“I must be about my Father’s work”

Read Luke 2:41-52

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Strikingly, the first words of Jesus recorded in Luke’s Gospel affirm both his divine Sonship and his life’s mission, to be about his Father’s business (49). This is the only story in the Gospels about Jesus’s childhood. It illustrates his growing wisdom (40,46-47) and – more importantly – that he had already realised his unique relationship with God, as Father and Son.

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His awareness of this is most clearly stated on the eve of his death: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father... I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (Jn.14:9-11; cf. 10:30). Yet even at age twelve, he understood this better than his earthly parents (49-50; cf. Lk.1:32). And with that, he already knew that his life must be about his Father’s concerns. cf, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (Jn.4:34; 17:4).

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Because of that, we too can know God as our Father (Lk.10:22; Jn.20:17). God has adopted us as his sons through Jesus Christ (Eph.1:4-5). The Holy Spirit affirms our sonship and prompts us to call God, “Abba, Father” (Rom.8:15-16). In that knowledge, we find both our identity and our purpose – like Jesus, our food is to do the Father’s will and to be about his work.