Jesus Our Brother
Jesus is Human, Jesus is Divine
Luke 2:41-52
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. Dec. 29th, 2024
Our gospel reading this morning presents us with something of a paradox. Perhaps, even something some of us may find troubling. We are, first, given an account of the adolescent Jesus in Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph, being pious folk, went to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover even though this would have been a financial and logistical hardship. But they travelled by caravan with others to ease the burden. When they left Jerusalem they did not realize at first that Jesus was not with them. They had made it out a days journey before they noticed Jesus wasn’t there. No one in the caravan could say where Jesus had gone.
They left the caravan and headed back to Jerusalem. It took them another three long days of searching before they found him. He was back at the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. That would be strange enough. But even more astoundingly he was able to answer the teachers’ own questions. And his answers were filled with such insight and wisdom that those around him were amazed.
I’m sure, though, that Jesus’ wisdom and insight didn’t change how his parents felt. “Child, why have you treated us like this?” They ask. They’ve been so full of anxiety running around Jerusalem looking for him. In the very least he could have told them his plans. Made an arrangement. But Jesus’ answer is even more astonishing than all of this that has taken place. He says, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
They did not understand what he meant. But, Luke helpfully informs us, he did go back to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph. And he was fully obedient to them from that day on.
The picture we have here of Jesus is Jesus the Son of God. He is able to take care of himself without the aid of his parents. He sits in the Temple and is able to talk fluently with the teachers of the Law. But moreover not only is he able to discuss things with them but he is able to answer their own questions. He shows such wisdom and insight that all those who hear this child are amazed at how he might know these things even the teachers of Israel did not know. But most importantly, when asked to explain why he is acting the way he’s acting Jesus tells his mother, “don’t you know I must be in my Father’s house?” Not the house of Joseph in Nazareth, but at the house of his Heavenly Father in Jerusalem. On Mount Zion. In the Lord’s Temple. Doing his Father’s work.
The paradox, then, is this. Having given us this depiction of Jesus the Son of God Luke goes on to tell us, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.” It may make sense how Jesus could increase in human favor. They do not know who he is and his name becomes more well known. We may be able to explain how he increases in divine favor. As he remains obedient to his Father in heaven. That he would increase in years goes without saying. He is, after all, flesh. But how do we make sense of this Jesus, who astonishes even the chief rabbis, increasing in wisdom? How can he, who is the Son of God, learn? If he is the incarnate God who is omniscient, how can there be things he does not know?
This paradox points to something that has troubled Christians for centuries. If Jesus is the son of God, if Jesus is the incarnation of God, how do we understand his humanity related to his divinity? How do we know Jesus as fully human? How do we know Jesus as fully divine? Insofar as Jesus is human, it makes perfect sense to us that he would grow in wisdom. Don’t we all? At least, we would hope we do. Our lives are all about change, and growth, and illness, and chance. Jesus wouldn’t be very human if he didn’t grow! But divinity does not change. God is perfectly wise, perfectly knowledgeable. If Jesus is also God, how can we say God learns? Shouldn’t he have all of that wisdom already in his head?
Throughout history there have been Christians who have emphasized Jesus’ humanity over his divinity. There have been others who emphasize Jesus’ divinity over his humanity. But here is what I know. Jesus must be our brother. Jesus must take on fully our humanity in all its weakness, growth, and change. If Jesus is not in every respect human as much as we are then our salvation is in doubt. As the early church put it, what is not assumed is not redeemed. Jesus is our salvation, in part, because he is fully human. God has assumed all our humanity in Jesus. When Jesus dies on the cross that is a human being dying on a cross. A human being God has assumed. And if this Jesus is not the God-Man on the cross, then he’s just another man on the cross. Then, the mysterious work of atonement is not made.
Jesus is our brother. And Jesus is God. The human Jesus cried when he was hungry. The Son of God needed to be rocked to sleep. The human Jesus coughed. The Son of God sneezed. And the human Jesus grew up, learned to speak, learned to read. While he may have received some insight by virtue of his godliness, it is none other than the human Jesus who impresses the rabbis in the Temple.
Here is a core mystery of our faith. The wise one learns, the immortal one dies, the immutable one grows. It could be no other way. The divine takes on humanity. The holy one is profaned. The prisoner is set free. The blind see. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The dead rise from their graves.