The Boy

This is the time in the Christian calendar when we consider the meaning of the incarnation, or, God’s coming to us in the the person of Jesus.  Our current Christmas series intends to look at the meaning of Jesus’ life from the standpoint of his experience of our life, first as a baby, then as boy, and finally as a man.  While at Easter we consider why he died, it is this time in the season where we should consider the meaning of his life.  I was assigned the middle message in the series (the boy).  I began with the one story we have about Jesus’ boyhood and extended it into the 18 long years where he grows into full manhood.

These are what we call the silent years of Jesus, and this topic has fascinated me for some time now.  We call them his silent years because we have nothing written which can illumine that time period.  My interest is in what these years in Jesus’ life might mean to the development of not only his life, but every life.  For years of formation often come about in hiddenness.  You will see that in this message I took a “spiritual formation” track.  Jesus grew (Luke 2:52) is a statement about his humanity and an insight into our own formation before God.

So here is the text of the message I spoke this past weekend at Westside King’s Church.  It is entitled The Boy.