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Luke 2:22-52 – The Boyhood of Jesus

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This passage is as follows:

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And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

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“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

    according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation

    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

    and for glory to your people Israel.”

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And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.  She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

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And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.  And the favor of God was upon him.

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Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.  And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.  His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.  After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”  And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.  And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

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And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

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(End of passage)

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So far in Luke, we saw the purpose of writing the gospel – so that Theophilus may have certainty about the things that he was taught.  We saw the foretelling of the births of John and Jesus.  These foretelling are in line with the fulfillment in their lives.  John would be the one to turn the nation to God and prepare the way of the Lord.  Jesus would be the savior, the Christ and Lord.  John was born and his father, Zechariah, prophesied that he would be the prophet of the Most High and go before the Lord to prepare his ways.  Then we had the birth of Jesus and the angel told the shepherds that he would be a Savior, Christ, and Lord.  The birth of Jesus saw the appearance of an uncountable number of heavenly hosts.  Now, Jesus has been circumcised and it is time to go up to the temple and offer the sacrifices for the firstborn.

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Let’s see what happens at the temple.

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Verses 22-38,

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And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

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“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

    according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation

    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

    and for glory to your people Israel.”

​

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.  She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

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So here was this man, Simeon, to whom it was revealed that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  Here he is at the temple and when Joseph and Mary come in, he takes the baby Jesus in his arms and says that now he may depart in peace because his eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation.  This salvation is for all people, a light to the Gentiles, and a glory for his people Israel.  Salvation for all nations is supported by many Old Testament Verses.

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Psalm 67:2,

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“that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

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Isaiah 49:6,

 

“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

 

Psalm 22:27,

 

All the ends of the earth shall remember

    and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

    shall worship before you.

 

Zechariah 2:11,

 

And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

 

So Simeon was going to the temple as often as possible so that on some day he would meet the Messiah.  On this day, in came Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus and it is revealed to Simeon that this is the one.  This is the Messiah.  This baby is the one that will bring salvation to all nations.

 

Now, note what Simeon says next!

 

“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

 

What does Simeon mean by these things?

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1. “This child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.”Many will rise and many will fall because of Jesus.Jesus is going to rock the boat, upset the status quo.In the gospels, he does just that.Those that repent will follow him.The poor and the burdened will follow him.

2. “This child is appointed for a sign that is opposed.”Jesus will be opposed to something.In the gospels, Jesus opposes the mafia priesthood and their profiteering.

3. “A sword will pierce through your own soul also.”Mary will be broken hearted and full of sorrow.This happened when Jesus was crucified.

4. “So that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”Simeon reveals the motivation behind the way that God is going to do things.The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.God doesn’t demand just an outward fulfillment of his commands.God desires a pure heart and devotion to him.The salvation that Jesus brought reveals those that respond to God from the heart.Only with a heartfelt response can you accept the gift of salvation that Jesus Christ provided on the cross.

 

Then there was the prophetess, Anna.  She was so righteous that even though she was married for only 7 years after being a virgin, that she never remarried after her husband died.  She must have been young yet, but she never remarried.  Instead she stayed at the temple worshipping, praying and fasting night and day.  So now she is 84 years old and at the same hour that Simeon blessed Jesus, she came up and began to speak about him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 

 

Now, what is the significance of the prophesies of Simeon and Anna?

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1. They show that people were waiting for, hoping for, and expecting the Messiah at that time.

2. They show that from the birth of Jesus that the people expecting the Messiah believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

3. They show that the salvation that the Messiah would provide would be for all nations.

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So what happens next?

 

Verses 39-40,

 

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.  And the favor of God was upon him.

 

Now there seems to be something missing here.  After doing everything according to the law, The Gospel According to Matthew has them going to Egypt to escape Herod’s eventual plan to kill the Messiah.  Is this a contradiction in the Bible?  It is not a contradiction for two reasons.  First, it does not say that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus did not go down to Egypt.  Second, there is no reason that a gospel writer has to write an exhaustive description of every event in Jesus’ life.  Matthew was intent on showing the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, so he included the story of Jesus going to and coming out of Egypt to show this prophesy was fulfilled.  Luke is more centered on showing Jesus as both man and God in his nature, so Luke moves on to how Jesus grows up.  Some people take up the words “When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee,” as meaning immediately after.  However, the words for “had performed” and “they returned,” are aorist indicative active.  This gives the sense that these things were done generally, not necessarily in an exacting immediate order.

 

So Jesus grew, became strong and also filled with wisdom.  And the favor of God was upon him.  The Greek word for “favor” here is “charis,” which is more commonly translated as “grace.”  We can only speculate how that was happening in his life, but I think we can surmise from this paragraph that Jesus was talented in whatever he did.  Maybe Luke has an example.

 

Let’s see what Luke has for us next.

 

Verses 41-52,

 

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.  And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.  His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.  After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”  And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.  And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

 

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

 

In Exodus 23:14-17, God commands the Israelites to keep 3 Feasts every year and appear before the Lord.  These were the Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of the Firstfruits, and the Feast of Ingathering.  Now the Passover was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so naturally, there would be people also gathering at the temple for the Feast of the Passover.  In Jesus’ day this had become even more institutionalized than ever before (https://www.jkdoyle.com/passover-in-the-first-century/).  The historian Josephus reports that when the Roman army marched southward on the coast toward Lydda or Diospolis in 66 AD, they found the city virtually deserted because of pilgrimage for [another comparable Jerusalem celebration] the Festival of Booths or Sukkoth (War. 2.19).  The Feast of Passover would have been just as much or more significant.  A dressed out lamb would bring about 60 pounds of meat, and so would feed about 80 people.  Here is a picture of a family celebrating a Passover meal around 1900 A.D.: