Pertanyaan: 210. Berapa Umur Yesus Ketika Dia Mulai Memahami Sifat Misi-Nya?
Meskipun tidak dapat dilacak dengan tingkat ketepatan yang tinggi tahapan-tahapan perkembangan kesadaran akan misinya, jelas dari catatan Injil bahwa hal itu harus dimulai sejak dini dan meningkat secara bertahap hingga pemahaman yang lengkap saat memasuki masa dewasa. Kita diberitahu bahwa bahkan saat masih kecil, Ia bertumbuh dan menjadi kuat dalam roh, penuh hikmat, dan kasih karunia Allah ada pada-Nya. (Lukas 2:40). Di masa muda, kita menemukan Ia bertanya dan menjelaskan kepada para rabi di Bait Allah dan bertambah tinggi dan bertambah hikmat serta mendapat kasih karunia di hadapan Allah dan manusia. Pengetahuan luar biasa-Nya, pertanyaan-pertanyaan menakjubkan-Nya, dan jawaban-jawaban yang bijaksana kepada para tua-tua pasti semakin menonjol seiring berjalannya tahun-tahun awal ini, dan kita dapat menyimpulkan bahwa Maria telah merasakan firasat-firasat mengenai karier masa depan Putra Ilahi-Nya, karena ia merenungkan dan menyimpan semua hal ini dalam hatinya. Ada indikasi yang tampaknya membenarkan kesimpulan bahwa jauh sebelum dimulainya pelayanan publik-Nya, Yesus telah tenggelam dalam pemikiran akan misi yang ditakdirkan baginya. Ia mengetahui urusan Bapa-Nya dan melakukannya, dan Ia sering mengunjungi rumah Bapa-Nya. Hidup dan lingkungan-Nya di Nazaret membawanya berhubungan dengan orang-orang sederhana dan tulus serta dengan kesedihan dan penderitaan. Ini adalah tahun-tahun pembentukan karakter dan perkembangan. Mereka berbuah ketika waktunya telah tiba untuk pelayanan publik-Nya dan mempersiapkan-Nya untuk pembaptisan oleh Yohanes. Ini adalah tindakan terakhir dalam kehidupan pribadinya dan yang pertama menandai dimulainya misi publik-Nya, ketika suara surgawi menyatakan-Nya sebagai Anak yang Kukasihi dan Yohanes bersaksi bahwa Ia adalah Anak Allah.
Question: 210. How Old Was Jesus When He Began to Understand the Nature of His Mission?
Although one cannot trace with any degree of precision the various stages of development of the consciousness of his mission, it is evident from the Gospel record that it must have begun early and gradually increased to complete appreciation as manhood approached. We are told that even in childhood he "grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom," and the "grace of God was upon him." (Luke 2:40.) In youth we find him questioning and expounding to the rabbis in the temple and "increasing in stature and in wisdom and in favor with God and man." His wonderful knowledge, his amazing questions and his discerning answers to the elders must have become more and more accentuated during the passage of these early years, and we may gather that Mary had already premonitions of the future career of her Divine Son, since she pondered over and "hid all these things in her heart." There are indications that seem to warrant the conclusion that long before the opening of his public ministry, Jesus was absorbed by the thought of the mission to which he was destined. He knew his Father's business and did it, and he frequented his Father's house. His life and surroundings in Nazareth brought him in contact with a simple, earnest people and with sorrow and suffering. These were years of character-building and development They bore fruit when the time was ripe for his public ministry and prepared him for the baptism at John's hands. This was the last act of his private life and the first that marked the beginning of his public mission, when the heavenly voice proclaimed him as the "Beloved Son" and the Baptist bare record that he was the Son of God.
