The Bible has one wonderful and unique story about Jesus’s youth that has lessons for us to learn about our own lives that I would like to share today. Luke 2:41-50 describes an incident in which Mary and Joseph actually lost their Child!! As was the tradition, they went each year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover and it was time to go home. They left with their party assuming Jesus was among the many relatives, but in reality He was lingering in Jerusalem and not among them. After a days’ journey, they realized He was not among them and went back to Jerusalem to search for Him. After three whole days (how nerve racking that must have been!!), the finally found Him sitting in the Temple “in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement that He spoke to them.”
In this reflection, I would like to understand what His parents couldn’t see at that time, at least some possibilities. There are two considerations—what we can learn from the lesson His parents learned and what we can learn from Jesus Himself. First, I saw in His parents a situation we all may find ourselves in at points in our life. There we are enjoying a feast with our Lord’s presence a regular part of our life. Perhaps we become complacent in our good time and take Him for granted becoming distracted by other elements of our life as busy as it can become. Before long, we start to feel distant and wonder, ‘where did He go’? Tough times may come upon us and we are long on our journey not even realizing He is left behind in Jerusalem. We start to search for Him desperately, hoping for His presence to return and help us in our circumstance. For three days we search until we finally remember to turn to His Word as we once did in the temple of our hearts, where we find Him once again, about His Father’s business diligently sanctifying us despite our straying relation and hard times. He is very much at work using the lessons of our life to develop His fruit and character in us. He is very much “behind the scenes” working the details of our circumstances for good. Romans 8:28 assures us of this, saying, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
In the second lesson, we learn from Jesus Himself what we need to be doing in our lives. Ephesians 2:10 shows us who we are and what we are made for, saying, “For we are His handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He has prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” And what are these “good works” of our faith in Christ? Many things, but lets see what Jesus’ brother James says in James 1:27—”Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and blameless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” So tending to the least of these as Jesus says in Matthew 25:33-40 to His sheep, the righteous when they answer Him saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? And the King will answer and say, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” And these will go into eternal life. Who are the Lord’s brethren? In Matthew 12:48-50, when His family was trying to get His attention in a crowd, the people of the crowd said “Your mother and brothers and sister are standing outside seeking to speak with you.” Then, Jesus grabs a disciple and says, “whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” So we see pure religion in God’s sight is serving the least of these and our brethren in the faith in charity.
Pure religion is also keeping oneself pure—or submitting to God’s sanctifying Spirit as we deny our flesh and take up our cross. The works and business of the Father might include commandments we are called to follow in showing our love to the Lord, since Jesus said in John 15:9-10—“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” So what does God command? That we forgive our enemies; that we pray in secret in our closet just like Jesus went out to pray even when people had no idea to where He had disappeared when they were looking for Him (just like He was missing and found in the Temple, so He was missing and found praying in the desert just like we need to be!); to testify of our faith and become fishers of men, making disciples; to lay our lives down for our brothers, living with courage a fearless life loving not our own lives unto death; to renew our minds in studying the Word of God; to follow and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit; to work quietly with our hands; to love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly with God; and to dedicate and commit ourselves to His bride, the church.
As we do these works we may encounter resistance or hate because we are not of the world and the devil hates God. Jesus warned us in John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, therefore the world hates you… 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father… 20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…” Also in John 16:33, Jesus said, “in this world you will face trouble and persecution, but take heart, take courage, I have overcome and conquered the world!” So we too must take heart when faced with persecution for doing the works of the Father.
Finally, it is sometimes easy to feel small or overlooked when we are about the Father’s business, wondering if there is any good or reward for our efforts. In this case, we can consider another well known shepherd in the Bible who was a type of Christ sitting on the throne of Judah: king David. Jesus called Himself the “Good Shepherd.” When the prophet and judge Samuel searched to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the new king of Israel, the LORD warned Samuel in verse 16:7, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature for I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, bukt the LORD looks at the heart.” Jesse brought out all seven of his sons of his eight sons for Samuel to identify the future king. Yet Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen these. Are all the young men here?” Then Jesse said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” David was the one! So then, Samuel anointed him king. David was missing just like Jesus was missing, teaching in the Temple.
David, too, was about the Father’s business tending his sheep and protecting them from attack and meeting their every need, just as Jesus tends His flock in us His children, and just as we are called to tend each other as His sheep—to protect one another and minister the Word and bread of life and the Water of the Spirit to one another. And just like David, God looks on your heart and chooses to anoint you as a son or daughter of Royalty, of our King, when we are out doing the Father’s will and busy about His business, humble and unnoticed and unrewarded by anything but our faithfulness and the faithfulness of our Father.
So, today take heart! When God seems to be missing from your life, know that He is there working all things for good as you are submitted to His sanctifying will and busy about His business, looking on the temple of your heart as a home for His Spirit and presence to dwell. How special and precious is our God in this story of His youth and all it has to teach us. How generous of Him to share such stories in His Word to encourage us on our way. He sees you and looks on your heart and loves you. Be courageous and live for Him each day so when others look for you, you can say, why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” And so be it—AMEN!