The Original Home Alone

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.