Our Scripture meditation is based on Luke 2:41–52, next week’s Gospel Lesson.
[41] Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. [42] And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. [43] And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, [44] but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, [45] and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. [46] After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. [47] And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. [48] And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” [49] And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” [50] And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. [51] And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. [52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
This account of Jesus at the temple can illustrate our very human tendency to get distracted from God. Praise be to God the for refocusing us on Jesus.
The main point of this account is that Jesus is faithfully preparing for his public ministry as the Christ. As a 12-year-old, Jesus is learning from the teachers at the temple in Jerusalem (v. 46). Leaving the temple Jesus was submissive to His parents (v. 51). Verse 52 tells us “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.”
But what caught our attention about this account? I dare say most of us were empathizing with Jesus’ parents. Let’s face it, how many of freaked out “losing” one of our elementary school age children for 10 minutes a supermarket? What would it be like to lose one of our children for three days? We would cycle through the entire range of emotions multiple times each day.
While it is healthy to empathize, it’s not good to let a transference of emotions distract us from the main message of the passage. This passage is, and always will be, about Jesus.
We can find parallel experiences in our lives, times when circumstances distracted us from God. We got so caught up in personal experiences of parenting or job searches or health scares that we focused on overcoming the challenges by our own power. All that time, our Lord was with us, waiting for our prayers. At the least, God would have reminded us He is always with us. At the most, our Lord might have answered our prayers by delivering us from the challenges.
This makes Scripture passages such as this one so valuable for our daily lives. God uses such passages to focus us on Jesus, our Savior and Lord. As we learn to focus on Jesus in Scripture, we are taught to focus on God in daily life.
Until next week, the Lord bless and guide.
Kevin Wilson 360 