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Show By DR. KENNETH J, FOREMAN SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:1315, 19-23; Mark 6:3: Luke 2:39-52. DEVOTIONAL READING: Luke 2:25-32. 2:25-32. His Growing Years Lesson for January 16, 1949 DOUBTLESS God can do anything any-thing he wants to do. He could have sent Jesus to earth on a moonbeam; moon-beam; he could have had him for the first 30 years P?V lonely peak in the u Andes iaT from jp t") any human dwell- YV-;3 ing; he could have k sent him into the 'h$'s'? world full-grown, pl!p without ever hav-l;: hav-l;: ing to go through fc&&ll& i2J the grind of grow-Dr. grow-Dr. Foreman in and learning as the rest of us do. But God did not plan it that way. If the manhood of Jesus was to be real, and not a hothouse facsimile, he had to come up the hard way. Angels do not grow, they just are; but human beings grow. The great difference between Jesus and ordinary ordi-nary mortals is not that they grow and he did not; the difference is 'that he grew straight. No 'Good Chance' THE world around us makes its impression on us; it makes no impression on dolls. They go on smiling their built-in, painted-on smiles, but we have to learn through tears. And so did Jesus. The heavenly Father saw to it that his experiences were not always easy ones. He was bom in a stable, of parents who were very poor, living liv-ing the first few years of his life as a displaced person in a foreign country, with a price on his baby head. He grew up in a village "off the main line," among companions com-panions not one of whom ever became famous, working through long years at a simple and not too well-paid trade. During Jesus first 30 years his neighbors never guessed that the most extraordinary person of history was living in their village. We sometimes wish that we had an easier time of it, and that God had seen fit to cast our lot in some big city with a rich family, instead in-stead of where we are. We feel we could be better people if we "had a chance." Yet every reader of these lines has a far better chance than Jesus. It did not take perfect surroundings to shape, a perfect life. Holy Family WE CALL Joseph and Mary and the rest the "Holy Family," but they were not known that way in Nazareth. They were just Joseph Jo-seph the carpenter, and his Mary. Then there were the boys and girls; Mark (6:3) tells the boys names, but no one ever remembered remem-bered to put down the sisters' names. Even then it was no small family. Jesus, as the oldest of seven, sev-en, would have many responsibilities. responsibil-ities. After Joseph's death he would be the chief breadwinner. Seeing that the rent was paid, that there was grain in the house for Mary to grind into meal, finding money for clothes for seven growing children chil-dren this could not have beer I easy for Jesus the young carpenter. They were not an easy family fam-ily to live with, those boys and girls. When Jesus later began bis work of teaching and healing, heal-ing, we- hear that even his brothers did not believe in him. But in spite of the brothers, there was always Mary. Mother-like, she loved her first-born as no other could or did. There are some who worship hei as "Queen of Heaven;" butit ii enough for us to remember that she was queen of the home where Jesus the child grew to be Jesus ths man. Not this side of heaver can we know how much we owe as Christians, to this one woman whose mind and spirit were wover ii.to the thought and spirit of hei Son. - Home Memories INDEED, Jesus whole boyhooc was woven into his manhood Among life's most precious mem ories are those of our growing years. Later on, we can see hov Jesus' mind was bright with mem ories of home. The parables of the patched garment, of the leaven hid den in the meal, of the poor worn an hunting with a lamp for her one lost coin, of the hungry neighboi at midnight, of the son who saic "I go" but did not go these anc rrlany others may well be echoes of Jesus' boyhood home. Deeper than these are Jesus' habits oi prayer, his fondness for calling God "Father," his familiarity with. Scripture even in death's agony here surely are patterns learned In childhood's growing years. (Copyright by the Internationa) Council f ficticious Education on behalf ol 40 Protestant denominations. Released by WNU Features.) |