I suddenly discovered while driving back home from Wal-Mart that I left my son Christian behind, I would turn the car around and go back to look for him.
Where would I look for him first? The electronics section. If I lost Chase, the first place I’d look for him would be the truck aisle.
Why?
Because I know my children.
A proper understanding of where to find Jesus begins with understanding who he is.
If anyone should have understood, Mary and Joseph should have. Couldn’t they recall the visits by angelic hosts just twelve years before?3 Didn’t they remember the Magi bearing gifts for the Christ-Child?4 Was the divine protection from Herod’s sword so soon forgotten?5
A proper understanding of where to find Jesus begins with understanding who he is.
But Luke tells us they didn’t understand. Why didn’t they understand? Why didn’t they know where to find Jesus? Because they didn’t understand who he was!
The temple was the last place they looked. Why? Because they did not yet completely understand who he was. His questioning of them – “Why ... Didn’t you know?” – implies they should have understood who he was. “But they did not understand what he was saying to them,” Luke tells his readers.
That may sound a little harsh. Perhaps we’re more comfortable with saying they lost sight of who he was. But the truth is – just as with you and me – Mary and Joseph needed a personal encounter with the promised Messiah, Truth Personified. They were not exempt from needing salvation and the understanding that their son was the Savior.
This is a difficult passage for some to understand. Difficult in the sense that it is hard for us to understand the actions and words of Jesus. Was Jesus proper in what he did?
Explain his words and actions any way you like, but don’t explain them as sin. We must not think of what Jesus did as disobedient or mischievous. For we know Jesus was without sin. So explain them anyway you want, but however you choose to describe Jesus’ dealings, you cannot see them as sin.
And that’s why the passage is difficult for some to understand. It is a hard thing to swallow – not that Jesus didn’t sin (we accept that) – but we somehow would like to think Jesus did something wrong by staying behind in Jerusalem.
But he didn’t.
SURPRISE!!!
Before I married my wife, I naively thought I knew almost everything about her. After we were married three years, I was convinced I knew everything about her. One day we were sitting at the table enjoying lunch together. And then it happened. She said to me, “I’ll bet you didn’t know I could juggle.”
“No way,” I said. “That can’t be!” So she went to the refrigerator, took out three oranges, and proceeded to show me something I never knew about the woman I’d been married to for three whole years! I discovered I didn’t know my wife as well as I thought I did.
How well do you know Jesus? Do you know him as well as you think you do?
Mary and Joseph knew Jesus better than anyone else. They lived in the same house as Jesus, the Son of God. Yet, they didn’t know him fully. They knew him as their son, but not as the Son. They knew what they’d been told by angels, but they didn’t know that which angels never experience – knowing Jesus as Savior.
Where can you find Jesus? You can find him in the pages of Scripture. Colossians tells us he was the one who created the world!6 That’s an awesome thought: the one who created the world also came to live among us.
Where can you find Jesus? You won’t find him at the Temple. But if you believe he is the Son of God – that he died for you – he’ll come and live in the temple of your heart.
If you don’t know Jesus as Savior, tell him you want to know him. Ask him to forgive you of your sins. Tell him you believe he died for you.
MY STORY
Thirty-five years ago, as a young teenager, I asked Jesus into my heart. I can’t tell you the date; I only know it was the summer of my fifteenth year. Up to that point, I spent my entire life going to a church, which taught about Jesus. But never once during all those years had someone taught me where to find Jesus. What I had was head-knowledge about the person of Jesus. But what I needed was heart-knowledge about the work of Jesus on the Cross as it related to my life.
Do you know where to find Jesus? How well do you really know him?
Luke concludes: “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” A story with a happy ending.
And so the journey begins. Do you know where to find Jesus? It’s a question of discovery.
Prayer
Lord God, I think I know you. I want to believe I know you as well as I can. Is it possible that I – like Jesus’ own mother and father – don’t know you as well as I should? Help me to know you, God. Open my eyes to you. Help me to see you for who you are and not for whom I have made you out to be. I want Jesus to come into my heart right now. I want to know him as more than just a good teacher or a prophet. I want to see what Mary and Joseph could not see. I want to see Jesus as the Savior – as my Savior. Amen.
Talking Points
1. Did it ever occur to you that Mary and Joseph lost Jesus? The very ones entrusted with his safety, lost him. But this question is not about losing him. It’s about finding him. It’s about discovering who Jesus is. What does it mean to discover who Jesus is?
2. Even if you think you know someone, it’s easy to be surprised by something you never knew about that person. The longer you know the person, the more surprising a revelation can be. Has God taught you anything about himself recently that has surprised you?
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What if My Family Thinks I’m Crazy?
The Question of Opposition
Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
~Mark 3:20-21, 31-35
While Jesus immersed himself in ministry, pouring his time into others and teaching his disciples, his family heard a report that he was neglecting himself and not eating properly. So they decided to go get him and take him home.
Mark shows us a glimpse into the opposition Jesus faced even from his own family. You may be familiar with it.
It’s a question many Christians struggle
