The School of Community
Scripture Reading — Luke 2:41-52
Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
You probably know at least one young person who acts as if he or she knows everything. In our text for today we see Jewish religious leaders in the temple, talking with a young man who actually did seem to know it all! At just 12 years old, Jesus was asking questions that these teachers and scholars had not encountered in any of their students. He asked questions that these learned men only asked of one another. How could that be?
Jesus grew up in Nazareth, the hometown of his parents, Joseph and Mary, in the region of Galilee. In Galilee there were many such towns, all communities of Jews who built their lives around the laws God had given to Moses. Jesus learned life and faith in a community of faithful life. Being without sin, he could undoubtedly learn more deeply and sense God’s purposes more perceptively, but his community and its faithful life was his school.
The religious leaders in our text weren’t just seeing a 12-year-old boy. They were seeing what happens when a boy grows up in a community of faithful life, in which values are not just preached but lived, in which faith and its truths are passed along to the next generation.
Do you live in such a community? Are you creating such a community?
Father, the world wants to teach its version of truth. Help us to form communities of faith where we can learn real truth, which comes from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About the author — David Den Haan
Pastor Dave Den Haan has served at Fairway Christian Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan, since 1999. Previously he served a church in Minnesota. Dave and his wife, Connie, have three children.
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