Did you know Jesus disappeared at the age of 12? His
parents couldn’t find Him. Have you been lost? Or have you worried when you
could not find your own child? Frantically they retraced their steps to search
for Him. I marvel at this. Astonishing. Mary and Joseph had been visited by
angels. They understood the magnitude of the pregnancy and the birth. They were
raising the Savior.
Even so, they
worried. I imagine Jesus acting like any other son. When Jesus began His
ministry at the age of 30, his own brothers and sisters scoffed at Him. They
knew Him as their brother, the one just like any other. Astounding! Where did they find Him three days later? In
the temple courts, speaking and asking questions.
Everyone
who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers. When His parents
saw Him, they were astonished. His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You
treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
Luke 2:47-48
Their Son, the Savior,
teaching in the temple and they are “astonished.” In the act of parenting their
children, Jesus fit right in. He became one of us. But they knew. And Jesus
reminded them of just that.
“Why
were you searching for Me,” He asked. “Don’t you know I had to be in My
Father’s house?” Luke 2:49
The next verse
tells us that they did not understand. But Mary’s heart was nudged. And these
two verses are all we know of the entire childhood of Jesus.
Then
He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother
treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature
and favor with God and man. Luke 2:51-52
An obedient
child, growing in wisdom. A human child with God’s heart and soul. Waiting to fulfill God’s plan of redemption.
Jesus,
It is difficult for us to fathom You as a normal child,
playing with Your brothers and sisters, learning carpentry from Your earthly
father. You wrote the Word. You created the heavens and the earth. It is too
much for us to imagine. We believe.
Amen
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