Have you ever had a time when you are
so mad at someone you could see red. They did something so stupid
you don't understand how they could have possibly did it without
realizing they were an idiot. Like when your brother brings up your
ex boyfriend the first time he meets the new boyfriend, or your
friend takes your car, hits a deer and then leaves it in the driveway
for you. This is how I picture Mary and Joseph looking at Jesus when
they finally find him and hear his explanation for why he was not in
the caravan.
Jesus is 12. At the age of 12 many
young men would be apprenticing, they would be treated not as
children but young adults. They would have responsibilities and
obligations. The family had traveled many miles together for the
passover celebration and it would have been expected that Jesus would
help get things packed up and join with everyone else to go back. He
would know it is time to go home.
At the end of the first day of the
journey he was no where to be found. I can see Mary and Joseph and
their family searching frantically for him. Where did he go? How
could they have lost him? God asked me to raise his son and now we
have gone and lost him!? If I was them I would also be thinking
about what kind of punishment I was going to give him when I got my
hands on him. Then the frenzy turns into three days of searching and
going back to the temple. As a mother, by that third day there would
be no thought of punishment just gratefulness that I found him and
that he was okay. Then, I probably would be angry with his peevish
response, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I
must be in my Father's house?” This was most likely also insulting
to Joseph who was representing his earthly father and had adopted him
as fully as any father of the time could have.
I truly tried to put myself in Mary's
shoes. Would I be so grateful to find him in one piece and safe that
I would not mind his response, or would I be angry because he had
made me worry so. Would I think that Jesus knew what he needed to do
and where he should have been and he didn't even have the courtesy to
tell me what he was doing? Would I have seen red because of his
blatant disregard for what I wanted or would I have been grateful for
him being okay? Or perhaps both.
Isn't this like our relationships with
Jesus now. We go along on our way thinking Jesus is with us and then
when we can't find him we get upset, sometimes we get down right mad
at Jesus. Sometimes we expect Jesus to be in something and we can't
see him. We can't see how it is going to work out, what is going on,
where we are going or what we are supposed to be doing. WE feel lost
and worried and alone. Yet Jesus is right where Jesus needs to be
doing right what Jesus needs to be doing – just like at the temple.
When we finally figure out a piece of the puzzle and look back and
see where Jesus was and what he was doing are we mad or grateful?
Are we still angry that our plan didn't work out? That our little
journey home was four times as long and took a huge detour? Are we
grateful for that? Or do we get so caught up in our plan that we
don't take time to be grateful for the detour and all that we learned
on it.
The Colossians passage that we read at
the beginning of service (Colossians 3:12-17) tells us in v. 17 that
“whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” We don't
know where Jesus is in our lives all the time. That is just how it
is. Mary and Joseph didn't either. If they didn't and they were his
earthly parents then why should we be any different? We are promised
that he he is our Emmanuel – God with us. We know that he walks
beside us and never leaves us. From Jeremiah 29:11 we hear from God
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans
to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope an a
future.” With all of that when we can't know what God is doing,
when we don't understand or are left looking and wondering as Mary
and Joseph were, we are called by Colossians to remember to do
everything in the name of the Lord and give thanks for everything.
We are called to find things to be grateful for and to keep Jesus at
the center of our lives even when we are wondering around feeling
lost. We are never truly lost from Jesus, we may just now understand
what he is doing. Just like Mary and Joseph we just may not “get
it” until later on when we can see the big picture and Jesus is in
front of us. Perhaps during this Christmas season and throughout the
entire New Year that is exactly what we are called to do – be
grateful and do everything in Jesus' name – even when we can't seem
to see what Jesus is doing in our lives and we can't find any
answers.
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