Felling Folly With Wisdom
Very little is known about Jesus’ early life. Aside from his infancy — as recorded by Matthew and Luke — there’s an important episode when Jesus was twelve years old. Having gone to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover his parents, Mary and Joseph, lose their son only to find him in the temple being instructed by the teachers. In a moment of profound self-identification, Jesus’s response seeks to dispel the ignorance of his parents: “I must be about my Father’s business.” Simultaneously he’s the son of Mary and Joseph and the Son of the Father.
After this experience, the Evangelist summarizes the rest of Jesus’ most formative years: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). This is a remarkable statement about the normal human development of Jesus, and how, as he matured in age and body, in his soul he advanced in wisdom.
Wisdom, simply and biblically defined, is the godly application of truth to a specific situation. It’s not merely the accumulation of facts and knowledge but it’s putting knowledge to work. Or, to define it this way, wisdom is the skill of godly living.
From his childhood the boy Jesus learned wisdom — he became skillful in godly living. While the Bible doesn’t say exactly how he became skillful, it’s not useless speculation to conclude he did so the way any person is made wise: through instruction in the Word of God: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright” (Proverbs 2:6-7). As Jesus learned the Scriptures he learned wisdom.
For some people, instruction in wisdom may sound like a dull and dreary exercise. The language that Luke uses, however, is however colorful. He says Jesus “increased” — he advanced or drove forward in wisdom. Commentator I. Howard Marshall wrote that the original sense of the word was “to make one’s way forward by chopping away obstacles,” and other commentators note the word is derived from cutting down trees in the pathway of an advancing army. That might suggest the imagery that Jesus, as a young boy and man, advanced in wisdom by hewing down the forest of folly: “My son, let them not depart from your eyes— Keep sound wisdom and discretion […] Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble” (Proverbs 3:21-23).
While the Evangelist is preparing us for the testimony that follows, the verse serves, in a real sense, to demonstrate the ideal picture of a man’s youth. Wisdom is not the pursuit of the old and gray in hair, but is best found in the formative years of development — from childhood onward. In the pages of the Bible the voice of wisdom cries aloud: “Young Men, Listen!”
Parents and churches need to harmonize their voices with wisdom. Boys and men, enlisted in the ranks of Jesus Christ, need to be exhorted to move forward like an advancing army. They must advance! But not by the vices sometimes present in youth – pseudo-masculinity, debased impulses, contrarian attitudes, or naive levity. The path for advance can only be made as wisdom – skillful godly living – fells the trees of foolishness and folly, whose roots have often tripped and ensnared the young. Like the Captain of our Salvation we need men who drive forward by biblical wisdom.
