Searching
The Bible gives us only one glimpse into the life of Jesus as a boy. It’s a familiar story. The twelve year old Jesus had gone, as was the custom, to Jerusalem with His family for the Passover festival. On the return journey neither His mother or father were aware that their son was not among the travelers on the road toward home. When He didn’t show up that evening, they went dashing back to Jerusalem to search for Him.
It isn’t difficult to imagine the fear that raced through their hearts. They must have imagined every kind of evil possible on the crowded streets of the city. They frantically searched for three days before finding Him sitting in the Temple completely absorbed in a discussion with the religious teachers.
When , in relief and a good bit of frustration (I imagine), His mother said, “Son, why have You done this to us?” He calmly gave what to His exhausted parents seemed like a puzzling answer:
“But why did you need to search?” He asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)
I’ve always read that verse from a Mom’s point of view. Can I just be honest? I thought it might have been a teensy bit thoughtless of Jesus. But when I read that passage the other day, I saw it from another perspective. Jesus’ perspective.
Mary and Joseph had, for twelve years, held the angel’s words close to their hearts. This child, who played with His brothers and sisters and did all the things any ordinary child would do, was the Son of God. It must have been easy to push the wonder of that aside in the day-to-day of life. Now came the gentle reminder of who this boy was.
“…I must be in my Father’s house…”
Had they fully understood, they never would have spent three agonizing days searching. They would have known right where to find Him.
It isn’t a perfect analogy (I find, mine seldom are), but I couldn’t help but put myself in Mary and Joseph’s place – the way I often rush around in a state of fear and panic when things fall apart. I run to others for help, make that phone call to a close friend, try desperately to do everything I can to fix whatever is wrong.
All the while He waits, and when I’ve exhausted my own meager resources I finally look for Him right where I know He’ll be. He gently pulls me in and whispers, “Didn’t you know I’d be here? I’ve always been here. I’m the Son of God , and I love you.”
Blessings,
Linda
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good post, thanks
Oh Linda, what a powerful message to remind us that Jesus is there all the time. We do often desperately try to search in the wrong places for Him.