The Six Days of Christmas (3) Through all his wondrous Childhood

In our travels through the carol, "Once in Royal David's City" we've arrived at verse 3:

And through all his wondrous childhood
he would honour and obey,
love and watch the gentle mother
in whose tender arms he lay:
Christian children all should be
kind, obedient, good as he.

JESUS WAS A NORMAL KID

This blog is mainly for the kids - perhaps parents would like to read it with their children.

Frances, the author of the Carol, reminds us that Jesus grew up the way we all grow up, he passed through all the stages of life that we do. Babyhood, toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, youth, adulthood but not middle age or old age. We all know why.

In the first part of his life Jesus had to learn how to obey his parents. I shall call them his mom and dad even though we know that his coming into the world was a little different from ours. Whatever those details, Jesus had to live in a house with two grown-ups he called mother and father.

We read that Jesus was obedient to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:51), and all Christian children should follow his example and "honour and obey" their mothers and fathers too.

Jesus also had to learn how to get on with brothers and sisters. He was the oldest child which probably meant that his parents had been stricter on him than the rest because they were learning how to be parents and didn't want to get it wrong. That sometimes happens.

His parents would have expected him to set an example to his younger brothers and sisters, because he had more experience than they did.

Christian children all should be
Kind, obedient, good as he.

JESUS WAS DIFFERENT

"Ah" but some bright spark will say, "Jesus was God and this helped him to obey his mother and father." Or perhaps, "Jesus was sinless and perfect, he had no sinful nature like me, that's why he could obey his mother and father, but why I can't."

It's true that Jesus did have a divine nature, but that nature never stepped in to support or empower his human nature. Otherwise Jesus could not be called a real human being like us. If every time a brother or sister taunted him, Jesus called on his divine nature to help him deal with it, Jesus could not be called a human like us.

It's true that Jesus did not have a sinful human nature like we do. But that did not stop Satan from whispering terrible suggestions into his ears, which he had to resist.

Jesus' real humanity means that like every Christian child he had to work on obedience, asking his Father for help and relying on the Holy Spirit's power.

So we can't use the divinity of Jesus or his sinlessness to justify our slips and mistakes can we?

If we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have the power of his Holy Spirit in our hearts, just as Jesus did, and if we pray for God's help we can obey mom and dad and we can learn to get on with our brothers and sisters.

Off from school this Christmas time and spending so much time with our families, getting on is even more important than normal. Let's remember that loving and agreeable relationships with everyone pleases and honours the Lord who first loved us.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our Father in heaven,

We would love to have spent a day in the Joseph and Mary household. There we would have seen all the ordinary struggles we see in every home in every country of the world.

But we would also have seen the quiet example of the oldest boy, who empowered by the Holy Spirit, respected mom and dad and got on with his brothers and sisters.

Help us to be kind, obedient and good as he. With your help.

We ask these things for your glory and for our good.

Amen