Skip to main content

38. I Must Be In My Father's House


Isaiah 53:2 & Luke 2:43-52
Key Verse: "Why were you searching for me?"  He asked.   "Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?"
Luke 2:49

The Passover is now over and the Holy family is supposed to be headed for home.   The plan is to go back to their ordinary lives in Nazareth to take up an ordinary existence.   Suddenly, the part of the family that sets them apart is missing!  I sometimes wonder what kind of panic Joseph and Mary experienced when the realized that, not only their son, but God's son, the promised Messiah was lost!  

 As a parent, I've experienced that horrible panic of a lost child.   I can't imagine how much worse it must have been for them.   They had been entrusted with this precious life from God Himself and now, it appeared that they had failed!  Without cell phone or any other form of technology or friendly policeman to help, they had no choice but to return to Jerusalem and walk the streets looking for their son. 

When they find Him at the temple, Jesus asks, "Where else would I be?"  My heart still goes out to Mary at this point.   The relief must have been incredible.   No, Mary, this is not the sword that will pierce your heart.   Jesus is simply speaking truth here that may be a bit hard for a mother to grasp quite yet.  In fact the elders and priests surrounding him in the temple, questioning him and discussing things with him had been astonished at his understanding of truth! 

Jesus' whole life was devoted to doing the Father's will.   Jesus had no plan of His own.   He had no personal ambition.   From the first words that we hear Him utter in our reading today, to His prayer in the garden, "not my will, but Yours be done," to His final words on the cross, “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit," Jesus' life was completely focused on obedience to His Father God and fulfilling His Father's will. 

The Father's will was to redeem us.   Jesus came to bear witness to the truth, that the only way to be redeemed was through Him.   The only redemption that the Father could accept is through the blood of His Son.   The only way to be redeemed is to believe in Jesus and allow Him to help us surrender to God as completely as He did. 

In the covenants that we reviewed in the Old Testament, God was always seen as either bearing both sides of the commitment, or, at least bearing the majority of the responsibility of what the covenant called for.   As Jesus walked this earthly life, we continue to see Him bearing the major portion of the consequences of our sin, even though he participated in none of it. As the God/man, he perfectly upheld both sides of the covenant. God's righteous decrees faithfully obeyed.

Today, we see Him aware of His commitment and total devotion to commit himself to His purpose.   He visited His Father's house.  He is setting an example of how a child can lead us.   He kept His focus pure.   May Jesus help us to have such single-minded devotion to seeing God's will being done here on earth, as it is in Heaven. 

Hymn:  "Child of theLight"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more