Luke 2:41- 52 - Leaving Jesus Behind
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Parents, have you ever left your children somewhere by mistake? What was your reaction? A bit like this mum?
Has anyone ever been left somewhere by mistake. As a child, I was left behind at church several times that I can remember. I’d be playing out in the playground with friends and then they’d have to go and I’d realize that Hey - Mum & Dad had gone also. I can actually remember once seeing our car drive off without me. Talk about rejection!!!. Mum & Dad got home only to find that I wasn’t in the car and had to come back for me. I don’t really know how they managed to do this. Maybe it was just that I was a rather forgettable person, or maybe, my parents wanted a breather!!! It was probably more likely that they took 2 cars on those days or something and Mum thought I was with Dad and visa versa.
Has anyone else been in that situation before?
Well tonight, I want to talk about a time when Jesus was left behind. Imagine that - losing Jesus, leaving the God of the universe behind. I mean a brat like me I can understand, but not Jesus - this special child. Mind blowing isn’t it. I want to tell you, though, that leaving Jesus behind is a relatively easy thing to do and I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few people here tonight don’t know where Jesus is in their lives. Are you one of these people? Stick with me and find out.
Most of you have probably heard this account of Jesus’ childhood before. In actual fact, it is the only account we have of Jesus’ life growing up. I think it is worth reading again, so please open your Bibles upto Luke 2: 41.
Read Luke 2:41-52
The Loss of Jesus Let’s first talk about losing Jesus.
It was part of the law that all Jewish men were to go to the House of God - the Temple at least 3 times a year. Exod 23:14-17 says that they are to find themselves in God’s house on the occasion of the 3 main feasts - Feast of Passover, Pentecost & Tabernacles. But as people spread through the Roman Empire, this sometimes became impossible due to distance and so it became tradition for Israelite men to go to the temple at least once a year on one of these feasts. You became a man at the age of 13 years when you completed the “Son of the Covenant” ceremony. The Jewish Bar Mizvah ceremony now takes its place. It was considered good preparation for boys aged 11 and 12 to go with their Fathers on this pilgrimage to get familiar with the requirements of the Jewish laws.
We read here that Joseph took his family down to Jerusalem every Passover to fulfill his duty. Apparently Joseph and Mary were very religious and made the 3 day hike from Nazareth every year. On a map it looks a bit like this. They probably would have walked around Samaria due to the hostility of the day.
It was on one of these journeys that they left Jesus behind.
Some, on reading this account would find Mary and Joseph totally irresponsible and neglecting of their parental duties. Imagine – traveling for a whole day and not knowing that you’ve left Jesus behind. But before you condemn them, consider that in ancient times, people traveling used to go in caravans. It was much safer to travel with a lot of other people and besides the time went faster. And the children would have a ball playing with each other around the caravan. But not only this, the women usually traveled separately to the men. You see, the women and young children were slower than the men and so they would usually set off in a group first and then the men would leave a couple of hours later and catch up to them ready for the night’s camp. You can imagine that because Jesus was almost a man, Mary thought that he was naturally with his father. And Joseph thought the opposite. It was only at the end of the day when they came together that they realized Jesus was missing.
Can you imagine the terror that gripped their minds as they frantically searched for Jesus. They’d lost the saviour of the world, the Son of God. How could this be?
The problem was that they were engrossed in their own business. Now there was nothing intrinsically wrong with what they had been doing. They had been obeying the law and going to worship God at the temple. They were being very religious, but in their attempt to fulfill the requirements of God’s law, they lost the one and only Christ. Why? Because what they were involved with – the journey home - wasn’t his priority. They left Jesus behind because they were distracted by getting home.
How easy is it to be distracted from God’s priorities. We fill our lives with all sorts of good things – just like Joseph and Mary did, but we leave Jesus behind because even these good things, aren’t necessarily Jesus’ priorities. The starting pistol fires and we are off doing our thing, and we leave Jesus behind, doing God’s thing.
This of course raises the question, what is God’s thing? What is it that we are supposed to be doing? These are the questions we are going to try to be answering in the 40 Days of Purpose campaign. After Easter, we are going to learn that our purpose in life is to glorify God and we do that in 5 ways. We firstly do it by worshipping him – by giving to him praise, honour, tithes, etc. People today worship lots of things – money, weekends, family, kids, leisure. We need to ensure we are worshipping God alone. We also do it by being disciplined. That is, we glorify God, by becoming like him. Obeying him, learning about his will for our lives. Thirdly, we glorify God, by fellowshipping as part of his body. By looking after those around us and working as a body. Fourthly, we glorify God by Ministering to him, to the body and to those around us. We are made to serve. Lastly, we glorify God by getting involved in missions. The work of telling other people about God’s love.
Have we left Jesus behind because our priorities in life are not His? Mary and Joseph had been doing some of this. They had been worshipping God and glorifying God in their service. But they were ready to move on. On to the next task at hand. Rather than being obsessed with our own priorities and programs, we need to take the time to ensure that these are aligned with God’s priorities and his timing. When was the last time we came into church early to prepare your heart and mind for meeting Christ. When was the last time any of us set aside a half a day on the weekend to pray or spend in God’s word. I know I don’t do that unless I am committed to go to a half day of prayer or other, I don’t find myself doing this very often. Thankfully there is a half day of prayer coming up this Saturday – I think we might just find Jesus there!!!
Have you left Jesus behind? Yes he was with you at one time – close & personal. But he now seems so distant, so far away. Have we as a church left Jesus behind? Do we need to get back to Jesus’ priorities. Let’s pray that during the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, there will be an awakening in hearts and lives as many people find Jesus again.
The Search for Jesus
The next thing I want you to notice is where Mary and Joseph looked for Jesus. The first place they looked for Jesus was among those around them - their friends and relatives. So often we try to have a pseudo relationship with God by copying the relationship others around us have with him. Some people think that my Mother and Father were very religious, they took me along to Sunday School where there were some very good people. So, if I go to Sunday School, and do all the good things I see my parents doing, I’ll find Jesus. Often people try to borrow other’s faith and try to make it our faith. But second hand faith is no faith at all.
Could Mary and Joseph’s relatives help in their search for Jesus? No – he was not to be found in their lives. Mary & Joseph had to find Jesus for themselves personally. You can’t ride on the coat tails of parents, friends or people involved with the church. Each one of you hear tonight, need to find Jesus for yourself personally. For Mary & Joseph, that meant going back to where they left him. It means remembering what it was that Jesus was so interested.
For some of us, the search for Jesus can take some time. For Mary and Joseph, it took 3 days before they located Jesus. Imagine their distress. They looked everywhere. They asked everyone. Mary was distraught “I’ve lost my Baby… I’ve lost my precious one” And Then there was Joseph – “Hang on – you think you are upset – We’ve lost God’s Son!!! How is he going to feel. We’re doomed ….” But their success was delayed because they looked in all the wrong places. When you lose things, they invariably are in the last place you think to look. Beats me why we don’t learn this and look in the last place first – It would make so much sense wouldn’t it!!!
People look for Jesus in all sorts of areas – emotional experiences, social reform, self help theologies. But he is seldom found there, because that is not where he hangs out. If we want to find Jesus, we need to look in the right places – Mary and Joseph eventually located Jesus in the temple
When they found him, their emotional frustration was evident … (vs 48) Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Is that the understatement of the year?
Isn’t it funny how wo often we try to blame God for our wandering off. They were in effect saying … “Why did you leave us Jesus!” Hang on - it was Mary & Joseph who left Jesus behind, not visa versa. He never puts distance between us in our relationship. No – it is always us, our sin and our wanderings which causes the damage in our relationship.
Finding Jesus
Where was Jesus found? - in the Temple. The first recorded words of our Savior are these … (vs 49f) Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Here Jesus was in his Father’s house. No it wasn’t Joseph’s house, it was his Heavenly Father’s house – in the presence of God. And what was he doing? He was sitting at the feet of the teachers, learning. He was a young sponge, learning all there was to know about God. His questions showed interest, insight and understanding beyond his years and he sat, glued to their every word – learning and becoming more like his heavenly Father.
Some of you may wonder about this. Wasn’t Jesus God? Didn’t he know it all already? You’d give anything to be Jesus wouldn’t you – think about it – your sitting in the Synagogue School and the Rabbi comes in and says – okay boys, time for a pop quiz. And everyone groans except Jesus – because he knows it all already – 100% in writing, 100% in arithmetic, 100% in reading. Easy – he was God, he knew it all. No he didn’t. Jesus gave up his divinity and became a man. 100% man. As a baby, he was a helpless and ignorant as any of us. As he grew, he learned – learned practical things like toileting and how to feed himself. But more than that he learned spiritual things about God, his identity and his purpose in life.
As a boy on the verge of manhood, Jesus was a sponge – soaking in God’s word. Learning to become the Son of God that he was. The Messiah became a student in the ways of God.
If learning was a priority for Jesus, should it not be a priority for us. Tell me, how do you learn about God? I go to Sunday Services you say. How much do you really take in there? I never see a lot of people taking notes (me included) so I think I’m right in saying that the majority of what is being said is going in one ear and out the other. How many of you do a meaning devotion where you look seriously at God’s word and learn from it? Possibly a few, probably not many. How many of you are in small groups where the focus is on unpacking the bible? Probably a few more, but definitely not enough.
Can I challenge you tonight that to find Jesus, we have to adopt some of his priorities. I believe that through the 40 Days of Purpose, we will see that Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, Ministry and Evangelism are 5 of his priorities. But we don’t have to wait till then. Right now, I believe that God is challenging us to adopt the priority of Jesus that we read about here. Right here, right now – why wait. Is there a better time than the beginning of a new year.
If we are serious about finding Jesus, we need to be like him, learning about his Father – learning about our Father. This may mean we have to set aside time for daily devotions, but that is way to easy to cheat on. If we are serious about this, we need to be holding each other accountable and the best way I know how to do this is to join a small group. At last count, we’ve got about 10 small groups / bible study groups / home groups in this church. Some are for ladies, some are for Young Adults, there’s one for youth, there’s one for young families, there are a couple that have mixed ages. They meet at all different times and if you are serious about finding Jesus, you need to be in one of these small groups.
You need to be sitting down with others and digging into the Word of God. That is where Mary & Joseph found Jesus and that is where you will find him. I know what I am asking you to do is going to be difficult. In fact, you may have to rearrange your timetable and even quit some other activities. But if you are serious about finding Jesus and then not leaving Jesus behind, I believe this is one of the best ways to do that.
So where are you at?
Have you lost Jesus – left him behind because you are pursuing different priorities to Him? If this is the case, you need to stop. Turn around and go and find Him again. Stop being distracted by your priorities. God’s priorities are what counts. Are you Looking for him? I can guarantee that you will find him if you commit yourself to study of his word. Come and talk to me or Pastor Roger after the service and we’ll give you information about small groups that you can join. There are some that are crying out for new members - they are just waiting for you to join them!!!
One other thing you can do to give yourself every opportunity to find Jesus again is to commit to getting involved in the 40 Days of Purpose campaign. I might sound like a broken record on this, but I can’t emphasis how life changing I think this program is going to be. Those who have been reading the book we’ll study have been telling me again and again that it is a real blessing. So please don’t miss out on this opportunity. You need to find Jesus and you need to make sure you never leave him behind again so commit to doing something about it now. Join a small group and get involved in the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign.
What about those of you who feel comfortable. You feel as though Jesus is safe and secure with you. To you I give you this warning. It may only be a matter of time before you wander off. What are you doing to ensure that you keep your priorities aligned with His. For you too, there is no substitute to belonging to a home group.
So where are you at? Have you left Jesus behind in your life. I encourage you to find him as quickly as you can and to put into place things that will ensure that your priorities always remain the same as His. If you do this, you will never be in the unenviable position of having left Jesus behind.
