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The Obedience of Jesus

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
Luke 2:49–52

Though Jesus was always fully and completely God from the moment of His conception, He was also fully and completely human. And as a human, He had to go through the stages of growth, development, and learning that all of us do. Jesus was not born knowing how to walk or speak or care for Himself. He learned those things through submission and obedience to Mary and Joseph. In doing so, He set a powerful example for us.
I read recently about the extensive training Arabian horses go through in the deserts. The trainers test to make sure the horses are completely obedient. The final test is forcing the horses to go without water for a couple of days, then turning them loose near an oasis. Just as they get close to the water, the trainer blows his whistle. The horses stop, turn around, and come back. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience, he then gives them a signal to go back to drink as much as they want.
Many people seem to think that they have “outgrown” the need for obedience. They know what God commands in His Word, but they endeavor to change the meaning of words or explain them away through culture and context to avoid obedience. Nothing could be further from the example of Jesus. He was always obedient, from His birth to His death, and we should follow His example.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If Jesus, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, was subject to the authorities in His life, we have no excuse for rebellion.

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And going into the house [the wise men] saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11           I love reading. And some of my favorite books are stories in which everything is going along normally when all of a sudden, there’s a twist. If you’d been living at the time of Jesus and heard the story of the gifts that were brought by the magi, you would’ve heard about a shocking twist.           You see, the gold symbolized His royalty; the frankincense, His deity. But the myrrh was an incredibly unusual gift – myrrh was a substance used to embalm the dead. Why would you bring that as a gift for a baby?           Well, looking back 2,000 years later, we know why. That tiny baby, worshipped by the magi, came here to die on the cross for the sins of the world, His body anointed with spices and myrrh before it was buried. Now I’m certain the magi couldn’t have understood this. But just as God led them into the presence of the King, I believe He superintended the giving of these gifts – the myrrh foreshadowing His death.           Many people love the image of the baby Jesus, just as they love Christmas. But they don’t like to focus on His death on a cross. If we want to find truth, though, we have to accept the whole truth, even when we don’t like to hear it. And for these wise men, the whole truth was lying in that manger – this God-King who would die so that we might be born again.