The Temple Courts
Luke 2:43-52 (NIV) “After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions…’Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
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God is doing something in all of us. As we walk with Him, He directs us on the path of walking in the good works that He has prepared for us to do (Psalm 23:3; Ephesians 2:10). It took thirty years before Jesus began His public ministry, but this doesn’t mean that Jesus wasn’t walking in His divine calling prior to this. Our calling is not some sort of terminal destination or goal in our career. It is the knowing of a Person - God Himself. Everything we do for Him is predicated on this knowing. A deeply experiential relationship with Him empowers us for spiritual ministry that carries effortless weight and authority.
In the above account, the boy Jesus remains behind in the temple courts, talking with the spiritual teachers, as his parents leave to return to Nazareth. Jesus thirsted for a spiritual environment that would cultivate the work of God within Him. This environment enabled Him to grow in stature and in favor with God and man. Jesus was not willfully disobedient to His earthly parents, but responded to a greater authority- that of the internal heavenly impulse. “Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s business,” He states to Mary and Joseph in an alternative translation. Even as a boy, He was consumed by the Father’s vision and purpose.
An element of our own spiritual preparation is time spent in “the temple courts, sitting among the teachers.” For us, this is growing and learning from the great spiritual teachers of the past and present. God leads each of us to spiritual teachers who will grow and mature the work that He is doing within us. The Father uses our contact with these individuals (whether it be in person, in a book, sermon, podcast, etc.) to grow and refine His unique and individualized work in our hearts. We must seek contact with the “teachers in the temple” - those who by experience have become intimately aware of the ways of God and are able to articulate them with authority and conviction. If we are open to it, we will always receive an impartation of wisdom and understanding from those who have walked farther in the Christian journey than we have.
After His parents find Jesus, He returns with them to Nazareth. The Bible says, “then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” Jesus’ call at that time was to remain obedient to His earthly parents until the proper time. In the same way, we are called to obedience in whatever God has called us to do at the current moment. We can be sure that He is using our circumstances and experience to grow us into mature expressions of Christ (Romans 5:3-4; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:17). God wastes nothing. Again, the call is not a destination, but the unveiling of a Person within us (Colossians 1:27). Our circumstances are opportunities that can realign our minds to the reality of His presence.
Time spent in contact with great spiritual teachers and obedience to what God has called us will reap a fruit of righteousness at the proper time. The fruit will greatly advance the kingdom of heaven and endure for generations (John 15:16; 1 Corinthians 3:13). In the meantime, let us humble ourselves and seek God’s heart during our own time in the “temple courts.”
