Rev Gav

Three

Luke 2:46-48

Jesus Speaks with the Teachers

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. ⁴² When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. ⁴³ After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, ⁴⁴ because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵ When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. ⁴⁶ Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. ⁴⁷ All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸ His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

⁴⁹ “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they didn’t understand what he meant.

⁵¹ Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.

⁵² Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

Reflect

Jesus was twelve years old and he was in the temple in Jerusalem. His parents had just found him teaching and discussing theology with the temple academics!

If we look closely, we might discover all sorts of signs in this story. The first sign is that it all took place in the context of the Passover festival, a celebration associated with the rescue of the nation of Israel. Keep that in the back of your mind. The second sign was the temple itself. After three days of searching, Jesus’ parents found him in the temple. Now, the temple in Jerusalem was the place where the presence of God could be found. If you were looking for God, then you would go to the temple. Luke was setting the scene for the idea that Jesus, as he was God, had come to replace the temple. In other words, in the future, if you were looking for God, you would not go to the temple to find him, you would look for Jesus. God would be found in the person of Jesus Christ.

A third sign might be the phrase, “And after three days.” If we were to zip forward to the end of the gospel accounts we would discover another story about Mary, Jesus’ mother. She found Jesus alive three days after he had died. God’s rescue plan for the nation of Israel and for the world took place after three days, and the middle day was a day of anguish and sorrow. Note that in this story, this was the day that Mary and Joseph were worriedly pegging it back to Jerusalem.

However, despite all these potential signs, the faith lesson we can learn from this story is that it is possible, like Joseph and Mary, to carry on with our lives but leave Jesus behind. We constantly need to check, not that he is with us, but that we are with him.

Do

Spend a moment thinking how close you are to God. This might be a new idea to you, or if you are a person of faith, it might be something you have thought about before. What can you do to put yourself back into the presence of God?

Pray

Holy God
Forgive me when I have gone my own way
and left you behind.
Help me stick close to you
and to rest in your presence.
This day and for ever.
Amen.

Think

How, in our spiritual journey, can we stay close to Jesus and not leave him behind?

Why is it a coincidence that this all took place during Passover, that there was a three day gap in finding Jesus, and that Jesus was found in the temple itself?