The First Sunday after Epiphany, 2001
Luke 2:41-52

Christ and Education

When Charlemagne came to power in the year 800 Europe was a savage continent. The barbarians had destroyed civilization and therefore education had to be rescued from obscurity and restored to its former glory. In order to educate the priests Charlemagne invited the brilliant Briton Alcuin to lead the effort. Alcuin became the emperor's minister of education. In his school, children began by learning the prayers of the liturgy and all 150 Psalms.

Classical writers were studied and their works memorized. Learning by rote was the teacher's favorite method. Textbooks were written in the same way as a catechism with questions and answers that were learned by heart. The whole class sat on hard wooden benches and recited the dialogues in unison to the beat of the teacher's cane. When a pupil failed to remember his line that same cane was used for corporal punishment. These long dialogues couldn't have been too much fun, but this was the only route to the deep and rewarding position of a priest.

Our gospel passage finds Jesus in a similar setting. When He was twelve, Jesus came to visit the temple with His parents to observe the Feast of Passover. When the festival had ended, Joseph, Mary and family packed up and began the return journey to Nazareth. Evidently they traveled in a large caravan. The next morning they realized that Jesus was absent. For three days the parents searched for their eldest son until they found Him in the temple. There He was, sitting among the greatest scholars of the time.

What was Jesus doing? Let's not make the all too common mistake of assuming that a twelve-year-old was the one teaching the teachers. Maybe you have seen those pictures in children's Bible stories. According to this erroneous portrayal, Jesus is depicted in the midst of eminent rabbis and religious leaders in long gray beards. These elderly professors surround the Lord hanging on His every word as if He were preaching the sermon on the mount. But that notion contradicts Scripture. Luke 2:46 says, "Now so it was that after three days [Joseph and Mary] found [Jesus] in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions." What was He doing? He was listening to the preachers and professors and asking them questions. He was a student, not a teacher.

The reason that some Evangelicals get this scene mixed up is probably due to their tendency to overemphasize the divinity of Jesus and underestimate His humanity. They see the twelve-year-old putting on deity to dazzle the wise teachers. Being God He didn't need to acquire knowledge and understanding from elders. Jesus spoke words drawn from divine omniscience. At twelve years of age He literally knew it all. The other kids would have to learn the hard way through struggle, concentration and discipline, but not Jesus. He was God. This is how some Christians picture the adolescence of Christ.

But this description does not square with the incarnation. Christ never laid aside His humanity as He grew up. He was first a baby who had to slowly and clumsily master the ability to crawl around and walk, He was a boy who played and imagined things like other boys, He was a student and carpenter, and He gained mastery in these areas through the long arduous process of trial and error, study and hard work.

His purpose was to bless and consecrate the ordinary duties of life. In His youth, He experienced all the mundane activities, all the temptations, all the frustrations, doubts and fears we face. Had he been the teacher of the elders and the learned, He could not have been a good example for boys and girls and young people that He is.

The passage says that He was sitting among the teachers. Sitting signified learning among the Jews. He sat down to listen and learn from His teachers. He listened carefully; and then He asked questions. His questions flowed from His close listening, as is the case with all good and intelligent scholarship. Hence, it is evident that at the tender age of twelve Christ was what every twelve-year-old should be: a humble and diligent pupil.

Luke 2:40 says, "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him." The point is this: Deity does not grow. It cannot grow. It is already full and flawless. There can be no progress in divinity. But Christ "grew" - both bodily as well as mentally. It is further mentioned in Luke 2:52 as Jesus left the temple with Joseph and Mary that He "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."

This is the picture of Jesus we have. The young Messiah in His humanity had a passion for education. What are the implications of our Lord's love for education? There are several. Let us examine those now.

First, the fact that Jesus was a diligent schoolchild establishes a fellowship between Christ and every one who learns. Each student, no matter what his age, should feel sure of the sympathy of Christ in the entire process of acquiring knowledge.

Do you tire of study? Are you discouraged? Remember this: Jesus sympathizes with you in all your lessons, and all your homework and exams. Hebrews 4:15 is pertinent here: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are" Jesus is moved by all our struggles. If you are faithfully plodding through your worst subjects, you can be sure that Christ relates to you in every aspect of it.

Do math and grammar, music, poetry, or foreign language sometimes seem like drudgery? It did to Him. Do you have to suffer the toil of endless reading, and writing, and practice, and memorization, and taking tests, and doing homework, and studying? So did He. Do you have trials of being mistreated by other students, and made fun of, and teased? So did He. Do you worry about tests? and turning in papers on time? So did He. Is your mind burdened and taxed? So was His. Does the school week seem to last forever? It did for Him as well. In everything, you follow in His steps. You have His example, and you can be certain of His empathy, His help, and His oneness of heart with you, in a way in which no one else ever could.

What is another ramification of our Savior's zeal for instruction? Notice that He went to those teachers on His own volition. His parents did not take Him. They didn't know that He was there. He went because he had a keen yearning for learning. Joseph and Mary found Him sitting under wise men drinking it all in. And He asked His teachers many good and respectful questions; and He responded with many answers. And when He went home, He most likely continued with the same eagerness. He obediently learned at home all His father and mother taught Him. He learned carpentry from papa Joseph. And there is very little doubt that He memorized many facts. He thought deeply, and loved beauty and the arts. And He set for Himself high standards. In all likelihood He didn't give the bare minimum in His classes, rather He attempted to truly master His subjects. He saw His work and study as a worship to God the Father. He called learning "doing His Father's business." (Luke 2:49)

And so He grew into a man. He didn't remain a perpetual adolescent. He became mature and responsible. He taught with great authority and preached with sublime wisdom. He put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted the humble and meek. He filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He sent empty away. (Luke 1:52) He lived a great life and died a great death. He shed His blood for the sins of the world, and established an everlasting kingdom. But the foundation of it all was laid in His childhood.

And here we have a glimpse of what that childhood was. "Sitting in the temple, in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions."

There is a point to be made here both to those who teach, and to those who are taught. It is about asking questions. A good part of teaching is answering questions. If a pupil asks a question on his own, that is best, but most students are afraid to raise their hands. Therefore, the teacher must anticipate potential queries. Good teachers strive to read the minds of their students. They know the importance of posing the right question at the right time.

Then it is the student's responsibility to ask good and respectful questions. As a former teacher I know that certain ill-mannered students try to get attention by asking rude or irrelevant questions. Such behavior dishonors the authority of the teacher. Nevertheless, if you are a student of any kind, don't be ashamed to ask what may seem to be a dumb question. If you don't ask, the moment will pass you by, and you will remain ignorant all your life about interesting things, simply because you missed your chance to ask questions. We have the example of the finest specialist in learning. Christ Himself asked many questions.

Then there is another issue here. Education itself is consecrated by what the young Jesus did in the Temple. There we see Him sitting, a pure learner; in a sense, Christianizing education. It is a symbol of the close connection that exists between Christianity and education. What a dignity He gave the calling of every teacher! What an encouragement to the task of learning! By His avid involvement in education Christ sanctifies it. The teachers who taught the young Christ were a blessing to Him, and worthy of honor! And how about our Sunday School teachers? Those who teach Bible studies? Those who instruct the young people? Parents who teach their children? Those in the nursery? They are to be constantly encouraged and supported. What the nursery workers at St. Luke's do is amazing! They are teaching the baptized. They are shaping the character of the smallest members of the covenant family. What a great work it is to teach the next generation.

There is a message to all students sitting at desks, whether you are in a classroom or home schooled, at college or in a seminary, you are where Jesus was, doing exactly what He did, learning. What an honor! What a privilege! What a responsibility!

The Bible, furthermore, has some things to say to parents who seek a good education for their children. Our Lord said to His disciples in Luke 6:40, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher." The principle laid down is simple: a student will be like his teacher. Morally, spiritually, in terms of conduct, life-style, and worldview, a student will strive to emulate the one over him. It can not be avoided; it is one of the most powerful dynamics of education. At the age of 15, I became an atheist, even though my father was a Baptist preacher. For eight years my heart rejected God, because I wanted to follow in the steps of my atheistic music teacher.

Besides that, Scripture teaches that children are too young and gullible to discern truth from error; they are too inexperienced to separate sound doctrine from the false. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians and told them not to be children in understanding. He said in Ephesians 4:14, " we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive." The apostle is stating some facts about children. Teens and children are easily blown about by the winds of false ideology. They can be whirled about by trickery and craftiness. They are easily led astray into moral traps. Let us not be naïve. This is the great weakness of youth. It is the danger of all non-Christian education.

The connection between Christ and education is vital for our secular times. Consider what you do if you take religion out of education. You remove the foundation of intellectual integrity. Nothing improves and cultivates morality in a child like a Christian worldview. Education without Christ becomes arrogant and empty.

Without a Christian worldview how can education develop the child's soul? What is said about eternity? The afterlife? Heaven and Hell? What can be said about the doctrine of the image of God in man? Original sin and the remedy for sin? How about the doctrine of God's creation of everything out of nothing? His sustaining control over the operations of nature? God's providential hand controling every act and age of history? God's law as the perfect standard of righteousness? All these biblical, Christ-centered doctrines are inseparably woven into the very fabric of education. To extract Christianity from instruction leaves a hideous intellectual mess.

Combine Christ and education and you form Christ-like men and women. Separate Christ and education and you create monsters. There is nothing so destructive of the kingdom of God as this false dichotomy between the sacred and the secular. How did the Church ever allow this notion to survive that a few dimensions of life pertain to the realm of religion, and the rest belong to the non-religious realm? Why did we ever embrace the myth of the neutrality of education? How can we be satisfied with an educational system that compromises the authority of Christ?

J. Gresham Machen summed up well what the Church's posture should be. According to him, a prayer at the beginning of class is not enough. He wrote in an article on education, "The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of all connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought."

Our Lord's zeal for intellectual investigation and schooling sets a good example. Let us devote ourselves to a Christian worldview, to the unity of Christ with education. Let the teacher see Christ in the student, and the student see Christ in the teacher. And let every subject and intellectual field of study reflect the goodness, wisdom and power of Almighty God.

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