Then [Jesus] returned to Nazareth with [His parents] and was obedient to them.
What an amazing display of humility and meekness. Such great power being placed under such great control. If I had the 12 Legions of angels at my constant call, the strength of God in my hands and the power that created the universe within my voice would I have always been obedient to my parents? Even when they didn’t understand what I was doing: why I was in a particular place? Surely this obedience would be strained further if they were then to be confused by my explanations!
Notes from the NLT Life Application Study Bible (Lk 2:49,50):
Even though he knew his real Father, Jesus did not reject his earthly parents.
He went back to Nazareth with them and lived under their authority for
another 18 years … If the Son of God obeyed his human parents, how much more
should we honour our family members! Don’t use commitment to God’s work to
justify neglecting your family.
This is pertinent to those in ministry. We can get so caught up in the doing of things to others that we neglect our relationships. There is a balance to be struck. But it must be a dynamic equilibrium in which we, as fulcrum, move our focus over the course of time.
I saw an excellent DVD from the 2006 Willow Creek Leadership Conference which explained this point far better than I. The talk was called “Dead Leader Running” and was by Wayne Cordeiro and is available from the Willow Creek website. If you are a leader in the church, I strongly recommend that you get hold of this from the website or from a friend and watch it regularly and absorb.
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