Monday Devotional: December 23, 2024

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Devotional

Bible Reading: Luke 2:41-51 (NRSVUE)

41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, 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, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

Something was terribly wrong with the makeup of the traveling party. For Mary and Joseph, the festive occasion, focused travel, and familiar companions all conspired to prevent their recognition that “the boy Jesus” was not with them. He was God’s unique gift to them, unlike anyone else ever born! Of course, they had to go back. Searching for Jesus was a parental and sacred duty. By searching, once again Mary and Joseph say yes to their own charge.

It matters where we search for Jesus. Jesus was right where he needed to be. It was, after all, his Father’s house. Jesus was not admonishing them for coming for him. Rather, he meant that no search was necessary. Where else would he be? Such is the question for us today. We search for Jesus — and indeed may encounter him — in the marketplace, public square, schools, boardrooms, and kitchen tables. The one place where Jesus should always be found, however, is the “temple” of our day. Do we earnestly search for Jesus there? Perhaps Jesus might ask again: “Where else would I be?”

Something greater is at work in this story than simply embarrassed parents and a precocious preteen who discovered his purpose. We see it in the second part of verse 51: “and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” It almost seems to be a throwaway line, but how tragic it would be for something so life-changing to be lost. As with Mary, may we treasure in our hearts all the things we experience during our quest. They remind us that God is at work in the world. And just as have found Jesus, so too will many others who discover that Someone is missing from their lives.

Prayer

Thank you, God, for Jesus. I pray to always remember his impact on my life. Help me to be gracious to those who are also remembering. Amen.

By Larrin Robertson, The Upper Room Disciplines 2024, page 427.