January 01st, 2020

Luke 2:48-49:
And when His parents [Joseph and Mary] saw Him [Jesus], they were astonished. And His mother said to Him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress." And He said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
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A Parent's Worst Nightmare:
As a a parent, how would you feel if you "lost your child?" I think panic would describe, in part, the emotions that you would feel. Imagine how Joseph and Mary felt when, after a day of walking, they couldn't find Jesus anywhere amongst their travel group. Jesus wasn't with His friend's families. Jesus was not with them. Fear began to set in. 

While still within in their minds, Joseph and Mary left the safety of the group and began the day long trip back to Jerusalem. After they arrived, the panic setting in even more, searched for Jesus for three days. 

Then they reasoned where Jesus could be. And sure enough, Jesus was in the temple. Now how do you feel? The panic starts to wane. Relief starts to take panic's place. And another emotion then will start. That is, anger.

Mary's chastisement of Jesus incorporated all of those emotions, at least. If there were me, I would want to both love on him in relief and warm his backside for scaring me half to death.

Yet Jesus said something intriguing.

Must be in My Father's house:
Jesus is saying, "This is where I need to be. Why were you worried about me?"

If I said that to my parents after they were searching for me for three days, plus two days traveling, my backside would have been warmed. 

Yet when you think about what Jesus said and who Jesus is, then what He said makes perfect sense. Jesus needs to be in the house of God. And that is where He is.

Jesus is always in the His house, whenever two or more gather in His name. That can be congregations, schools, Sanctuaries, classrooms, and houses. Jesus is everywhere people are gathered in His name.

Jesus is always in His Father's temple, meaning, the hearts of every believer in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Jesus is always in His Father's temple of every believer who believes in the salvation from sin, death, and the influence of Satan.

And Jesus is in His Father's temple of every believer who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, lives their lives according to the grace of God the Father.

Are you searching for Jesus? 
Are you looking for Jesus? Are you trying to find Him who died and rose for you? 

Jesus is in God's Word. Pick it up and start to read it. You will see Jesus in all the pages of God's Word. Jesus is there. He stands at the door of your heart and knocks. 

How will you respond? Open the door.

Do you want to know more? Please reply and let's "talk."

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