It’s hard to fathom Jesus’ mindset as a
child and teenager. What would it be like to walk around knowing you’re God?
Our thoughts as a teen are controlled,
it seems, by our hormones. By the time Jesus’ little brain developed, allowing
Him to have conscious awareness, Jesus began to know who He was.
The only incident from Jesus’ childhood,
told in the Bible, shows that He understood His role in this world.
When
his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why
have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching
for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to
be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:48-49
From this incident we know that Jesus
understood by the age of 12 that He had a relationship with God that was
different than other people would describe. No one at the time dared called God
“Father.”
How did he come to this realization?
Jesus realized his identity through the
revelation of scripture, his parents and guidance by the Holy Spirit. It is not clear at what age He first
recognized His God-ness, but sometime by the age of twelve.
We all have had moments as we grew
older when we realized who we were – our talents, our calling, our habits, our
sinfulness. Jesus had a similar
awakening at a very young age.