Children must be raised “according to Christ’s twofold commandment.”

Children must be raised “according to Christ’s twofold commandment.”

 

 

 

 

 

“After they had completed everything required by the Lord’s law, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” [(Contemporary English Version) “After fulfilling all the required rites of the law, the child’s parents returned to their hometown of Nazareth in Galilee. The child grew strong and was filled with God’s grace.”] (Luke 2:39–40). I want to receive the lessons given to me while meditating on this passage.

 

 

 

(1)    The Bible says that the baby Jesus’ parents “completed everything required by the Lord’s law and returned to their own town in Galilee, Nazareth” (Lk. 2:39), and here the phrase “everything” refers to all the “purification rites” (v. 22).

 

(a)    They went up to Jerusalem to perform the purification rites “according to the law of Moses” for the baby Jesus on the eighth day when he was circumcised (v. 21), they entered the temple in Jerusalem (v. 27), and they offered the sacrifice—a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons—“as it is written in the law of the Lord” (v. 23).

 

(i)                 When I meditate on this passage, I think that the baby Jesus’ parents were people who lived “according to the law of the Lord.” The reason is that, in the Scripture’s statements about them, phrases such as “according to the law of Moses” (v. 22), “as it is written in the law of the Lord” (v. 23), “as the Lord’s law has prescribed” (v. 24), “according to the custom of the law” (v. 27), and “according to the law of the Lord” (v. 39) appear.

 

·         Thinking about how the baby Jesus’ parents fulfilled all the legal duties or requirements of the law for the baby Jesus, I was led to meditate on the Lord’s words: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Mt. 5:17).

 

-             “That Jesus came to ‘fulfill’ the law does not mean he came to abolish it, but that he came to accomplish and complete the law’s original meaning.  Jesus fully realized in his heart the will of God embodied in the law—justice, mercy, and love—and, surpassing human limitations, met the law’s demands.  Through the sacrifice of the cross he satisfied the law’s requirements, and by imputing his righteousness to believers he made possible the salvation of sinners who cannot keep the law” (Internet).

 

n   Therefore, we do not obtain salvation by keeping the law; rather, we are saved only by faith in Jesus, who fulfilled and satisfied the demands of the law.

 

-             Having fulfilled the Mosaic law of the Old Testament by his sacrificial death on the cross, Jesus gave the people of the new covenant the twofold commandment of Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37, 39).

 

n  Therefore, as people of the new covenant, we must do all things according to Christ’s twofold commandment, and we must complete all those things well in love to the end. The reason is that Jesus loved us to the end—even to the point of dying on the cross—for the forgiveness (atonement) of our sins and for our salvation (Jn. 13:1).

 

(2)    The Scripture says that the “baby” Jesus “grew and became strong, was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (Lk. 2:40).  When I meditate on this verse, it reminds me of the first half of Luke 1:80 that I already meditated on: “The child grew and became strong in spirit….”

 

(a)    Comparing these two verses about the baby Jesus and the baby John the Baptist, the common point is that God caused both the baby Jesus and the baby John to grow physically and spiritually in God’s grace. One difference, however, is that only of the baby Jesus does the Scripture say explicitly that “he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (2:40).

 

(i)                 Here the baby Jesus is said to have been “filled with wisdom,” and in Luke 2:52 it is also said that “Jesus increased in wisdom ….”

 

(ii)               Also, here it says that “the grace of God was upon him” (v. 40), and in v. 52 it says that “he increased in favor with God and with people” [(Contemporary English Version) “he was increasingly loved by God and by people”].

 

·            According to Hokmah, the expression “the grace of God was upon him” (v. 40) signifies spiritual growth, indicating that Jesus, even as a child, was a person endowed with wisdom and grace and was far superior to John the Baptist (Hokmah).

 

·            Hokmah also says that the statement “he increased in favor with God and with people” (v. 52) indicates that Jesus’ life—serving God, obeying the law, honoring his parents, loving his siblings, caring for and helping his neighbors—made him inevitably beloved by both God and people (Hokmah).

 

(3)    While meditating on Luke 2:39–40 today, I receive two lessons:

 

(a)    The first lesson is that parents, like the baby Jesus’ parents who raised him “according to the law of the Lord,” must raise our precious and honorable children—whom God has given to us as a gift of grace—“according to Christ’s twofold commandment.”

(b)    Therefore the second lesson is that our children ought to grow up physically and spiritually, flourishing in God’s grace, becoming strong and full of wisdom, and ultimately becoming children who are loved by God and by people.