Have you ever had the experience of losing sight of your child or perhaps seen parents that temporarily can’t find their child? When that happens, three minutes can feel like an eternity? What about three hours? Can you imagine the panic and the worry of losing a child for three days? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Mary and Joseph.
The setting is the Passover. The place is Jerusalem. Jesus is twelve years old. Mary & Joseph are returning home with a large group of family and friends. At the end of the first day’s journey Jesus is nowhere to be found, so they return to Jerusalem in a frantic search. I imagine they checked the hotel, restaurants, markets, playgrounds, and spoke with the authorities and everyone they could.
After three days, in desperation they go back to the massive temple complex, and to their surprise Jesus is calmly sitting among the temple scholars having deep theological discussions. As you can imagine, Mary is both relieved and angry and reprimands Jesus, “Son, why have you done this to us?”
Jesus answered her, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49) What’s remarkable is that, at just twelve years of age, Jesus had a clear understanding of His identity and singular focus and purpose for life. It was so clear to Him that He was actually surprised that it wasn’t clear to Mary.
In a similar way, by now we should be crystal clear about our identity as children of God. Our identity should give us a singular focus and purpose for life that has us checking in with our heavenly Father every day to see what He wants us to do.
But too often, like Mary and Joseph, we get caught looking for Jesus in all the wrong places. We go along with the crowd in pursuit of personal satisfaction, success, and security without questioning if Jesus is even still with us. Let’s take a moment and reflect on our daily activities. Are we clear about our identity? Do we share Jesus’ mission and purpose?
What will people find you doing today? Will you be about your Father’s business?
The setting is the Passover. The place is Jerusalem. Jesus is twelve years old. Mary & Joseph are returning home with a large group of family and friends. At the end of the first day’s journey Jesus is nowhere to be found, so they return to Jerusalem in a frantic search. I imagine they checked the hotel, restaurants, markets, playgrounds, and spoke with the authorities and everyone they could.
After three days, in desperation they go back to the massive temple complex, and to their surprise Jesus is calmly sitting among the temple scholars having deep theological discussions. As you can imagine, Mary is both relieved and angry and reprimands Jesus, “Son, why have you done this to us?”
Jesus answered her, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49) What’s remarkable is that, at just twelve years of age, Jesus had a clear understanding of His identity and singular focus and purpose for life. It was so clear to Him that He was actually surprised that it wasn’t clear to Mary.
In a similar way, by now we should be crystal clear about our identity as children of God. Our identity should give us a singular focus and purpose for life that has us checking in with our heavenly Father every day to see what He wants us to do.
But too often, like Mary and Joseph, we get caught looking for Jesus in all the wrong places. We go along with the crowd in pursuit of personal satisfaction, success, and security without questioning if Jesus is even still with us. Let’s take a moment and reflect on our daily activities. Are we clear about our identity? Do we share Jesus’ mission and purpose?
What will people find you doing today? Will you be about your Father’s business?
Posted in devo