12.29.24 Luke 2:41–52 (EHV)
41 Every year his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Festival. 43 When the days had ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. 44 Since they thought he was in their group, they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, 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 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” 50 They did not understand what he was telling them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.
I would imagine most of you have seen the classic Christmas movie called, “Home Alone.” Kevin McAlister gets left behind at home as his family goes on vacation and has to survive an attempted burglary. Today’s text takes us back to the original Home Alone story, as Jesus is left behind in Jerusalem after the Passover celebration. It’s better than comedy. It’s reality. But it’s not like reality TV, where you have a bunch of sinful drama. It’s salvation reality, with Jesus in the house of God. So let’s dig in to -
The Original Home Alone
I’m sure most of you have left something behind in your life. Your phone. Your wallet. That moment of panic. Oh no! Where did I leave it? Several times I’ve gotten to church, only to realize I left my computer at home. I only have to drive a few miles - maybe a half hour of my time, but it sure is frustrating. But that’s nothing like Joseph and Mary who left JESUS, their own son, behind. I can recall years ago when we were at the Omaha Zoo. I told Logan and his friend to keep an eye on Landon, who was maybe 4 years old, in the gift shop as I had to use the restroom or something. I came back and he was nowhere to be found. Talk about panic! I was shouting for him through the store. Thankfully, only five or ten minutes later, I found him hiding under a bench upstairs. It was terrifying.
But Mary and Joseph lost God’s Son who was supposed to be the Messiah! They knew that he was nearly assassinated as an infant! The one important responsibility they had, to protect and to raise God’s Son so He could save the world, and they LOST Him in the largest city in Israel. And it didn’t take 10 minutes for them to find him. They had already walked for one day’s time! Now they had to walk an entire day BACK. And who is to say that they didn’t have more children by this point? They would have had to drag them in tow as well.
How did this happen? We’re not sure, but we can conjecture a bit. According to tradition the women and children would walk in the front of this big caravan of people, and the men would walk in the back. Jesus was kind of a tweener at this point. At 13 he would have been considered officially confirmed, so to speak. He was close at age 12. So maybe Joseph thought he was in front, and Mary thought he was in back. He had probably never been late to anything or missed any other appointments, after all, He was the PERFECT child. So we can’t entirely blame them. Nonetheless, it happened. In hindsight it is easy to point the finger and see what should have been done, especially when you’re charged with protecting and raising the Savior of the world!
And isn’t this a picture of what we so often do in life, how easy it is to leave Jesus behind. We get so busy on life’s journey. Going to work, going to school, preparing for a vacation, raising your children, trying to maintain our health . . . somehow in the progress of life you stop for a moment, and you haven’t been in worship for weeks to months on end. You haven’t opened your Bible. You haven’t said your prayers like you could. You’ve taken God’s grace, His protection, His mercy for granted. At Christmas you can be so busy preparing food and presents and getting your house ready that you forget Who is supposed to be at the center of this festival.
Why did Jesus do it? This may have been His first opportunity to really dig in deep with some of these teachers and ask questions that his rabbi up north maybe didn’t have the insight into. I might compare it to going to the Seminary for some special learning. When Professor Deutschlander was alive I used to love going to his lectures even down in Nebraska. I could listen to him for hours on end. After the Passover, it would traditionally happen that they would have an afterglow of types, where rabbis from the surrounding areas would stick around and talk theology with one another. You might compare it to a circuit meeting where we meet together as pastors once a month and discuss different Scriptures. Most of the people would have gone home by then, but a few people would stick around and engage in the afterglow as well. Once the official festival was done they could have more time to dig into the Word and talk about it without having to perform the sacrifices and worship services. Jesus didn’t want to leave. Luke says, “they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
Luke mentions two things, he was listening to them AND ASKING them questions. When we were in Mexico for our 15th anniversary we decided to listen to a timeshare pitch so we could get some extra credits for an excursion we wanted to take. We decided ahead of time, “Don’t ask ANY questions. Don’t show ANY interest. That way we’ll get out of there sooner.” And it worked! But that’s not how God wants us to approach His Word. He wants us to dig in and put some thought into it. It’s good to ask questions, to try and discover more. There are limits to our knowledge. There are plenty of things God doesn’t reveal to us. But there are also plenty of things God HAS revealed to us, things that He WANTS us to know. There’s always more to learn.
You’re never too young or too old to learn. 12 years old was no hindrance to Jesus. That would typically be about 7th grade. According to the web site parents.com, at this age adolescents begin to separate from family. They start to explore their sense of personal identity, finding independence from family. They start to develop leadership skills. They also begin exploring morality. That can cause problems with a sinful nature, but Jesus explored these things in an entirely perfect way. He wants to grow closer to His true Father by exploring the Scriptures more than He probably ever had before, seeing how God interacted with His people throughout the stories of the Old Testament. And think of what He’s there for! The Passover! Here is a picture of what He was born to BE! The Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world! Wow! Imagine Him seeing those sacrifices and perhaps saying to Himself, “That’s going to be me!” In modern day, I know of a young man who was adopted and wanted to try and find out more about his birth parents, where they came from and what they did. Trying to find family members still alive. This could be helpful for finding a health history, for instance. Jesus was learning His own history, finding prophecies about Himself. He put time and effort into understanding these things. He wasn’t just memorizing the Bible for memorization’s sake. This opportunity was more important to Him than just going back home to Nazareth, so He had to stay behind.
Now think of you. You were adopted into God’s family in your baptism. You were chosen by Him from eternity. You don’t think of family just as what you were BORN into. It’s not just physical. It’s spiritual and eternal. It’s divine. God reveals Himself to you in the Bible. He wants you to know Him well. The apostle Paul told us to “grow in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus.” What an advantage our young people have by having these Bible stories as a part of their daily education! What an advantage they can have through Sunday School and Catechism! Yet how many only do the bare minimum? How many get through Bible Information Class with no questions, no desire to learn more, just to join the church? How sad that is! You have an entirely different family that God wants you to know about, but if you show no interest, does that mean you don’t really care?
And that’s why Jesus had to do what He did, as our perfect substitute, the One who would study the Bible perfectly, learn it like we were supposed to, in order to fulfill what God expected of us, for us. Paul writes to the Galatians, “when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Ga 4:4–5) Jesus did this willingly. He went to school for us, passed the test, and by faith He gives us the credit for the grade He earned. A+. Perfect.
When Joseph and Mary finally found Jesus, well, they didn’t sound too happy with him. It was probably a good thing they were in public. (One of my children, I won’t say which one, was having a meltdown in front of a whole crowd of people once. My sinful nature wanted to take him into one of those portable urinals and beat him silly. Thankfully I didn’t.) Maybe that’s why Mary talked to Jesus instead of Joseph, and she was His birth mother. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” Notice how she took it personally, as if Jesus treated them this way - as if He was trying to torture them. She told him to SEE. They must have looked bedraggled and exhausted at this point. I can’t help but wonder if this didn’t cause a scene or not among the people that were there.
It’s sad how this works. Break a foot, miss a plane flight, lose a job, work ourselves or spend ourselves into a bedraggled mess, and we turn to Jesus and accuse Him of maliciously causing things to hurt us. We forget that God’s purpose isn’t for us just to get what we want when we want it. His purpose is to bring us to heaven. Sometimes we are on the wrong path. Sometimes it’s necessary for us to turn around or stop and reevaluate what’s really important in life. He has a higher purpose for us than we do for ourselves, and He knows what He’s doing. It’s nothing malevolent. It’s spiritually simple. We just don’t get it.
Now imagine how many 12 year olds might have responded. “Duh! Don’t you remember the angel Gabriel? Elizabeth? The Wise Men? Come on, mom. You’re embarrassing me. Uh.” In His holiness He could have scolded them for not checking where He was in the first place. But He doesn’t do that. He explains it simply and respectfully. “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?” What business was that? Being the perfect student. Growing in the knowledge that He was supposed to have. Understanding the way of the cross, living and dying for them and for us.
They did not understand what he was telling them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth. He was always obedient to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. Joseph and Mary didn’t completely comprehend what Jesus was saying. They were learning too. What is it going to mean, being the parents of the Messiah? What is this going to involve? We can’t treat Him as if He were only our Son. He is God’s Son. He is humanity’s Son. He has a much higher purpose than just doing what WE want. He has been called to do what GOD the FATHER wants. I doubt that Jesus could have just TOLD them that. They would have to learn that through EXPERIENCE. Yes, sometimes we do too, unfortunately. Wisdom never stops for us, no matter whether we are children or parents, young or old. There’s plenty we have to learn, and sometimes it is prompted through painful experiences. We learn to bow our heads and submit to God, remembering what He says through Isaiah. “My ways are higher than your ways.” (Isaiah 55:9) And if we take the time to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hands, we will find many things to treasure of God’s grace when all is said and done.
In Home Alone Kevin McAlister had to use every trick in the book in order to fend off the Wet Bandits. His feistiness ended up benefiting him. He used torches, nails, spiders, paint cans, and even a zip line in the battle. Due to the incompetence of the bandits and some help from a neighbor he was able to fend them off while home alone, although he kind of trashed the house in the process.
In the Original Home Alone Jesus had a much bigger battle to fight, against sin, death and the devil, all by Himself - alone. It wasn’t for us to laugh at, but to revel in. This little one time glimpse into the 12 year old life of Jesus shows us the effort He put into fulfilling His mission to live and die for us. He took His calling seriously, perfectly. The salvation of the world was at stake. He wanted to learn all He could, when He could, during His trip to Jerusalem. So He used these teachers to talk through the Word with HIm. Although He was left alone as his parents went home to Nazareth, He felt perfectly at home in His Father’s house. He learned as much as He could, so that He would be the perfect Savior for you. Now, through faith in Jesus, you are never alone. You are always at home in God’s grace and mercy with Jesus. Amen.
