In a couple of days, we’ll have our Christmas Eve Programs at 5 PM and 7 PM. Christmas Eve’s celebration is, as I recall from personal experience, normally bigger than Christmas itself in terms of congregational celebration. Unless Christmas falls on a Sunday, church folks normally celebrate Christmas Eve at church, but we celebrate Christmas at home.
This Sunday, we’ll be done with Christmas, but we’re still in Christmastide, at least until the evening of January 5th, 2022. The Scripture for this Sunday, the First Sunday after Christmas day, is the story from Luke 2:41-52. It is the only story in all four gospels that talks about twelve-year-old Jesus. Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and those who observed the Passover Festival at Jerusalem just finished their big holiday celebration, and they are on their way home. Like many of us after this Saturday, they are returning to the normalcy of home and the everydayness of life. But unexpectedly they found themselves in a predicament. They couldn’t find their son anywhere, and they were terrified! Perhaps you can empathize with Mary and Joseph because you have had a similar experience. Perhaps, you’re finding yourself lost in the whirlwind of life. Whether you have lost someone or are being lost yourself, Jesus is our anchor and comfort, and we can always find him when we seek him.
1 Samuel 2:18-20 (CEB)
18 Now Samuel was serving the Lord. He was a young boy, clothed in a linen priestly vest. 19 His mother would make a small robe for him and take it to him every year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife: “May the Lord replace the child of this woman that you gave back to the Lord.” Then they would return home.
Luke 2:41-52 (CEB)
41 Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42 When he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to their custom. 43 After the festival was over, they were returning home, but the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t know it. 44 Supposing that he was among their band of travelers, they journeyed on for a full day while looking for him among their family and friends. 45 When they didn’t find Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple. He was sitting among the teachers, listening to them and putting questions to them. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed by his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were shocked.
His mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Listen! Your father and I have been worried. We’ve been looking for you!”
49 Jesus replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he said to them.
51 Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. His mother cherished every word in her heart. 52 Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people.
Consider these questions:
- Have you ever lost your child? How did that experience feel?
- How do you think Mary and Joseph feel?
- From Mary’s Song of Praise (Luke 1:46-55), she knows that her child is special, but when she thought she’d lost Jesus, she was extremely worried. How does our spiritual experience of knowing God similar to or different from our actual experience of God in everyday life?
- Mary cherished every word that Jesus had spoken in her heart. I wonder what would happen if we also cherish what Jesus says. Would that make our life, our relationships, and our world different?