In My Father's House
When Jesus was 12 years old, His family went up to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. When all the family departed Jerusalem, Jesus stayed behind, hanging out in the temple with the temple teachers, listening and asking questions. Once they realized Jesus was not with them, it took His earthly parents three days of searching to find Him. (Luke 2:41-52).
Is this just a story of adolescent rebellion, or is it something else? The location where they found Jesus may give us a clue. Since this is the only story we have of Jesus as a youth in all of Scripture, it must be significant.
Questions to Consider:
What is significant about the place where Jesus was found?
How is Jesus’ relationship to the temple different than other 12-yr-old Jewish boys?
After searching and searching for three days, Mary and Joseph were astonished to find Jesus sitting in the temple among the temple teachers, impressing people with his understanding. But Jesus was equally astonished that it took them so long to find him. “Why were you looking for me?” he said. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Mary and Joseph couldn’t understand. His “father” who had been searching for Him was a humble carpenter. How could this poor boy from Nazareth refer to this spectacular Temple as His “Father’s house?”
Solomon's Temple
When Solomon, King of Israel, originally built the Temple of the Lord, he offered it to God, saying, “I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” (1 Kings 8:13) Of course even at that time Solomon knew it was crazy to think that the God of the Universe could ever be contained in a building.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?"
Will God indeed dwell on the earth?
What would it take for God to be contained in a building like this? Well, he would have to empty himself, be born in the likeness of men, and be found in human form. (Philippians 2:7-8). When Solomon dedicated the temple of the Lord, I don’t think he had any inkling that God would really do that unthinkable thing one day, in the Person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the Son of God.
The first time the Son entered the temple, he would be so humble and small he’d have to be carried up the steps in the arms of a human father. Would anyone notice that GOD was just carried in? (Luke 2:22-38)
But the infant Son of God would not stay small. He would grow in stature. And he would return again and again to his Father’s house on his own two legs.
What does a 12 year old call his Father’s house? He calls it “home.”
Malachi's Prophecy
Solomon may not have seen this coming, but under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Prophet Malachi did. He wrote,
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple..."
Significance of the Temple
In the book of Luke, the Temple is more than just a setting for the story, it is almost like another character. Pay attention when Luke refers to the Temple, or to Jerusalem, and keep in mind the special relationship Jesus has with this place.
While all Jews would’ve had a special love for the Temple as a holy and beloved place of worship, Jesus can rightly call it “home.” It was built especially for him, for “Emmanuel, God with us.” Keep that in mind as you read Luke.
Be aware of the tug of that place on Jesus’ heart as he sets His face toward Jerusalem in the second part of the book (Luke 9:51). Watch for the centrality of the Temple in his ministry when he finally reaches Jerusalem. When the Temple is mentioned, mark it. Pay attention.
Remember, this is His Father’s house, this is home. This is the place built as a dwelling place for God with man, and every time Jesus walks into that place (from the time He is carried in as an infant), the purpose of the Temple is fulfilled.
*More about The Temple*
The actual temple Solomon built was destroyed in 586 by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. It was rebuilt by the Jewish people 70 years later upon returning from the Babylonian exile. This second Temple was dedicated around 515 BC and stood on the same spot as Solomon’s original Temple.
At the time of the events of Luke 2, this second Temple had recently been expanded and beautified by Herod the Great. It was a spectacular place, the pride of Israel, but it didn’t stand much longer on that spot. In the year 70 AD, after the completed work of the sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, God allowed the Temple to be destroyed by the Romans. It has never been rebuilt.
All sacrifices according to the Law of Moses ceased, because the final Passover Lamb, Jesus, the only Lamb that walked voluntarily into the temple to offer Himself, had been slain once and for all. A mosque sits on the temple site today, barring the Jews from rebuilding. But we know that God no longer needs a building to dwell in. His Holy Spirit has come to dwell in every follower of Jesus Christ, and the people of God are now his Temple.
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
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