Church in the Wild

⁴¹ His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. ⁴³ When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; ⁴⁴ but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. ⁴⁶ Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. ⁴⁸ So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” ⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

-Luke 2:41-49

I won’t spend a lot of time on the actual verses because they speak for themselves. I want to relate them to us as Christians. A lot of times as we travel along this journey we leave Jesus out of what we are doing. We venture off and get distracted not even realizing that we have left Jesus. We think “Oh, I am a Christian so I know that Jesus is with me.” We suppose that we can do all manner of things that do not please God and that he will simply stay there with us in our mess. Jesus’ parents got on the road after the Passover Feast and headed off toward home. They went an entire day’s journey before they realized that they didn’t have Jesus. A lot of times things go the same way in our own lives. We have just received a huge blessing or we are finally getting our life back on track and we are so proud of ourselves. We take off in our own direction without consulting God at all. Sometimes we get so cocky about what we have been able to accomplish that we end up going astray and we try to walk on our own, but as the old song says, “we can’t even walk without Him holding our hands.” 

When Jesus’ parents found him they asked him how could he have done this to them. What we must realize is that it isn’t God who leaves us, we leave him! Jesus told his parents “You knew that I had to be about my Father’s business.” When we don’t feel God’s presence we often blame God, but God would never forsake us. The Holy Spirit is with us, but we at times forsake God. God cannot accompany you in your mess. So when we have our forays into sin and go astray, or we try to establish our own righteousness and path that is not in the will of God for our lives we will often feel that spirit dampen as we leave God and lean unto our own understanding.

Mary and Joseph thought that Jesus was with them, but he was not. Many times we think that we are living our lives as Christians, we think that we are pleasing God, but we are not. Have you gone a day’s journey without Jesus? Are you going through life without him right now? Don’t be so caught up in your journey through life that you forget to carry Jesus with you everywhere you go. Yes life is short, even the Bible acknowledges that, but remember that your soul will live forever and the preparation for its destination starts RIGHT NOW! If you do happen to go astray and you cannot feel the Holy Spirit, remember that he will always be tending to the Father’s business, which just so happens to be the exact place you should be.