Jesus in His Birth and Boyhood

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same...” Heb. 2:14

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Ps. 51:5

Our humanity – and our sinfulness – began at our conception. Jesus took on flesh and blood, but to represent us fully, to live a complete human life and redeem our entire sinful experience, He had to begin at the root of the problem, the very beginning of our beginning. In Luke 1:31 the angel tells Mary, “thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.” (see also Luke 2:21 and Matt. 1:20.) The Son of God was not brought into the world as a grown man, or a twelve year-old, or even inserted into Mary’s womb as a fetus. He didn’t skip a single step, but began as we all do – He was conceived in the womb. His cells multiplied. His sonograms would have looked just like yours at eight weeks, or twelve, or three months, or six. At every point of development He was God manifest in the flesh, the fulness of the godhead bodily. That little kick on Mary’s belly? That’s the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

And then God came through the bloody birth canal and breathed oxygen for the first time. Tread quietly, tread reverently, for surely this is holy ground.

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35

“When he bringeth the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Heb. 1:6

He began like we did, and yet not like, because His father was not a sinner. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, the son of Mary, was the first and only perfect baby, the only baby that was not shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin.

Imagine holding this eight pound newborn, arms and legs twitching because his muscles and nervous system don’t yet know how to control them, eyes taking quick peeks at the bright world from behind tiny eyelids between big meals and long naps. You are holding a sinless human being. A baby with no corruption in Him, with no potential for it, no possibility of it, who will never need to repent, whose conscience will never trouble him, who will never need fixing, saving, redeeming.  Not just a sweet infant who seems pure and clean because he’s small and new and hasn’t yet done anything outwardly wicked, but an intrinsically Holy Thing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, the LORD of hosts, which was, and is, and is to come, Emmanuel, God with us. If He begins to glow a little as you gaze on Him in your imagination, that is as it should be. No wonder Simeon “took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Lu. 2:28-33).

“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant…” Is. 53:2

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” Luke 2:40

We have only one other view of Him before we see Him walk up to John to be baptized. What we do know is that He continued to grow, to live an every day human life, replacing our disobedience with His perfection. Surely if anything in the word of God could be called an understatement, it would be this: “The grace of God was upon him.”

In Luke 2:41-52 we see, not a passive infant, but a purposeful young man of twelve years, old enough to think and act for Himself. And in this context we are told two things that we must consider critically important: young Jesus was on a mission, and that mission included perfect, willing obedience to the holy law of God.

Joseph, Mary, and their family are traveling back from visiting Jerusalem for Passover when they realize Jesus is missing. They hurry back and, after three days of searching, find Him in the temple, where He has been the whole time, asking and answering questions and astounding the old and learned heads. (Reading between lines, the boy Jesus had been busy filling His human mind and heart with the scriptures.)

You can imagine how Mary and Joseph felt. “How could you do this to us, we’ve been looking all over for you, worried sick!” And young Jesus gently replied, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” What I believe He meant was, “you should have known exactly where to find me.” May we be able to say the same! And praise God that, even as a boy, there was never a moment of deviation or distraction from His purpose, never a slack second where the Father would have reason to say anything other than “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

And then, even more remarkably, we are told that “he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.” Young, holy Jesus had such reverence for the law of God and such commitment to His purpose that He honored and obeyed His “father” and mother even though they were sinners. Even though He created them!

“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19

“And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them… but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.” Luke 2:50-51

How are we to comprehend this, that the Creator would take on himself the creature, one Person with two natures, fully God at every point of His fully human experience, whether as a handful of cells in the womb, a helpless newborn, a toddler child, or a twelve year-old boy?

The answer is that we can’t, maybe not even in eternity. But His mother showed us a wiser and humbler response than striving to comprehend: keep these things, and ponder them in your heart.