What I like about New Year is that it allows me to start over again. It’s like a fresh new diary book to write another 365 pages of my dream journey. Whether you regard 2024 as a successful year for you or not, the new year gives you another starting point to renew your dream.
Another thing I like about the New Year is that it marks a new milestone in an incredible miracle in history. Our calendar is a testimony to Jesus Christ. We often neglect the significance of the calendar we see every day. 2025 means it has been two thousand and twenty-five years since the birth of Jesus Christ, more or less.
It’s a miracle because it was about a child born to a young peasant woman in an obscure town behind an obscure inn in a probably smelly manger. After his birth, his king tried to murder him, so his family had to escape to Egypt. He was a refugee kid.
Even the town he grew up in later was so obscure that people in those days believed nothing good could come out of Nazareth. With all the obstacles and obscurity, this child broke human history into two parts: BC and AD—BCE and CE to make it politically correct.
No matter how you call it, 2025 still points back to the birth of Christ. Each time you put down your signature, you refer to Jesus Christ by putting the date next to it. Even the atheist communists must make reference to him.
Christmas is not just a joyful winter solstice celebration or a year-end commercial festival. We must not see it any less than the immense impact of an obscure child who divided our history into two parts. Each time I look at the calendar, I see the evidence of a miracle that only God could have done.
As we prepare for the New Year to take another shot at life to make it more fruitful, I believe we can learn significantly from this divine child who has made the maximum impact in the world. This Sunday’s scripture lesson shows how Jesus grew in three aspects of life: Wisdom, Maturity, and Charisma, which I call the three pillars of personal growth for maximum impact.
According to Luke, that’s how the divine child grew up, and we can use these three pillars as our reference to make New Year’s resolution. Let’s check it out.
The scripture lesson for today is from the Gospel According to Luke 2:41–52. [Listen to the Word of the Lord!]
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. (Lk 2:41–52).
[Blessed are those who delight in God’s Word. Thanks be to God!]
The last verse summarizes how Jesus grew up in the three pillars of personal growth: “wisdom, years, and divine and human favor.” “Wisdom” is clear. “Years” requires interpretation. Some manuscripts say “stature” instead of “years.” After some research, I concluded that it means “maturity,’ behaving like an adult or a mature person.
The word “favor” is translated from Greek Charis (χάρις), which means “grace.” It’s also the root word for “charisma.” It means he grew in charisma—charming God and people, attracting God’s grace and social grace. We will talk more about this later.
Even though Luke gave us a very brief summary of Jesus’ growth, it is a good framework for balanced personal development. We also read about how Prophet Samuel grew similarly in the Old Testament. So, we can say Jesus grew as any normal smart kid grows, balanced in all essential areas of life.
I say, “normal smart kid” because no sign shows he was freakish. That means his growth was normal, and it set an example for us. We could apply these three pillars in our personal growth in our New Year plan. Let’s unpack it based on the context of this story.
1. Plan to Grow in Wisdom
We know there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is like food, but wisdom is like muscles. Not all food turns into muscles. If we can’t make food turn into muscles, it will make us fat and may even make us sick. So, knowledge is important, but turning it into wisdom is essential.
This passage shows Jesus enjoyed dialoguing with highly educated people. In those days, the temple in Jerusalem was the concentration of intellectuals. The Bible says,
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. (Luke 2:46).
Jesus went with his family to Jerusalem for the Passover. After a day’s journey on their way back, his parents found Jesus missing in the returning crowd. In those days, they traveled as a large group from the same community, so it was normal for the kids to walk with other kids or family friends that they felt were entertaining to make the journey easier or fun.
Mary and Joeseph assumed Jesus was with the crowd, maybe until the first night when they were about to rest. It’s like the Public Service announcement you see on TV, “It’s 10 PM now, do you know where your child is?” Then, they started looking for him and traced him back to Jerusalem.
It took them three days to find him in the temple, maybe because that was not the place they expected a twelve-year-old to hang out. Jesus seemed so absorbed in his learning that he had forgotten the time. The next verse says he had the intellectual capacity to dialog with highly intellectual adults.
And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Luke 2:47).
However, we should not take this as proof of Jesus’ divinity. The Bible assured us that Jesus was fully human as he is fully God. He still needed to learn and grow like a normal kid. If we regard him as some super genius, we might dismiss the opportunity to learn what God wants us to learn through his life.
King Solomon taught his children to seek wisdom at all costs, and he said,
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10).
Again, the word “fear” is not the way we use the term today. It means “revere.” So you can say, “The reverence of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” “Insight” here is another word for wisdom used here to avoid repetition and make it poetic.
Why do we gain insight from the knowledge of the Holy One? It’s because He created us. He is our source of wisdom. The best way to find out the functions of a device is to ask its creator. It’s a waste of time to figure out who we are and why we are here on earth without consulting our Creator or the user manual, the Bible.
It seems Jesus was at the temple figuring out why God had sent him here on earth, and he enjoyed the discovery and the discourse. Like Solomon, Jesus grained his wisdom through his reverence of the Lord and knowledge of the Holy One. In short, if you want wisdom, join a Bible Study group. If you don’t belong to a Bible Study group, make it your New Year resolution because that’s Jesus’ way of growth.
2. Plan to Grow in Maturity
The Bible says Jesus “increased in years.” It sounds strange because we think we grow in years without choice. Time goes by whether we want it or not. Another version says that Jesus increased in “stature,” which sounds like physical growth, but that is again beyond our control. The best way to interpret it is “maturity.” Some people grow in years without maturity.
The Chinese philosophers say that true maturity begins when a person has a mission and a sense of responsibility to make this world a better place to live. We can see a growing sense of mission in Jesus from this point. He is weaning from his parent’s care to God’s mission for his life. The next verse says,
“When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:48-49).
His parents were surprised to find him in the temple and discovered his ability to converse with the intellectuals. They seemed both proud and annoyed. Mary said, “Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety,” but Jesus declared to them that he was already in his father’s house, meaning his heavenly Father was his real father.
It implies weaning from the dependency on our earthly parents to the heavenly parent who sent us here on earth to use our life and gifts to fulfill a mission.
As he increased in wisdom, Jesus is also increased in maturity by developing a sense of mission assigned by the heavenly Father and began to take responsibility at home and in society.
How do we plan to grow in maturity in the New Year? It’s hard to force maturity. The simple way is to serve because maturity is shown in responsibility. Serving people in the community is the path to induce further maturity. So, if you are not part of a service community, include it in your New Year’s resolution to join one. (As a Rotarian, I recommend you join a local Rotary Club.)
3. Plan to Grow in Charisma
As mentioned above, “favor” is translated from Greek Charis (χάρις), which is the root word for charisma. Charisma is a hot topic in the secular world, but mainly in a vain sense. Everyone wants charisma, like a movie star, but charisma without wisdom and maturity can get them into trouble.
We are talking about the true charisma that helps our mission. Without charisma, Jesus would not have made such an impact. The first type of charisma Jesus increased in is charisma with God—winning God’s favor. Jesus knew what to do to please God, and he became the apple of God’s eyes. We read in the Bible that God announced, “This is my beloved Son.”
King David knew the secret chord that pleases the Lord. Even though he was not perfect, God says King David was “a man after my own heart” because he did God’s will and gained charisma with God.
How do we increase in God’s favor? Let’s look at the next verse.
Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. (Luke 2:50a)
In the previous verses, Jesus sounded like a rebellious teenager, but in the next verse, he was obedient to his parents. What does it mean? Weaning from dependency on his parents does not mean disowning them. His previous obedience was as a dependent child, but now it’s his mission as he enters adulthood.
Jesus served his parents as a young man because they were the first and closest people around him. It pleased God because honoring your parents is part of the Big Ten—the Ten Commandments.
The Bible says King Solomon gained God’s favor because he decided to please God by serving people. Many people got it backward. They try to serve God and please people. God doesn’t need our service since he has plenty of angels to serve Him. God wants us to serve people. When we serve people, we please God and gain charisma with God.
Later in the Bible, we often read that everything he did was according to God’s will. He said that even every word he spoke was according to God’s will. That’s how he increased his spiritual charisma.
We often pray to God to bless us, but the best way to be blessed is to do what God is blessing. It will increase your charisma in front of God and among people. The rest of the verse says,
His mother treasured all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:50)
Here, it’s saying Mary became his first fan, and she treasured everything he did. Later, we read that Jesus drew large crowds. Once, over five thousand men came to listen to his teaching. It could actually be ten thousand in total because they did not count the women and children there.
Charisma is meaningless unless you draw the right crowd to you. Some fans are just fair-weather fans that will not help you expand your mission. To draw the right people, do the right things God wants you to do, and the right people will come to you and, at the same time, expel the wrong people.
Jesus’ charisma cost his life on the cross. The right people loved him; the wrong people hated him and crucified him. Still, his cross continues to draw people to him because that was his assigned service from God to save people from this sin-sick world. The cross is the most charismatic symbol of all time. Make your New Year resolution to gain charisma over the right people.
I hope this gives you a framework for your New Year’s resolution on personal growth to make a maximum impact in the world with your life in 2025 and beyond. Let us all grow in wisdom, maturity, and charisma so that God is glorified by a fruitful year we cultivate.
Until we meet again, keep your light shining brighter and broader, and harvest the fruit of profound felicity, freedom, and fulfillment.
Amen!
Merry Christmas again, and Happy New Year!
Bye now!
