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Why didn't Jesus' parents understand? Of all those who knew Jesus they should have seen it pretty clearly. How could they not understand that he was the son of God and when he was speaking of the Father he was speaking of his father - God Almighty.

Not only had Joseph and Mary, at this point, spent 12 years raising Jesus as their son, but they were visited by angles before his birth informing them of the greatest news ever given: the Son of God was coming to earth to save his people. Their son would be the promised Messiah, the Savior of the World.

It is so easy to say they should have understood what Jesus was saying here, but we have been blessed with hindsight. We have the written word of God spelled out for us in black and white. We have the words of Jesus and the events that surrounded him laid out before us through the eyes of 4 different people. We have God's plan for humankind laid out before us in letters written by some of his followers. All written down under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.

As I think about what they did know I can better appreciate why they may have not immediately understood. Yes they had been told through angles who Jesus was and why he came. They had been told essentially the big picture, but Jesus had not yet started explaining his mission to everyone and he wouldn't for another 17 years. Not to mention there was no cross, death, or resurrection to put it all into perspective.

When I look at what I understand about God and his son Jesus I know I am missing much even under the light of the whole of scripture. I can read parts of scripture over and over again and not really understand. Light bulbs do go on here and there and my understanding grows as I study, pray, and apply what I read in the Word to my life. Seeing the lack of understanding by Joseph and Mary in this account helps me to realize that complete understanding does not come all at once, if ever really in this life.

Really Random I think we have a tendency to look at faith like an academic exercise where we sit down and study the Bible during a certain period of time and then take a test, earn some kind of religions certification, and then we are done. We are now faith literate and we can now apply it all. The more I read the Bible the less academic I find it and the more challenged I feel in my faith. The more I see a intangible interconnection between the words of God, a personal relationship, and life application. A connection between reading, believing, and living but not in a neat simple sequential fashion, but in a more seemingly random, back and forth, sometimes messy, sometimes surprising fashion.

My understanding of God's plan seems to become more clear at the intersection of belief and life. To put it another way for me clarity has somehow come through learning, believing, and living all at the same time. Learning what God has said through the words in the Bible, believing those words, and living out what I believe.