“How is it that you sought Me? Knew you not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke 2:49
What does it mean to be about the business of the Father? What is this business? In the example of the Lord Jesus, when He was twelve years old, it consisted of “sitting in the midst of the teachers (in the temple), both hearing and asking them questions.” (Luke 2:49) The men who surrounded Jesus were very knowledgeable with regard to the Mosaic law, and the prophetical writings of the Old Testament. As they heard Jesus speak specifically concerning the Scriptures, and ask questions relative to the different subjects, there reaction was one of astonishment. They were amazed at His understanding and answers. From birth to the moment when He was seated before these elders, Jesus was filled with the Spirit. We do not know, nor can we grasp, the full extent of all that He knew at this time in His life. There is no doubt that, because He had certainly read and reread the Scriptures as a young man, the Holy Spirit drew upon that knowledge to reveal their meaning and application to those around Him.
The first thing we see here in this scene is that, similarly as God has ordained praise from the mouths of babes, so through this child of twelve, the Father has ordained wisdom and knowledge of a quantity, holy quality, and nature, that Jesus spoke with amazing clarity and conviction. To be in the business of His Father, was to be committed, even dominated, by the Word of the Father. It was by the Spirit that Jesus would possess the objective truth.
The second thing that is apparent is that Jesus is different from those around Him. Though rightly remaining in submission to His parents, He was at the same time fully engaged in the pursuit of understanding the Scriptures. There was no reserve in His pursuit of the subject, for there was nothing in the world so important to Him as the acquisition eternal truth, for by it He would honor the Father. The business of the Father consisted in part at this time in Christ’s mastery of the truth, first with an understanding of it, and then in its application to the lives of those whom He came to serve. This would distinguish Him from all others.
Thirdly, Christ’s engagement to pursuit His quest, within the limits of His obedience to His parents whom He would always honor, was an entire commitment to the accomplishment of His objective. The Apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, his son in the faith, with regard to the business of studying, teaching and preaching the word of God, wrote: “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.’ (1 Tim. 4:15) He would continue to exhort Timothy: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (v.16) What do we learn about Jesus at this time by reading Paul’s later words? Jesus was not only a good and perfect receiver of the word of God, but a perfect student in its application. He was determined to know the truth in clarity, so that in teaching it He could present the eternal truth to lost souls, and believers alike, who needed to hear, understand, and believe. Jesus, even while pursuing the trade of a carpenter, was constantly in the study and meditation of the word of God. We see the proof of this when He began His ministry. His knowledge of the truth of Scripture was perfect. The application of that knowledge to the lives of men was perfect also. It would be by the Spirit of God that all became possible in the learning, teaching, preaching, and ministry of the word of God. Jesus, being filled with the Spirit from his birth, was provided with that quiet, resolute, zeal and resolve, to be in the Father’s business, by being in His word.
Dear Father, Give to us the resolve of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.