Jesus’ reply may seem flippant, but it was factual. The word know (underlined in the above text) is in the Greek pluperfect tense—a tense rarely used in the New Testament. The tense is similar to the perfect tense in that both refer to past completed actions with continuing results. The perfect tense implies that the results continue to the present, but the pluperfect tense implies that the results stopped prior to the present.[1] This suggested that Mary and Joseph should have understood Jesus’ nature and purpose and, therefore, not have been concerned about his decision to stay. They had revelation at the time of his birth regarding his unique nature and calling. Consequently, they should have known that Jesus must be about the work of his heavenly Father. The pluperfect tense emphasized that this knowledge was understood by his parents; however, they didn’t retain this knowledge, at least not in that moment.
Notwithstanding the revelation that Mary and Joseph had about their exceptional firstborn son, they were surprised and distressed by his decision to stay behind in Jerusalem. How much revelation did Mary and Joseph need to understand that Jesus had a unique divine calling that required a virgin birth and the essence of the God-man. Furthermore, having raised a twelve-year-old child prodigy who was highly biblically literate, Mary and Joseph should not have been surprised or distressed by his choice. Surely, they observed his commitment to biblical literacy, which required extensive study and discipline—something very unusual for a young child. Nevertheless, they had not properly processed—analyzed and synthesized—or retained an understanding of the revelation about their firstborn son. So, Jesus’ response to his parents in Luke 2:40 was not disrespectful but factual.
Jesus, the perfect child, was patient with his parents. When Mary and Joseph displayed their frustration with him, he responded with a gentle rebuke. His parents should have known that his priority was his divinely ordained assignment from his heavenly Father. In this incident, Jesus’ perfection and his parents’ imperfection were displayed.
At that moment in the Temple at the age of twelve, Jesus had a choice. He could stay with the theologians and join them in their work—he demonstrated that he was qualified and they respected him—or he could obey his parents and go home. He chose the latter.
Current-day success pundits would probably have criticized his choice. They would probably have encouraged him to stay and maximize his potential. They would probably have admonished him not to delay doing the work he had been created to do. But Jesus submitted to his parents and returned to his carpentry work under Joseph’s tutelage. Many people would be concerned that he made this choice. After all, why would someone choose the active work of carpentry over the contemplative work of theology as a career? Perhaps this incident provides a glimpse into Jesus’ definition of success.
Commonly, the idea of success includes things such as fame, fortune, power, and influence. Also, there are popular expressions that convey the pedestrian view of success; for example, the “pursuit of happiness” or the “American Dream” or “execute your bucket list” or “live your best life now.”
And Jesus seemingly had unlimited potential. He could have done anything he wished. For example, he could have had unlimited admiration, fame, wealth, notoriety, and popularity. He could have cast out all the demons, healed all diseases, eradicated poverty, evangelized the world, eliminated all sin, and cast out the Roman army to restore the physical kingdom to Israel. He did some of this, but not all.
Pundits could assert that Jesus was an underachiever. He could have had all the worldly markers of success but did not seek them. He could have been the most successful person in history, but he didn’t measure success with worldly metrics. Rather, Jesus was singularly focused on doing the will of the Father (John 5:19). Jesus, as the only perfect God-man, lived according to divine wisdom and measured success by divine metrics.
By age twelve, Jesus was a child prodigy and could have sought to fulfill his purpose by staying with the best theologians of his day but he didn’t, even though worldly pundits would probably have encouraged him to do so. He understood that his calling was to humbly submit to his parents even though they were flawed and he was perfect.
Over time, the divinely ordained path for Jesus was revealed. For eighteen years, he was a carpenter—as an apprentice and ultimately a master carpenter (Mark 6:3). Then at age thirty, he began his three-year career as an itinerant teacher that culminated in his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. At the end of his life, he was jobless, penniless, homeless, betrayed by his financial manager (Judas), rejected by the religious leaders, a convicted criminal, abandoned by his followers, and executed by his enemies. Nevertheless, this was in accordance with the will of the heavenly Father and, therefore, the road to success. Jesus sought to live aligned with the Father’s will, according to the Father’s ways, in the Father’s timing, and all for the Father’s glory. This is the ultimate—and only true—definition of success for anyone. And Jesus modeled it.
Jesus’ definition of success was clear. Because he was totally focused on the will of the Father and understood that Scripture was foundational for success, he applied himself to learn Scripture from his earliest days. He didn’t concern himself with building a following or a career or accumulating wealth or even a stellar reputation. He was the epitome of a humble servant leader who sought nothing that mankind would consider markers of success, he sought only to do the will of the Father. This is the true marker of success.
