Be obedient as Jesus

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He was subject unto them. Luke 2:51a

Somebody said to me about a teenage boy, the other day, “He’s a nice lad. You can tell he’s been well brought up.”

I knew that they meant. And so do you of course. The remark has a ring about it similar to this text. Listen! “He went with them and was subject unto them” It was eighteen years of discipline packed into it. 

We read the only authentic story we have about the early life of Christ telling of His visit to Jerusalem at the age of 12. 

A truly remarkable story that most likely in the first instance was told by His mother. And when the excitement was over Jesus returned to Nazareth with His parents and accepted discipline of the home. 

We can picture them walking along the village street. Entering the house and closing the door behind them. It closes as far as authentic stories go for another 18 years.

We should like to know what happened behind that door; but I doubt whether we have any more right to conjecture that we have to pry into the private life of any family. 

There is one thing, however, we are told. The one thing we can be certain about. The one things, maybe, that we are supposed to know. That as a bot and a growing man Jesus was obedient to his parents. “He was subject unto them” or as Dr Moffat translates it “HE DID AS THEY TOLD HIM.” 

We know that there were during these years seven other children born into the family. Five brothers. Two Sisters.

And it is fairly certain that before Jesus left the home for his ministry His father Joseph died and He carried on the work of the carpenters business. That may have been why He stayed at home so long. 

There must have been many ups and downs in such a family. But He was always content to accept the judgement of His mother.

All of this story singles out for us is the one fact that it was not His will that was done in the Nazareth home, but the will of Joseph and Mary. And it was at at time when most folk begin to find their own feet . Want to assert their own rights. Chafe and fret against parental control. But He was obedient Paul says “He learned obedience through the things He suffered” and there is little doubt that it began in His home. 

Just think! His ministry, with the full splendour of God’s glory shining through Him lasted only three years. But for 18 years He was content to teach Himself and us the one lesson – OBEDIENCE.

IT MUST BE IMPORTANT – AND SURELY HE WAS RIGHT. It was the foundation on which His life was built. What perfect patience was His. What humility. What purity. What goodness. It began in obedience practised in the home at Nazareth. 

It still is a fundamental virtue of life and though it may be a much more difficult thing in our day, when we prate so much about self expression and personal liberty, we still can get nowhere without it. Human nature has always been in need of discipline. We like to be a law unto ourselves. We don’t like being told what to do but unless we learn the lesson of obedience life will be a failure. 

This must be the foundation of all family life. - It is impossible without it. 

Imagine a home in which everyone did as he pleased – where there was no sharing of duties – where everyone had meals just when it pleased him. The place would soon be chaos. There has to be rule and order. There has to be one who embodies the law.

Let me say this to those of you who are parents. Teach your children obedience. Teach it not for your own sake thought but in their own interests. Surely God ordained that we should be set in families in order that we may learn at the very commencement of life this indispensable lesson. 

And what is true in the family life is true of all social life. We must live to fixed laws and regulations. We can’t have a thing just because we want it, irrespective of whose it is. We’ve got to observe the discipline of the highway code when we take to the road. In short we’ve got to obey the voice of authority. None of us is free to do as we like. We are proud of the freedom of our democratic government. It wouldn’t last very long though if men grew lawless and disobedient. Obedience is the very foundation of our liberty. 

And this holds true in the life of the individual – in your life and mine. 

As Paul argues – Christ was the Son of God yet he had to learn to be obedient to all the laws that governed human life. And if that was true of Jesus, can we claim any exemption?

He learned obedience by stern discipline – by times of quiet meditation – by regular worship and fellowship in the village synagogue. Without it He could never have been the true Son of His Heavenly Father. 

And it was Jesus who taught us that we are all children of God – He taught us to pray “Our Father which art in heaven.” But it isn’t just as easy as that. There is no getting near to God without obedience.

We all know our lives are not what they ought to be. Sometimes we know quite well what is wrong with them too – but we just won’t face up to is. We are not really happy and the failure is our disobedience. 

It isn’t for me to tell you what to do.

We each know what we ought to do, We can never be truly happy – or feel ourselves to be the children of God until we do it. 

So I ask you very humbly but very sincerely go home and begin to do the things that you know God wants you to do.