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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Luke 2:51
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This incident did not mean that Jesus failed to show proper respect and submission to his parents, even though Joseph was only his legal father. He obeyed the 5th commandment perfectly, as he obeyed every other commandment. Although there was something that they did not grasp, he would not take advantage of their confusion, but he would make himself subject to their authority over him as a child. He submitted to those who did not fully understand who he was. He did what was right whether or not they grasped what he was doing.How excellently he lived, and how fully he took our humanity. The everlasting Son of God became subject to two human beings acting as his parents. This was part of his humiliation, but he did it without resentment out of obedience to his Father in heaven who has commanded all children to be subject, no exceptions.Mary kept these things in her heart. We have been told that she has done this before in chapter 2:19. She did not understand them all at first, but she treasured them, and she went back and examined them often, gaining insight as she did so. She treated these words that had come from the twelve-year old Jesus as words of prophecy which they were.
Application
Obviously, if the Son of God subjected himself to human parents, every other child should do the same. This was part of his example to mankind. Subjection is natural for a little child, because a child is weak, dependent, has less understanding than his parents. But for Christ this was not true. He understood many things that his parents did not grasp, and yet he was careful to be in submission and to humbly obey their commands.
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