Luke 2 -- His Own Agenda

Here in Luke 2 we get Luke's view of how the birth of Jesus came about. We also get a look at a few incidents from the early years of Jesus. Simeon and Anna give great witness to the work that lie ahead for Jesus. Then we enter a time warp and move to when Jesus was 12. On one of their regular trips to Jerusalem Mary and Joseph lose track of Jesus, but assume he was with the group headed back to Nazareth. Jesus has a different plan.

And thus begins Jesus working from his own agenda and not the agenda of others. Throughout the rest of Jesus life there are people telling him how he is suppose to function and what it really looks like to be the Messiah. This tradition carries into our day. We have all at one point, possibly many points, told Jesus with words, actions or expectations, how to be the Messiah. Just like with the 12 year old Jesus, there is a different agenda, and we are not the ones who set it. Jesus works from his own agenda.

It is not that Jesus is formed in our image. Not that Jesus needs to become more like us, rather we must become more like Jesus. What does that mean. We need to be in the places he would be, be around the people Jesus would be around, and live like Jesus lived. The goal of following Jesus is not to get Jesus to fit our agenda, that is religion. The goal is to conform our lives and agenda's to Jesus. Not easy, but it is our call.