4. What do these words signify ? They claim Sonship — " my Father " ; they claim also the necessity of obeying the demands of Sonship — " I must " ; and they claim that what the Father demands of the Son is Service — "about my Father's business." So we have —
I. Sonship. II. Surrender. III. Service.
Sonship.
"My Father."
1. In His first words, Jesus claims Divine Paternity, and for Himself Divine Sonship. When His mother said "Thy father and I have sought thee," she meant Joseph, but when Jesus said "my Father's business," He did not mean Joseph, for He was not about Joseph's business when in the Temple, questioning, and being questioned by the doctors. We can put no other fair mterpretation on the phrase " my Father " than that which makes
128 ALWAYS AT WORK
it refer to God, His Divine Father. It was His business that He was about when in The temple, not Joseph's.
" My Father." This was Jesus' name for God. When He spoke to God He always called Him " Father." When He was successful in His work, He said, " Father, I thank thee." When He was overcome with grief, He cried, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass." When He pleaded for His disciples, He said, " Father, keep through thine own name these whom thou hast given me." On the cross He prayed, " Father, forgive them," and with His last breath He said, *' Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." This is the word He wanted all men to use.
The first use of the name "Father" by Jesus was to name God, not a man. Our souls first know an earthly father, then climb up as by a beautiful ladder of the soul to the idea of a heavenly Father. Jesus knew first the Father above. He lived under Him, carried Him in the sweetest centre of His being, had His will shaped by Him, and was inspired by hope and love and submission to Him. Little children grow up to call the man in their house, who gave them their life and provides that life with home and food, <' father," "my father." But Jesus grew up to think of God as all this. From the first He was inspired by the thoughts of the strength and the love of God, His Father, and was a loyal child of the will of God.
^ I was telling her how sternly children were brought up fifty or sixty years ago ; how they bowed to their father's empty chair, stood when he entered the room, did not dare speak unless they were spoken to, and always called him " sir." " Did they never say ' father * ? Did they not say it on Sundays for a treat ? " A little while later, after profound reflection, she asked — " God is very old ; does Jesus call Him Father ? " " Yes, dear ; He always called Him Father." It was only earthly fathers after all who did not suffer their babes to come to them.^
2. Christ's first saying was not a moral precept, but a solemn declaration concerning His relation to God. He breaks forth on the world at the age of twelve, and claims to be the Son of the Eternal Father. Was it now that the consciousness of this great fact dawned upon Him, or was it present with Him during the whole of His early childhood in Nazareth ? The confident calm-
» W. Canton, TF. V. : Her Book, 122.
ST. LUKE II. 49 129
ness with which He utters it suggests that He was previously conscious of the relationship. As a Jewish boy, brought up in a devout religious home, He must have been early instructed in the Law and the Prophets. Before He was born, His mother was visited by an angel, who communicated to her a Divine message of marvellous significance. " Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." Would not His mother tell Him, before He reached the age of twelve, of this angelic visit and of the mysterious message ? Could she, as a fond mother, well withhold it ? While studying the Law and the Prophets, during the early years of childhood in Nazareth, His eye may have fallen on Isaiah's significant passage, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Would He not at once interpret the meaning and, applying it to Himself, understand that He was the Immanuel who was to be born of a virgin ? Had He read, or had there been read to Him, in the secluded home of Nazareth, the passage in Deut. xviii. 18, 19, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him " ? Had He a glimpse of Himself when the passage was read ? In the Temple, what portions of the Hebrew Scriptures were read in the service ? Was it Isaiah liii., or Psalm ii., or Psalm xxii., or Psalm Ixxii., or Psalm ex. ? Were these included in the seven days' service, or in the discussion among the doctors ? Did the child of twelve years hear any inward voice, saying, I am He of whom Psalmists and Prophets speak ? Was the grandeur of His mission opening out to Him ? Was the spirit of His mission possessing Him ? Did He now say to Himself, in the mysterious depth of His own consciousness, " For this cause came I unto this hour," "and how am I straitened until it be accom- plished"? When now He made the great announcement to His mother, that God is His Father and that He is the Son of God, did He not set His seal to the angel's mysterious words, " He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest " ?