Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:51-52

Sometime after the first Christmas (it may well have been two years later), Joseph took Mary and Jesus away from Bethlehem, to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) to escape Herod’s maniacal murder of the male children, two years and younger, in the district of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). When God instructed Joseph to return to Israel after the danger had passed, they went home to Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-23). At that point, life returned to “normal.” What did “normal” look like for Jesus? And how does that instruct us?

The boy Jesus, though fully God, subjected Himself to His parents. That is to be normal.

The boy Jesus, though He was God, grew and matured. That is to be normal.
The boy Jesus, though He was God grew in wisdom. In His deity, He is always the fountainhead of all wisdom. But in His humanity, He needed to mature in wisdom. That is to be normal.
The boy Jesus, though He was God, grew in stature (that is, physically). As God, the universe can fit in the palm of His hand, but in His humanity, His body grew and matured. That is to be normal.
The boy Jesus, though He was God, grew in favor with God. Though the second Member of the triune God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, in His humanity, Jesus had to learn the scriptures, how to pray, and how to live in obedience (Hebrews 5:8). That is to be normal.
The boy Jesus, though He was God, grew in favor with man. As God, what did He not know about social interaction? But as a human, Jesus grew and matured socially. That is to be normal.

Oh, the mystery of God become man!

Oh, the necessity for us, like the boy Jesus, to grow and mature!