Luke 2:41-52 (NRSV)
Read Luke 2:41-52 on biblegateway.com
Verse 41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. Verse 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. Verse 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Verse 44Assuming 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. Verse 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. Verse 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Verse 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Verse 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." Verse 49He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Verse 50But they did not understand what he said to them. Verse 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. Verse 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
Devotion
Today’s story about Jesus the tweenager is our only picture of Jesus’ childhood in the gospels. Here is the boy Jesus doing what all tweens have to do—begin to figure out who they really are. The process quite naturally gives the parents some anxiety. Despite those angelic chats way back when, Mary and Joseph still don’t quite get who their boy is, and less what he will become. Why this story? Are we to notice the divine in Jesus the Bible prodigy, or be wowed by the reference to being in his Father’s house, when he is miles away from Joseph’s Nazareth home? Maybe. Then it could also be about how Jesus sees and bears the anxieties of those closest to him, obediently returning to his parents and going back home to Nazareth with them. Somehow it is tween Jesus who gets what the others close to him need. Certainly it is part of what Mary eventually treasures, as can we, for Jesus gets us too.
Prayer
Jesus, come down to us and take notice of all our anxious moods. Give us a measure of your wisdom, to obey and to follow and to treasure your presence. Amen.
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