Dear Church of the Open Bible,
Can you imagine losing your child for three days? Not knowing where they are, or what’s happening to them? We’ve forgotten to pick up one of our kids after school a number of times or from a friend’s house, but we’re not even talking hours here, never mind days!
At the end of Luke 2, Joseph and Mary misplace their twelve-year-old, Jesus, and they don’t find Him for three days! Times were different back then but anxiety was the same. Eventually, after great distress, they find Jesus in the temple, and Jesus asks them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49).
Luke goes on to tell us that Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus meant, but I think they felt what He meant. A few verses earlier, an older believer, Simeon, tells Mary that Jesus’ identity and mission will bring her great pain. He describes it as “a sword that will pierce
through your own soul” (2:35). And I think that is what Mary is beginning to feel at the temple, with her recently found twelve-year-old. She is Jesus’ mother, yes. But His deepest identity and His deepest priorities are reserved for His heavenly Father, not her.
This is difficult to come to terms with for any parent. Not the anxiety of misplacing your child for three days, but the loss of surrendering your child completely. The children we have are not our own, and like all things we love so dearly, they cannot take central place in our hearts.
He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” - Genesis 22:12
Maybe you are experiencing this pain to some extent today. The pain of having to let go and trust God completely. If we think that this pain is unfair, either for Mary or Abraham (above), it is good for us to remember that God Himself surrendered His Son, His only Son, for our sake. And Jesus willingly laid down His life so that we could experience abundant life. May there be nothing we hold more dear, no loyalty more important, no identity more precious, than that of being a child of God, a subject of King Jesus.