1st July 2025

The stories about Jesus that the gospel writers pick out provide edited highlights of a life that involved much more, and John, at the very end of his gospel, muses on this. He was speaking from experience, having witnessed the activity of the man he recognised as, ‘…the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ (John 1:14).

Our perspective of the life of Jesus, with the gospel accounts, and the apostles’ subsequent understanding, might provide us with a picture of the man that is different to the person his contemporaries knew – Mary and Joseph and the wider family; the community they lived in, including some future disciples; the leaders in the synagogues and the temple in Jerusalem; even individuals in the occupying Roman army. Throughout his young life, which is scarcely documented, the people he came into contact with were becoming aware that there was something unusual about this boy. This is hinted at in Luke’s account of a Passover when Jesus was twelve. He tops and tails the event with, ‘…he [Jesus] was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.’ And, ‘…Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.’ (Luke 2:40, 52). He was not your average twelve-year-old.

When Mary and Joseph took their family, including their eldest son, to the Passover in Jerusalem, they had a startling reminder of the dramatic events they had lived through surrounding the birth and early childhood of their child. Maybe these had grown dim over time, but here in Luke’s account, they are brought back to the reality of God working – at last – among his covenant people.

The search his parents made for him involved a full day’s delay as they began their journey home – probably a four-day trek. No wonder there was some frustration in his mother’s voice, “Son, why have you treated us like this?” (Luke 2:48). They found their son listening and asking questions of the teachers in the Temple. The Son of God, wholly human, was learning like any person in this dusty creation: listening and asking questions – and where better than the place he points out is his Father’s house.

This interaction is one more thing that Mary ‘treasured in her heart’; something to hang on to when she watched the challenging life he carved out for himself during his ministry.

Local congregation:
GCI Market Harborough
9 The Point
Rockingham Road
Market Harborough 
LE16 7QU

Meeting time:
Sunday 4.00 pm

Local congregational contact:
Sinead Henderson 
Email: sinead.henderson@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church