Anticipating His Advent #22

 

As we read through the first two, long chapters of Luke, we are left with people wondering and asking two big questions: What will become of these two sons: John and Jesus? For John, the initial answer is that he was raised by Zechariah and Elizabeth and then went into the wilderness until beginning his ministry.  For Jesus, we get a little information about when He was eight days old and twelve years old, but no further details except that...

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

As Luke writes this account for Theophilus and other who will read it, he simply summarizes his eyewitness interviews by this: "Jesus grew up good: mentally, morally, physically, socially, and spiritually." The tabloids used to tell us that "inquiring minds want to know" all the nitty-gritty details. True history does not.  True history is not dependent on the tabloids or social media. This statement tells all there is to say: there is nothing bad to tell about Jesus. He is even more squeaky clean than Mary. The picture then is this: keep watching. Keep watching what Jesus does and listening to what Jesus says. Don't be like the wonderers who wandered away and stopped watching or listening. He's more than an once-a-year headline.