A God of Intimacy

Pastor Esther Tham
28 & 29 January 2023

Today, we want to look at the Gospel of Luke, Luke 2:41-52.

Luke shows an account of Jesus when he was twelve years old. This is the only account we have in the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) of the life of Jesus when He was a boy. Luke shows us that in this missing person, Jesus was in fact exactly where He should be and it was Mary and Joseph who were the ones misplaced.

Luke 2:41-52
⁴¹ Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why you have treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.

I remembered just a few weeks ago, while I was doing my Chinese New Year shopping, there was this announcement made informing the public hoping the parents of the child heard the announcement that there is a little girl age between three to four years old is missing.

Oftentimes when children get lost in scenarios like this, there is a sort of lesson that is learned. Parents need to be a little bit more watchful, and maybe children need to be a little bit more attentive. But in the case of Jesus getting left, there is a different lesson. It is teaching us something about the nature of who God is and what He is calling us to be and what He is calling us into today.

The title of my message today is “A God of Intimacy”. This is what Jesus is showing us here.

In original Latin, intimate means to announce and to make something known to us. Thus, we use the word intimacy here to mean a close familiar and usually affectionate and loving personal relationship with one another.

Verse 41 and 42, it says that and now his parents when to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of Passover.

Passover is one of the great feasts in the Jewish tradition. It is a feast that reminds them how God has delivered them from slavery in Egypt. It is an annual remembrance of God’s faithfulness and deliverance. Every year, Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph went to celebrate the feast. When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom.

Taking now, we are in the Chinese New Year celebration season, as a family you get together and go visit your relatives and friends. It is just like an annual visitation and gathering. These are all the semblance and significance of the celebration, but the importance of it is family time, meeting extended relatives or reconnecting with friends, especially after 3 years of the covid-19 pandemic. This shows value.

And in the case of Mary and Joseph, their annual trip to Jerusalem shows the value of devotion.

1) The Value of Devotion

That is the value that is prescribed for us. Being devoted to God.

From the passage, we know that Mary and Joseph, are devout but there is something that they are missing. That they do not understand. Mary and Joseph had their annual visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.

Every male was required to travel to Jerusalem three times a year for the great festival, the pilgrimage festival, the Feast of Passover, the Feast of the Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. So, the fact that Mary goes demonstrates that of Joseph is a devoted family.

From Nazareth down to Jerusalem, they probably need to travel for about 75 miles. Approximately 120km. It is not a smooth journey. Thus, they need to travel in a big group. They travel together with their relatives and friends. This is a commitment. God is calling us to be a people of devotion.

But here are the things, we might think or say “that ok,” or “that sounds right.” That we are called to be people of devotion.  That is what God want us to do. “But I can’t do that, I can’t be that devoted to God.” “Because I have so many things to worry about.” “I got school to worry about,” “I got children to worry about,” “I got work to worry about,” “I got deadlines to meet,” “I got emails to reply to,” and “I got bills to pay.

How can I be devoted to God?”

Maybe you are saying this, “I am just too busy” or “maybe you feel like you hear God call you to devotion, God is just so demanding things of me”. “I just don’t think that I can do it.” “I can live up to His demands.” Or maybe you might be feeling this way, “God is always asking things of me, but when He is going to do something that I am asking of Him?”

If you are in any of those categories or any other for that matter, may this message be an encouragement or a catalyst for you to understand the need to encounter Jesus. Today, this also shows us something about God that we are actually missing. That we need more even than devotion itself.

That is our first point, the value of devotion. But now, we know that we need more than devotion to encounter our living God.

Then, this leads us to our second point here is that we need understanding.

2) The Necessity of Understanding

Looking at Mary and Joseph, are a devout family, travelling on the journey to Jerusalem. In verse 43, “⁴³ After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.”

Now we have this lost child scenario. His parents thought that Jesus supposes to be in the group. Remember they are travelling in a big group; must be a really big group that makes them a whole day’s journey thinking Jesus is with them. Probably Mary was thinking Jesus is with Joseph. And Joseph thinks that Jesus is with Mary.

For example, you and your family are travelling in a travel bus, where some are in front, and some are sitting at the back. Some might think that children are playing with children at the back. Then the parents think that their child is with them on the bus.

So, most probably during mealtime (dinner time), Jesus’ parents were looking for him for a dinner only then they realized that Jesus was not with them. The parents might be asking each other. “Did you see Jesus?” Both parents, Joseph and Mary might be thinking and saying, “I thought He is with you.” “I thought he was up there.”

Can you imagine the anxiety that Mary and Joseph experienced at that time, at that moment? Just imagine someone you know, someone close to you is lost. Can you imagine what Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph must have gone through? They looked for Jesus everywhere. I can’t imagine the three days of desperate searching and asking everyone if they have seen a young boy about so tall with such and such attire and hair colour. 

I remembered that I had this nightmare many years ago, a dream where I lost my daughter. The dream was so so real. I searched for her everywhere, asking around if you saw my daughter, running around looking for her? And you know, just like in the movie, people’s response is very causal, no we don’t see her. When I woke up, my heart was beating so fast.

Can you imagine the agony that Mary and Joseph must have felt at that time?

We know that they have agony because when they do finally come up to him, Jesus, Mary says in verse 48, ⁴⁸ “Son, why you have treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

They have been anxious, in another word, they were in fear, pain, and nervousness seeing Jesus gone and not knowing where he was. When a child is lost, like what I shared earlier, both parents and the child learn something, either a closer parental watch or perhaps stronger obedience from the child.

But, this incident was not disobedience on Jesus’ part nor was it to show that Joseph and Mary were irresponsible parents. Jesus being left behind shows us that there is something different altogether.

It was a shift from Jesus obeying His earthly parents to obeying His Heavenly Father. This shows us our need to understand God more and more.  

This is not the kind of understanding that makes our heads bigger, but this understanding is a kind of understanding that makes our hearts bigger.

The transformation of our hearts. Why do I say so?

Now let us compare what is said about Jesus and what is said about the parents, Mary and Joseph.

It says in verse 46, ⁴⁶ “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” ‘

Three days, probably the first day was the day’s journey out from Jerusalem, the second day was the journey back and the third day was the day they found him. Just like how we say Jesus rose again after three days, the first day is the crucifixion, then Saturday and Jesus rose on the third day.

Continue in verse 47, verse 47, “⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

This, the teachers might be able to understand, especially teachers; can find out the brightness of a child or their students no matter how old the child may be by the questions that they ask not just the answers that they provide.

And here, we see that in Jesus’ case, everyone who heard him was amazed at his questions and his understanding and his answers about the Word of God. Luke highlights the wisdom of Jesus, the devotion of Jesus and the awareness of Jesus. Jesus knew, at the age of 12, what is His purpose and what He was sent to do.

The temple is where the place of God’s presence and the place where God’s Word is taught. It is the Father’s house and Jesus is there listening and asking questions and answering questions and everyone is marvelling at his answers and his understanding.

But, when Jesus explains why he is there, he indicates that Mary and Joseph should have known that he would be there.

In verse 50, “⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

Jesus understood but his parents did not understand. Mary and Joseph did not understand what was really taking place right before their eyes. At the same time, Mary knew something amazing was unfolding before her. So she treasured and was peaceful as a result of this event. Jesus is showing us that we need more than devotion. We need understanding.

You might be saying this, “I have been devoted to God for 10 years, 20 years” “I have been Christian all of my life” “I have been Christian for all these years”. No matter how long we follow Christ, there are always lessons that we can learn from Jesus. Our journey with God is a lifelong journey. We need to keep growing in our understanding of Him. There is more, so don’t stop, and don’t settle with what you understand now. We are on our journey to know God and to grow in Him more and more each day.

We need devotion. We need to grow in our understanding of who God is. He is calling you to something deeper, something greater, something more beautiful in your understanding of Who He is and whom He called you to be.

In verse 48, Mary said to Jesus, ⁴⁸ “…, “Son, why you have treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

Imagine three days Mary and Joseph were looking for Jesus, trying to figure out where is Jesus, retracing the steps, where could he be, where could he have gone. And they ended up in the temple.

As any parent would do when faced with this situation, when you finally see your missing child, emotions begin to run together. You are relieved and thankful but at the same time, you are angry. I am not sure if this is what Mary and Joseph experienced, but from verse 48, it seems Mary was experiencing some kind of this emotion.

In Jesus’ response in verse 49, ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

In another word, Jesus is saying I must be in my Father’s house. Didn’t you understand who I am? Didn’t you understand why I came here for? Didn’t you understand who God really is? And the value of the intimacy of Jesus with His Father taking precedence and pre-eminence over even His relationship with his earthly parents.

Jesus, the Son of God, in His human flesh shows us that true humanity, the thing that we lost, that He is returning back in full devotion to the one Who created us, our God.

We need devotion but we need more than devotion, we need to understand God, and who God is. Here, we see Jesus beginning to fulfil the relationship He has with God. Jesus is Son and God is the Father.

Now, maybe we are saying, “Oh no, God is asking a whole lot more than I think I can give”

A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Meaning, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about ourselves, about you and me.”

Jesus is modelling the most important thing about Him, which is what He thought about the Father. Jesus is modelling this for you and me.

You might say, “I am devoted”, but, “I just don’t have time. I have got other things that I am devoted to you. You might say, “God is so demanding.” Maybe you might say, “God give me some time, once I sort out my things, I will be devoted to You, God.”

Jesus is the model, He models devotion, and He models understanding of God. We want to be more like Christ. He models devotion because He goes to his Father’s house. But, also He models understanding because He says, I had to be in my Father’s house.

This leads to my final point, the model of intimacy.

3) The Model of Intimacy

Jesus gives a term of intimacy, I had to be in my Father’s house. He is demonstrating that in our humanity that we lost in the fall in Genesis 3, Jesus is returning to you the intimacy that we can have, that we should have.

We can be devoted to somebody, but if we don’t understand them, if we don’t know them, then we are merely or basically a fan. For example, if you follow someone on Instagram, or on Twitter, you might be devoted to them, but you don’t know them. Then, you are a fan; you are a follower in that sense.

But if you are devoted to someone and have enough proximity to understand them, you have intimacy. That is a loved one. That is how Jesus lived with the Father.

That is also what He is calling us into. Jesus models devotion, He models understanding. God desires more than a distance devotion, God desires intimacy through understanding Him. God is not someone out there who conforms to your dreams and wishes, He is our God.

For example, take my relationship with my husband, he does not do everything I want him to do, he is his own person, and he has his own will. Maybe sometimes he crosses my will. That is actually the mark of intimacy. It is not a robotic submission.

In a real interaction. If you say, “I have a real personal relationship with God, then does He ever cross your will?” Does he call you to something that you don’t want? Does He ever say something that you disagree with?

Because if you want intimacy, if you want to have a true knowledge of God, then you have to embrace this God who going to say things that you don’t like and call you to things that you do not want.

Believe me, this is much better than what we could ever ask for.

Here, is how Jesus shows us the God with whom we want to have intimacy with an understanding of, verse 52, verse 52 is what it says about Jesus, “⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.”

Jesus grew in understanding in himself, so why is this important? Although Jesus is God, He is fully man from his birth in Mary’s womb. He is fully man, and he did not know everything about his humanity.

He had to grow in understanding, he had to grow in wisdom, he had to grow in stature. Wisdom and favour are something that Jesus grew even he was growing. Jesus is fully God, and He is fully man.

In Philippians 2:7 (ESV (English Standard Version) Translation), “Jesus emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus didn’t empty himself for his divinity, but he emptied himself of the fullness of the glory that he had with the Father. Jesus prays in John chapter 17, Jesus asked the Father to return to him the glory that he had with you before the world began.

Jesus is humble when he came down.

Hebrews 2:17, “For this reason, he (referring to Jesus) had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

This is the beauty where God became like you, like me. He became ignorant like you and me as a human being who could grow in understanding and wisdom, growing in stature, growing in favour. Jesus became like us, in every way. Jesus is now our high priest. He came to earth as a human being, so that he understands our weaknesses and shows mercy to us. (Hebrews 2:17).

Jesus shows us that he came down to earth, he came down all the way to our level, and he came all the way down to where we are. He emptied himself, and he became fully human, fully divine. This is beyond our understanding but let us not get lost in that and miss the beauty of what Jesus did for you.

If Jesus, emptied himself in that manner, so that he would come and be humbled and be like you and me, he had to grow in understanding. This is the God I want to be devoted to. This makes us want to be devoted to Him. He came all the way down to understand you, each one of us. To reconcile you back to God. He redeems our lives.

Today, I want to encourage all of us to admit that we need to grow in understanding Who God is. That we can see our need for encounters with Jesus. That we can see that He is showing you who God really is. Because of our own abilities, in our own capabilities, we cannot understand God ourselves. Jesus is the model of intimacy.

Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30), and there is no relationship that can be closer than that oneness with the Father that Jesus experienced. Jesus’ relationship with the Father is characterized by love and obedience.

In love and obedience, Jesus came to earth to do His Father’s will. We need Jesus to come all the way down on earth, at our level to show us the way. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and hearts so that we can see it. In this passage, even Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents who had Jesus living with them, somehow miss what is available to them in understanding. We need to grow in understanding.

Today, God wants to break down some wrong understandings that we have in our hearts. So that He can truly show Himself to us. Let us be able to see the beauty of that. May we be able to see that our devotion to other things in life can not compare to what God has for us.

If you felt neglected, feeling you are alone today, I want to tell you that Jesus came all the way down, looking for you. He is bringing you back to the truth of humanity that you lost the right relationship with God. Jesus wants to set you into freedom.

Having a personal relationship with God. The right relationship with Him. There is value in devotion, however, we need more than devotion, we need to understand who God is and Jesus is the model of intimacy. Jesus is the model, He models devotion, and He models understanding of God.

We need to attain true intimacy with God. Jesus is our model. We love God because He first loved us, and we prove our love for Him by obeying Him. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Our God is a God of intimacy. I pray that we can encounter Jesus afresh today.

Amen.