandments tell us that worshiping other gods, murder, adultery, theft, and lying are evil, while worshiping him and respecting life, marriage, property, and truth are good.  

St. Paul tells us that as Christians we should abhor or hate what is evil. Christians loathe and despise evil. Rather we cleave or cling to what is good. When God established marriage he said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.” God’s expectation is that we leave behind our parents and draw near to and hold onto one another. Christians turn away from what is evil and they take close and tight hold of what is good.

We do this in our personal lives.  Our Lord warned us not to try to take the splinter out of another’s eye while ignoring the log in our own. Our first concern is to recognize and reject the evil in ourselves and hold tenaciously to what God approves.

We also have a responsibility in the life of the church. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, who were tolerating gross immorality in the church, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump…” (1 Cor. 5:6, 7).

We need discernment as we live in the world. We must be aware that the world will often call evil good and good evil. St. Paul charged us to “Walk as children of the light...and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them” (Eph. 5:8b, 10, 11).  

2. Serve the Lord

How do we see our relationship with the Lord?

We believe in reverence and order in worship. We have a Prayer Book; we take it seriously; we follow it exactly. We color inside the lines. These are good things.

In the Christian life we are careful about what used to be called “enthusiasm.” We don’t trust temporary feelings. We don’t attribute momentary impulses to the Holy Spirit. We know such things can mislead. We test everything by the truth of Scripture.

But, here’s the danger: we may try to manage our whole relationship with the Lord to keep ourselves comfortable. We fear being moved too strongly by the Scriptures, prayers, preaching, or taking the Sacrament. We keep our service to the Lord “reasonable” so that we keep it in a limited compartment of our lives. Our goal is moderation. The result can be that our Christian lives and service are neither cold nor hot - like the Laodiceans whom our Lord threatened to spew out of mouth.

Paul tells us not to be slothful or lazy in zeal, but rather to be fervent in spirit, and to serve the Lord.  

3. Handle Trouble

Trouble is an inescapable part of life.

Christians experience troubles that are common to all in a fallen world - loss, disappointments, sickness, grief, death. Christians experience troubles when God sends trials to purify and strengthen their faith, to help them learn to depend more on his grace and find it sufficient. Christians experience troubles because of the world’s opposition to Christ. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” When Paul revisited the Gentile churches he had established on his first trip as a missionary, he told them “that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven.”

How do Christians handle troubles?

They rejoice in hope. St. Paul wrote in chapter 5: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” In the New Testament hope is not a wish.  It’s something you don’t have yet, but there is no doubt you will. Certain hope produces the joy of anticipation. We hope for the glory of God that will be revealed when Christ comes and raises our bodies to make them like his glorious body.

This hope enables us to persevere in tribulations. When you have no hope, you give up. But if you have hope, you can endure with patience tribulations. Christians keep going because we know our troubles are light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that God is preparing for us.

Christians who have hope are constant in prayer. Persistent tribulations do not make us give up hope or grow bitter. Rather we pray knowing that we have a loving heavenly Father, Christ who understands and intercedes, and the Holy Spirit who strengthens us and keeps alive our hope of glory.

4. Bless Persecutors

Jesus prepared the Apostles for the future telling them that the world would treat them as it treated him. “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” Paul told Timothy, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

There has been persecution of Christians from the first century till today. North Korea, where 70,000 Christians are in labor camps, is the most difficult place in the world to be Christian today. Just behind North Korea is Iraq where Christianity is all but extinguished. We are spared such suffering, but who knows if it will always be so?

The question is, “How are Christians supposed to respond to their persecutors?” “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Paul is reflecting the words of Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” This is the way Jesus conducted himself: “when he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

5. Love the Brothers

St. Paul’s great concern that he threads throughout this section is our relationships with each other as believers. The one word that summarizes the whole is “love.” Elsewhere he tells us that love is the perfect bond of unity and that, if we lack love, we are nothing. He tells us these 6  things that should characterize our love.

Genuine. In Greek drama actors played their roles behind masks. The real person was behind the mask of the character. We must not pretend love while having in our hearts malice toward one another. St Peter calls us to a “sincere brotherly love” so that we “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”

Brotherly. There is something wrong when siblings do not love each other, because it is natural for those who share the same blood to love one another. Brothers may have disagreements and occasional estrangement, but brotherly love overcomes and restores the relationship. The church is a family. We are brothers and sisters who love one another, don’t allow disagreements to divide us, and who, when the chips are down, will be there for one another.

Humble. I went to a high school reunion quite a few years ago, and I found that the same pecking order still existed. Insiders were still insiders; outsiders were still outsiders. In the church, we can be concerned more with being honored than giving honor. We may be impressed with our own importance and consider others not important enough to receive our attention. We can get puffed up about how much we know and how wise we are. So Paul tells us:  “Outdo one another in showing honor… Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

Practical. A test of love is what we do when the person we love is in need. Talk can be cheap. Paul charges us: “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” St John warns us: “...if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Empathetic. How do we feel when another person rejoices? He gets job promotion; she receives an inheritance; they go on a dream vacation. We can feel jealousy and envy. We can begrudge them and think, “I wish it were me rather than him.” Paul says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” How do we feel when another person is distressed and sad. He loses his job; her husband dies; he gets diagnosed with a life-threatening disease; she has a clinical depression. We can isolate and insulate ourselves from the suffering of others. We’ve got enough to feel bad about ourselves without getting entangled in someone else’s sorrows. But Paul says, “Weep with those who weep.”

Harmonious. Paul says literally, “Think the same thing” or “Be of the same mind.” He is not calling us to total conformity in the way we think about everything. You may have a certain opinion about an issue before the national, state, county, or city government and the person next to you the opposite opinion. We can disagree about such things. What is important is that we are of one mind about Christ and the Gospel and that we do not allow our differences outside the life of the church to disturb our harmony.

When we come to our Lord’s Table, he says to us, “You are my people. I have redeemed you with my body and blood. Here I give you all the benefits of my death.” And we respond, “Lord, you have bought us, and we are yours. Strengthen our faith and give us grace to live like Christians.”

Mild, Obedient, Good as He?

Mild, Obedient, Good as He?

First after Epiphany

Collect: O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of they people who call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to do the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: St. Luke 2:41-52

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 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 questions.

47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

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.

Every year the Festival of Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge begins with “Once in Royal David’s City,” by children’s hymnwriter, Cecil Frances Alexander. Two lines teach that “Christian children all must be mild, obedient, good as he.” Charles Wesley also wrote a children’s hymn that addresses our Lord as “gentle Jesus, meek and mild.”

I have a question. Was Jesus mild?

1. Jesus at Jerusalem

1.1. The Old Testament Law commanded that Jewish males appear before the Lord in Jerusalem: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths” (Deuteronomy 16:16). Joseph went every year to Passover, the celebration of God’s working salvation for Israel by delivering them from slavery in Egypt.

1.2. Women were not required, though not forbidden to attend. Mary accompanied Joseph every year. The one way trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem was about 62 miles and took about 3 days. People often travelled to and from Jerusalem in caravans.

1.3. Jesus may have gone with his parents every year, but St. Luke tells us about his going with them when he was 12 years old. The next year he would turn 13, the year when he would no longer be a boy, but a “son of commandment,” a full member of the synagogue. Parents were encouraged to take their sons to Jerusalem, at least once before he turned 13, as part of his preparation for assuming the religious privileges and responsibilities of an adult male member of the synagogue.

1.4. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus took seriously the life of faith, which involved both the heart attitude and the practice Old Testament worship. We might summarize this for us as, “Love God; go to church.” It is not enough to go to church, to participate in public worship, and to engage in devotional practices at home, if we do not in our hearts love God. On the other hand, it will not do to love God but not to engage in worship and the practice of our faith. A husband cannot choose between loving his wife and taking out the garbage. He must do both. So in practice of our faith we need both the devotion of our hearts and the practice of our faith, especially in worship.

2. Jesus at the Temple

2.1 The Festival Jesus and his parents attended lasted 8 days, the Day of Passover and the following 7 days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When that year’s visit was over, Joseph and Mary started out on the trip home. They had traveled a day and were one third of the way home, when they realized Jesus was missing.

In the 80s we served a small congregation with a number of young families and a great many kids. One family had 6 children, so each Sunday they came to church in 2 cars. One Sunday they arrived back home to find that the youngest, a toddler, was missing. Each thought the other had him. When they went back to the church to look for him, they found him happily playing in the sugar bowl from the coffee table.

Something like that must have happened when Jesus went missing. Joseph and Mary may have assumed he was with another family who had a son about his age. Or, since sometimes at least, men and women traveled in separate groups, each may have thought Jesus was with the other parent.

Whatever the reason, they could not find Jesus among the travelers. Once they concluded he really was missing, they had no choice but to turn back and try to find him. By the time they found Jesus it had been three days since they last saw him - one day of travel to Nazareth, one day of return to Jerusalem, and one day of search.

2.2. Where was Jesus? He had intentionally stayed in Jerusalem, and, when they found him, he was in the Temple, sitting among a group of teachers or Bible scholars. They were asking him questions, he was giving answers, and he was asking them follow-up questions. Jesus at 12 was taking the opportunity to learn from them.

One method of teaching was that teachers asked questions and the learner answered. One valuable method of teaching that has fallen by the wayside is catechism, a series of questions with written answers that a learner memorizes. I have never forgotten the question, “What is the chief end of man?” and the answer, “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

But the teaching method going on with Jesus was more like a discussion. Teachers would pose problems in the form of questions, and the student would give an answer reasoning from the Scriptures, then the student could ask more questions to get more understanding. The teachers and others who listened were amazed at his understanding revealed by the answers he gave to their questions. They found unusual the breadth of his knowledge, the depth of his understanding, and the clarity of his answers.

2.3. However, Mary and Joseph were astonished - that he had remained in Jerusalem, that he was in the Temple talking with the scholars, and that he seemed to think all this was normal and reasonable. Mary was not happy. She said, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” Mary was upset. If you have ever had a child wander away, you know how frantic you feel until you find him. And then, when you find him, you scold him for what he put you through. You can understand Mary’s feelings and words.

2.4. Jesus’ answer shows he thinks they should not have been surprised: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”  (The word translated “business” in the KJV is likely better translated “house.”)

Jesus’ answer reveals his priority. His most important commitment was to his Father - not his step-father, Joseph, but his Father in heaven. This is his Father’s house, and his Father’s house is what is most important to him. Even though he is only 12 years old, the Father’s house takes precedence over everything, including his mother and Joseph. Nothing is more important for him than being in the building devoted to his Father and growing in knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.

Jesus also reveals his early grasp of who he is. God the Father is “my Father.”  Even now he begins to understand that his relationship with God is unique. God is his Father in a way that he is not anyone else’s father. Perhaps this had become clearer to him as he had discussed Scriptures with the teachers. Jesus, knowing that he is the Son of God the Father, puts his Father’s interests above all things and must be in his Father’s house.

Why are they surprised? Did they not understand? Did they not know that he had to be here in his Father’s house? No, they did not understand. Though they knew the miraculous circumstances of his birth, had been visited by amazed shepherds, had heard the prophecy of old Simeon, and had been found by worshiping wise men, they did not yet understand who their Son was and why he must be in his Father’s house.

Was Jesus mild? Yes, in the sense that he was not harsh. But he was not mild in the sense of being diffident and weak. He had a strong and confident personality, even at a young age, something that would be expressed many times in his ministry, not the least on two occasions when he cleansed the house of his Father from those who corrupted its worship.

3. Jesus at Home

After this, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went back home to Nazareth. There he submitted himself to them. It is likely that, after listening to his mother that day, he had a clearer grasp of what it meant to honor his father and mother. This was part of his humbling himself and being obedient to the will of his Father in heaven and to the will of his earthly parents. Jesus is the Son of God. He understands this more clearly than before he went to Jerusalem. Nevertheless he voluntarily submits himself as a child to his parents. Mrs. Alexander was right to teach children to sing that “Christian children all should be …obedient...as he.”

Mary did not understand these things, but she did not forget them. She thought about and treasured all the wonderful things about this boy who was her Son but also the Son of God.

3.2. Through the rest of his childhood Jesus grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God and man. We might wonder why Jesus asked questions of the Bible scholars and why he grew in wisdom. If he was the Son of God didn’t he know everything and have perfect knowledge and wisdom?

There are two big mistakes about Jesus. One is not to affirm that he was and is fully God. That’s the mistake of liberal Christianity. The other mistake is not to understand and affirm his full humanity. That’s a mistake made by some conservative Christians who are anxious not to compromise his Deity. But the truth of his full humanity is very important for us. He nursed at his mother’s breast. She changed his diaper. He grew in knowledge and wisdom. He experienced hunger, thirst, and weariness. He wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. Jesus is God, with unlimited power to save. But he is also man with unlimited understanding of our weaknesses and sufferings.

Mrs. Alexander got what that means for children:

For he is our childhood's pattern;

Day by day, like us He grew;

He was little, weak and helpless,

Tears and smiles like us He knew;

And He feeleth for our sadness,

And He shareth in our gladness.

We adults need that, too.