Words of Jesus Podcast - Understanding Authority

Episode Date: January 29, 2021

After the escape from Herod as a young child, the Scriptures are silent about the life of Jesus, though we can deduce from Luke that is was the custom of his family to keep the Feasts of the LORD. At the age of 12, Jesus had his bar mitzvah - moving him to the authority of his Father. ***Jesus as a Boy of Twelve in the TempleWHEN JESUS was twelve years old he went to Jerusalem with his parents for the Feast of Passover, as was their custom.           Their religious duties completed, the parents went a day’s journey on their return to Nazareth before they discovered that Jesus was not in the company traveling with them.           They returned to Jerusalem seeking him and, after three days, found him in the temple. He was sitting in the midst of the temple teachers, both hearing and asking them questions. All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.           His parents were amazed and Mary asked:           “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”           And Jesus replied:           “How is it that ye sought me? Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”***The Passover Feast: (Exodus 12:14-28; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8)These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Hello, I'm Don Harris. I'm excited to share this series on the words of Jesus with you. This book includes the story of Jesus, His life, His friends, His ministry, as recorded in the four Gospels. We'll see how Jesus examines, instructs, corrects, and confounds the people of His day, all the while loving them. We'll start with Jesus as a boy of 12 in the temple. When Jesus was 12 years old, He went to Jerusalem with His parents for the Feast of Passover,

as was their custom. Their religious duties completed. The parents went a day's journey on their return to Nazareth before they discovered that Jesus was not in the company traveling with them. They returned to Jerusalem seeking Him and after three days found Him in the temple. He was sitting in the midst of the temple teachers, both hearing and asking them questions. All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

His parents were amazed, and Mary asked, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And Jesus replied, How is it that ye sought me? Know ye not that I must be about my father's business? This story has been taught and told many different ways and for many different reasons and many different ideas have come from it.

Today I want to look at it a little differently. One of the things that happened to me as I started to rediscover Christianity in its truest form, eliminating the ideas of convention and ritual and the way things have always been done, I started looking into the Hebrew culture. We have to understand that Jesus was definitely Jewish. And He was raised in a Jewish culture. There is a Jewish

custom of bar mitzvah. Familiar with this? It comes from the two words which mean son and commandment. This is when a child comes out from under the tutelage and care of his mother and goes under his father in the home. And to bar mitzvah is to become a son of the commandments. It's a beautiful thought in many different ways. However, this particular day was a little

strange. It was strange in the fact that there's no reason to believe that Mary and Joseph weren't together at this particular point. I mean standing together. Of course we know this was the last mention of his father being alive, but we do know that he was there and he was on this search for his son with his wife Mary. And I've often thought

about this, if we took this same conversation that they're having in the temple with all these rabbis sitting around and him answering their questions and asking them questions, receiving answers of them, and learning of doctrine and the way things are, the way things should be, what he's always felt like should be questions that he's had that certainly the rabbis could answer. There was a lot of things going on that day. But one thing that was not

going on was carpentry. Now what I mean by that is if we take this whole conversation and move it to a carpenter's shop, the whole idea of what we're seeing here changes drastically. Because as Jesus was approaching the age of 13, we don't know honestly that he wasn't 13 at this point because of what's called inclusive and exclusive counting.

It is not uncommon for one person to use inclusive counting, which would make him in his 13th year, which would make him 12, and there would be another person who would say that he was 13. We really don't understand a lot of those things, and it's always a problem as you're going through textual criticism and trying to understand exactly what the numbers mean. But that aside

Jesus was approaching Bar Mitzvah and the time was coming for him to be about his father's business. If they were standing in a carpenter's shop and Mary says, why have you done this? You've scared us to death. We've been looking for you. And he looked at the carpenter's shop and he introduced him to the man there who was teaching him different fundamentals of carpentry.

And he looks at his mother and says, didn't you know I had to be about my father's business? What would this say about what Jesus thought, how he felt about who his father was? If his father was indeed his earthly father, Joseph, then it would make perfect sense for him to be about his father's business by being involved in carpentry. Joseph could be standing beside Mary at this point and hearing his son

say, didn't you know I must be about my father's business? And think to himself, this isn't my business. This isn't what I do. I'm not a rabbi. I'm not a member of the Sanhedrin. I know nothing about what you're doing over here. What do you mean about your father's business? I'm saying all this to emphasize the fact that Jesus was in no doubt who his father was. Mary was in no doubt as to who his father was. Mary dealt with these things for many years. And I happen to believe, just from little hints that I read in the scripture, that she struggled with exactly who this child was and what he was all about.

Just the very announcement of her pregnancy made a child leap in another woman's womb which turned out to be John the Baptist, the precursor to Christ. As this time goes by, Jesus, not even an adult yet, there was many things that Mary had to deal with. But there came a time, if you remember the wedding at Cana, when he turned water into wine. Mary was a totally different woman

at this point. Eighteen years had gone by. It didn't, I don't know how long it took her to learn, but we know that in eighteen years of living with Jesus, it changed a lot about how she felt about who exactly her son was. To the point that the servants at this wedding, when they ran out of wine, she, well, sort of coerced Jesus. We'll talk about this. Matter of fact, you know, we're going to talk about everything that Jesus did. That's the one thing that we love at Think Red Ink Ministries is to introduce people to all this red ink,

all the words that Jesus said, the people around him, what was said to him, how he answered them, the questions he asked, the way people answered. Do you realize that when we're done with this series, you're going to have a familiarity with the Son of God like you've never experienced before in your life. I don't want you to miss an episode. But in the 18 years where Mary was learning these things and trying to put these things together in her own heart,

something had changed. Because as the servant said, you know, we're out of wine, what do we do? She had coerced her son, and we'll talk about that later, to make water into wine or to bring about a miracle. She didn't know what he would do. But she knew her son at this point, like she had never been evidenced before. She looked at the servants and said, whatever he tells you

to do, do it. Now that sounds to me like somebody who has learned something from way down inside them that this is not up for debate, folks. This is, We're just going to have to accept the fact that this boy is a little different. And his father is not an earthly being. His father is Jehovah himself. I think she came to grips with this and I think

it's evidenced in the story of the wedding at Cana. Now Jesus also knew that in the Jewish culture in which he lived and worked, he was very familiar with the concept of bar mitzvah. Bar mitzvah is when a 12-year-old, 13-year-old child comes out from under, as I say, the authority and even the care and tutelage of his mother

and moves under the authority and instruction of his father and becomes a son of the commandment. And the commandments of God then rule his life. As a matter of fact, in Jewish culture, once a child has undergone bar mitzvah, he is from that point on responsible for his relationship to God, sins that he may commit, breaking of whatever commandments, they're his responsibility. This is why

in some conventional churches today, as they deal with what they call the age of accountability, you've heard that. Some people say that it's 12, some people say that it's 18, I guess because of voting age, I don't know where they get their information, but nonetheless, there is an age of accountability. Now, there are many people that attach it to 12, and some people have quoted

or at least cited the custom of the Jews and the bar mitzvah. Now I happen to believe that the age of accountability is 20 years old and if there is an age of accountability I think that there are people that are likely accountable before that and some not accountable

until way after that. It's a very gray area. However, if you'll notice when the Lord divided the children of Israel in the wilderness, He chose to take away 20 years old and upward. It's almost like when you're 20 years old, you can make your own decisions, and you should be responsible for them. This is just a personal idea, a concept within myself. Nothing really special about that. And it's not a doctrinal thing. It's not something you can teach.

But it is something that I think that, I mean, when I was growing up, I heard about this. But young people today, they don't hear about this at all. That there is an age, there is a time in your life when you are responsible to God for your life. Now, Jesus felt this time approaching. I don't know if he felt it as much as you can calculate it mathematically as to when this is supposed to occur in a boy's life where he goes under the instruction and the correction and the authority of his father. I think it's

interesting that even at this point when he looks at his mother and says did you not know? As if she should know this. This is nothing new. This is nothing that I've introduced to the world. Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? Didn't you know that my bar mitzvah is approaching? Didn't you know that I have to come out from under

that human body that is so necessary for him to come and redeem us. Although it is as necessary as it is, I have to move away from the fleshly part of my life and who I am and move into the spiritual aspect of who I am. Now, friend, that's true for every one of us. Every one of us have to move from one to the other. Paul said, when I was a child, I spake as a child,

I acted like a child, I played Monopoly, I rode my bike every day. All right, I might be adding to the scriptures here. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Do you know how uncommon that is today? Our children grow into adulthood, and the happiest revelation that occurs to them is, nobody can tell me what to do anymore.

I'm 18 years old. Well, my dear young friend, you need to look into where the idea of 18 years old came from, first of all. That was not awarded to 18 years old being considered an adult. That wasn't awarded to all the young people in the whole world because you deserved it. It was actually a, I don't want to get into all the history of it, but it was a very selfish reason that it even came about. 21 was the age for a long long time until the Vietnam War.

And so we had people that were an adult because they had lived for 21 years which is in line with what we were saying before about the children of Israel being divided at 20 years old and upward. Now I don't want you to miss the fact that Jesus when he used the term did you not know he was not talking about a new

concept this is what all 12 year old boys need to do they need to go to the temple and learn no not at all what he was telling her was this is my bar mitzvah this is when I am moving from being a child, frankly, from being your son and becoming a son of the commandment, a son of my father, a son of his words, his words from this point, his instruction from this point

is going to rule my life and set aside everything fleshly in my life. This is going to be my bar mitzvah. I am going to be about my Father's business. I happen to believe that from that time onward was when Jesus actually studied Scripture and studied the religions of the day and got to know that whole world of religion out there. And so when he started his ministry, he started at another age that is in Jewish culture of 30 years

when a man, when a young man at 30 years old, he's considered to be a man. And it was at the age of 30, I believe it's the book of Mark that says when he began to be about 30 years old. As I say, the inclusive and exclusive counting can be kind of confusing. But when he began to be about 30 years old is when he started his ministry. Now, I guess what I'd like for us to realize is, I'm not here trying to impose a Jewish ritual or custom. As a matter of fact, the bar mitzvah is not found in Scripture. It's found in Jewish culture.

And just because it's Jewish doesn't mean it's necessarily correct automatically. They made some mistakes. One of the largest mistakes they ever made was knowing so much about the Savior, so much about John the Baptist, the reincarnation of Elijah. They knew so much about these things, yet those men walked through their city exemplifying their relationship to God, exemplifying the power that had been given them, and they were both unrecognized by a majority of the religious men of the day.

So it's not a matter of taking Jewish culture and trying to force it into Christianity. It's just taking good common sense of an aged culture like Judaism that came up with these particular rules and these particular ways of life that work very, very well. And the bar mitzvah is one of them. I happen to believe that if we practice this not even necessarily as a religious practice, but if we practice this where a child, especially a son,

comes to a certain age, he needs to come out from under the authority and the well, he'll always somewhat be under the authority of his mother, but under that tutelage and guidance of his mother and move in with his father. He needs to start going to work with dad. He needs to learn to become a man. This is why it's so tragic in our country that we don't have any fathers at home. Friend, I don't want to insult you, my dear

brother, but I know you're home, but are you a man? Are you what you ought to be? Are you raising your children? Or are they watching you go off and play golf every weekend? Are they watching you act like a 14-year-old in front of the television watching a football game? Or are they following you in the spiritual culture that God has called you to? And he wants this for you and he wants this for your family. If you've given up on religion, if you've given up on the church and you've given up on all these kind of things, be a man and find out what the truth is. Look, I'm with you. I'm talking about my own life here. I'm with you. There are so many things wrong that it was pushing me

toward atheism and I wanted nothing to do with it. But there was something down in me and I think there's something down inside you that tells you that there's a nugget of truth here somewhere and we need to find out what that is we need to push aside all the humbug and push aside all of the fantasy and the fables and the ridiculousness of church and the ridiculousness of the hierarchy of the church and all the foolishness that goes along with it but not just that aside, but find the truth and bring it into our families. And you know what will happen? You'll become a man. What will happen?

Your son will respect you. And what will happen is you're going to bar mitzvah your boy. And there's probably nothing, there's probably no remedy better in America right now than for young men to have fathers. One of the most important things in the world. I think that this concept should be so clear and so much a part of our lives that Jesus Christ would be as surprised as he was when his mother was crying about this situation. He looked at her and said, surprised as he was when his mother was crying about this situation,

he looked at her and said, did you not know that I must be about my father's business? This isn't something new. This isn't something I made up. This is something that we all grew up with. You knew this day was coming. You knew this was going to happen. So what's the surprise here? That I've chosen Jehovah God as my father?

You know he's my father. That I decided that I'm not going to be a carpenter? I'm not going into that particular line of work? The work that I'm going into is that my intention is to please my father. It's the only thing on my mind. He even said in the Gospel of John, I do always those things that please the Father. Thank God He did.

Because we needed an innocent man to stand in our place and for the offering of that man's life to pay for our ransom for which we were being held by the God of this world. I am excited about going through this book with you. I want you to be as well. And if you find yourself in this series or having missed some of them, we're going to try our best to make them available. What I'd love for you to do is to write to me. Tell me you're watching the show. That's all. I just want you

to tell me you're watching the show and a part of what we're doing here because where we're going from here is going to be, I don't, it really doesn't matter if you've been studying your Bible all of your life. It really doesn't matter how far up in the church you are or whatever your spiritual attainment is. You're going to learn some wonderful things here. Revelations from God, my friend. These are not, these are not just great ideas. These are not just inventions of a person's mind but he reveals these things as we go

no doubt as you listen today things were revealed to you and ideas came into your head that you never even considered you're not going to get used to that but it is going to become very, very familiar to you. I just want you to have what the Lord wants you to have, which is good, solid relationship and good communication. My advice to everyone, our radio audience, our television audience, is very, very simple. And that is, we have

just a few duties that the Lord requires of us. There's a scripture that says, what do you require of us? Well, not much. Really. I require that you love mercy, that you do justly, and walk humbly with your God. Isn't that a wonderful thing? I didn't hear church-going mentioned there.

I didn't hear Bible study mentioned there. I didn't hear all the things that seem to be so very important to everybody. But what I did hear was, I want to build the character inside my man that he lost in the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ is going to exemplify that character. He's going to bring it to pass in his own life, and he's going to show us how to do it as we go. You're in for the most wonderful journey of your life if you'll be a part of these shows and i want you to know that we're going to do everything we can to make these things available to you so if you miss shows you can

attain them through think ready ministries would you like to know how to get in touch with us if you'd like to be a part of what we're doing here, we'd love to have you to be a part of the family. And one of the things that we need to do is to get you our address. Very simply, Don, if you're an electronic person, all you've got to do is write to don at thinkredinc.com and I'll get your email

and we'll get you whatever materials you need. That's all for today join us tomorrow for the next episode in this series on the words of Jesus I hope you're enjoying the series do you have questions we'd like to hear from you.

Remember that email address is don at thinkredinc.com or you can write a paper letter, the old fashioned paper letter. Just write it to Think Red Inc. Ministries at P.O. Box 718 Pytown, New Mexico or you could use the email address and we'll get it instantly and we'll make it all happen for you.

Thanks for being a part of the show today. It's been good. It'll be just as good tomorrow. Alright, here's some advice. What did Jesus say? Think credit. Just that simple. Bye-bye. © transcriptF-WATCH TV 2021 © transcript Emily Beynon you