The Missing Years of Jesus

I have often heard the folks attempt to throw a wrench into the Christian message by stating, "We have no record of Jesus' life from the age of 12-30." True, we do not have details of his life growing up as the son of a carpenter, living in Nazareth, possibly surfing the loss of his dad, and being the big brother to at least six siblings. But, we do have some very revealing statements about the life he lived during those "missing years." These words about those years a very profound. From the age of 12 to 30 while living what sounded like the life of many (as mentioned above) he did something very unordinary. In fact, he did some thing totally unique. It was something that only he has ever done. Something that set him apart from everyone else. Something that would set the stage for those years we read about later in Scripture. Are you ready to know what it is? Here it is: He was living a sinless life (II Cor. 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 1:19, 2:22). Ok, before your snort and stop reading, just ask yourself, who else has ever done something this extraordinary? Just think of it, Jesus spent 33 years never telling one lie, using God's name in vain, or being unrighteously angry at someone. He went through all his teenage years and adulthood never lusting. So, what was Jesus doing during those missing years? He was living the sinless life we never could.
The follow up question to that is "why?" the Bible gives a very clear answer to why Jesus came and lived the life of one of us while remaining sinless: "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:17-18). Had Jesus not lived that sinless life he would never have been a sufficient Savior. But because he did lived that blameless life he is able to save us to the uttermost.