Putting the Christ back in your Christian Walk
“Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover Feast. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning [to Nazareth], after spending the required number of days [at the Feast], the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem. Now His parents did not know this, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and traveled a day’s journey; and [then] they began searching [anxiously] for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for Him [everywhere]. Three days later they found Him in the [court of the] temple, sitting among the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. All who heard Him were amazed by His intelligence and His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were overwhelmed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Listen, Your father and I have been [greatly distressed and] anxiously looking for You.” And He answered, “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house? ” But they did not understand what He had said to them.” (LUKE 2:41-50 AMP)
When I read this passage in the Gospel of Luke, I am always amazed that it took three days of searching for Jesus before Joseph and Mary thought to look for Him at the temple.
The word “everywhere” in the passage tells us that they had looked for Him at every other place first before thinking of the temple as a last resort.
Did they think that Jesus was a naughty boy who would run off to play somewhere?
Perhaps in the bustling and exciting marketplace, or go running around with the other children in Jerusalem?
How did their opinion of their “God Son” suddenly become so bad?
I believe they had momentarily forgotten that Jesus was just as much God as He was a Man.
Both of them had lost sight of what the Archangel Gabriel had told them - that Jesus is the Savior of the world and He will save man from their sins.
The miraculous virgin birth that Mary experienced also slipped her mind.
The daily, mundane routine of life probably caused the marvelousness of the miracle to gradually fade away to the back of her memory.
At that time in their life, they only saw Jesus as a normal boy, perhaps because He hadn’t performed any miracles yet.
On top of that, I believe that they stopped meditating in their hearts about the miracles that happened to them.
God’s words and promises had lost the firm foundation in their hearts.
Even though Jesus was only twelve years old, He already possessed incredible wisdom from God.
His question to His earthly parents is very sobering: “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
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In this series, you’ll:
- Receive bold faith for miracles—stepping out from a powerless form of Christianity, into the kind that God intended!
- Understand the significance of the miracles of Jesus Christ—and why the Holy Spirit chose to feature them in the four gospels even though Jesus worked countless other miracles.
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