Devotionals

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Journey of the Shepherd
Maturing Faith
By John W. McBryde

Most journeys have a starting point and an ending. Our shepherd’s journey has no beginning or ending. The shepherd of this devotion is Jesus of the New Testament—the Savior of all mankind.

A logical place to begin Jesus’ journey would be at His birth in Bethlehem; however, let’s fast forward several years when Jesus was twelve years of age. At the age of twelve, Jesus’ parents took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

Jesus and His parents had been in Jerusalem for seven days. After the Feast Days concluded, Mary, Joseph and their party began the long journey home to Nazareth. Thinking Jesus was among their group, they did not worry about Jesus until He was suddenly missed. They had already been on the road one day. From Nazareth to Jerusalem was approximately a seventy mile trip.

When Jesus was finally missed His parents immediately returned to Jerusalem. Arriving back in Jerusalem Jesus’ parents spent three days searching for Him. Jesus was in the Temple “…sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and asking them questions (Lk.2:46).”

Jesus’ natural inclinations drew Him to the Temple where He was fascinated by the things of His Heavenly Father—Yahweh. For three days He questioned the teachers of the Temple concerning the Jewish faith and the Mosaic Law. For three days these same teachers stood in amazement by the answers Jesus gave to their questions. Even though it is not stated in scripture one can suppose from reading Luke’s account of Jesus in the Temple Jesus had a grasp on the things of God at an early age. Why shouldn’t he? Jesus came from the right hand of the Heavenly Father.

John describes Jesus in John 1:1 as the “word”. He wrote of Jesus “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” “Word” is translated from the Greek word “Logos” which means “a thought or concept or the expression or utterance of that thought”. “Logos” became a designation for Jesus in the Gospels.

Jesus had a very unique relationship with both man and God. He was Yeshua, the Son of God who divested Himself of His heavenly existence to take on a human form being born into the world of man. He was spiritual but also a physical being. Jesus came, lived among us and eventually returned to Heaven after allowing Himself to go through death on the cross—an agonizing death He could have called a halt to at any time.

Roman and Greek gods supposedly could also move between the spiritual realm and humanity; however, they were only one dimensional and mythological. Jesus was multi-dimensional. In fact, He was triune (i.e. Father, Son and Holy Spirit). As a boy Jesus was very knowledgeable of His Heavenly Father because He came from heaven to dwell among us. He became Immanuel—God with us.

Finding Jesus, Mary and Joseph were very concerned just as most parents would be if their child was missing three or four days. Mary asked Jesus “Son why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxious searching for you (Lk. 2:48 NIV).”

Jesus replied to His mother “Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” The center of the Jewish faith was the Temple, a place where Jesus was very much at home. In a sense, Jesus, at the age of twelve, began His ministry in the Temple.

Notice in the above scripture the title “Father” is capitalized. In verse 48 the term “Father” is not capitalized. Luke made a distinction between Jesus’ earthly father and His heavenly Father by capitalizing the “Father” in the Scripture “…be about my Father’s business?” to refer to God. Jesus let it be known He had a heavenly Father besides an earthly Father.

Jesus did not look down on His earthly parents. Luke tells us Jesus went home with His parents and was obedient to them. Obedience here means Jesus went home and did what His parents said. In other words He minded them. It is know in the business world the first step to becoming a leader, or in our case, a follower of God is obedience to a higher power. Jesus fulfilled this requirement as He honored His father and mother.

Luke writes in Chapter 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and man”. Growing up Jesus developed physically, mentally, and spiritually. As Jesus matured He grew wise in the ways of the world and man. He grew strong physically as He worked with His earthly father in the carpenter shop. Jesus earned the respect of other men around Him including God who held His son in high esteem. Everything Jesus did in His life was to glorify His heavenly Father.

Why did Luke share this story? I believe Luke wanted us to see Jesus’ human side especially as a boy. He wanted us to understand Jesus was fully human just as He was fully God. He wanted us to see Jesus as a boy who was inquisitive, adventurous and loyal to God and family.

The only way to approach God is as children with a childlike faith. We can wholeheartedly accept Him even though we do not understand everything about Him. Just as Jesus grew and matured, God encourages us to grow, mature and learn. God wants us to learn all we can about Him in His word (Jn. 6:45). He wants us to grow in the faith, never remaining in a state of suspended animation. Most of all God wants us to mature in our faith not staying as a baby dependent upon milk. As Jesus grew, let’s grow also in the faith!

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