WWUTT 2282 Jesus Goes Missing (Luke 2:41-45)

Mary and Joseph couldn't find Jesus. They misplaced the Son of God.

Where could he be?

And Jesus was teaching in the temple, of course, saying, don't you know I must be in my Father's house when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God that we may comprehend with all the saints how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ. Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .tt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Jesus in the Temple at Age Twelve

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we've been in chapter two, reading of the boy Jesus teaching in the temple. Let me pick up where we left off yesterday. I'm starting in verse 41 and reading through verse 52.

Hear the word of the Lord. Now his parents went up to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.

His parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, 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?

And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

You know, I used to wander when I was a kid. I wandered around a lot. I was the only one of my siblings who ever took a stroll down the interstate. My grandmother used to live right next to the interstate.

Of course, a big chain link fence separating the neighborhood from the interstate, but I scaled it. I climbed that fence, hopped over the other side, went for a walk down the interstate expecting that I was gonna take the next exit and be able to walk to my dad's job.

I wanted to go see my dad. That's what I was doing. I ran away from home a lot. And it was never one of those angry kid things, you know, where they say, I'm gonna run away. I wasn't doing that. I just liked to wander.

I'm not that way anymore. I've become such a homebody. But when I was a kid, I wanted to take a stroll. I just wanted to get out and see the world. I wanted to see where my feet could take me. And I got in trouble for it sometimes.

And other times my parents would just shake their heads because they're like, that's Gabe. That's what he does. He just wants to get out of the house and go for a walk. I'm very mindful of our three-year-old because he's been kind of that way.

And in every house that we've lived in with our three-year-old, which is just two houses now, he was born while we were in Texas. He's three now here in Arizona, but it's always been easy to get out of the house.

And now he's tall enough to reach the latches and everything like that. So I try to be very mindful of where he's at and what he's doing because he can find a way of getting out and going for a stroll.

He's kind of like me in that sense. Well, here Jesus, as we read about this in this story, Jesus being 12 years old, he gets away from his parents. He stays in Jerusalem. They're not even aware that he's missing.

And they search for him three days looking for him. You probably have this idea of this story like they're just barely leaving Jerusalem and they're looking around going, okay, has anybody seen Jesus?

Who was the last person to see Jesus? And they spend a few hours, right? They get back into Jerusalem, spend a few hours looking around, go into the temple. Oh, and there's Jesus. Three days he was missing.

Three days they were looking for him before they finally found him there in the temple. And he had a much more deliberate and God honoring reason to be where he was. Unlike myself, who just wanted to get out and go for a stroll.

He was in his father's house, desiring to teach and even to learn. Cause remember it's being said here. We read yesterday in verse 40 that he grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And in verse 52, he increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

So he's definitely learning. He is the incarnate son of God. He is the God man, but in his humanity, he experienced maturity just like we might experience maturity. Now, not exactly the same, of course, because yeah, like I said, he's the son of God.

The father has given him the spirit to a degree that no one else would ever have. The Holy Spirit descending upon him at his baptism. There's something significant about that more than just understanding that he is the one in whom the father is pleased.

The Holy Spirit of God is with Jesus. And so he in his humanity, experiencing life as we would experience life, he also grows in maturity, but there's certainly a level to this maturity beyond what we would be able to achieve.

Especially considering that he's sinless. He was not conceived of the seed of man, but of the Holy Spirit. And so therefore is sinless from the moment of his conception. So there's definitely something to that with regard to his behavior and character.

He does not sin. Even in this, his teaching in the temple, he's not sinning against his earthly mother and father. He is in his father's house, but it does conclude with him saying that he submitted to them.

He went with them to Nazareth and submitted to Mary and Joseph. That's a part of this, though, that we probably won't get to until tomorrow. Let's look at the first half of this narrative of Jesus being in Jerusalem when his parents did not know he was there.

The Passover and the Journey to Jerusalem

Verse 41, now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover. It's interesting that this is the Feast of Passover, right? Because what's the last feast that Jesus partakes in before he goes to his death?

It's the Passover. He eats the Passover with his disciples in the upper room. And all of the things that happen with the crucifixion to show that he is the Passover lamb, he fulfills everything that the Passover was pointing to.

It was pointing to him, he being the spotless lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And so the first feast that we have record of Jesus partaking in is the Feast of Passover. According to Luke 2 .41, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of Passover, which would have been in the months of March or April, the way our modern calendar is set up now, that's about the period of time in which the Passover would have taken place, the month of Abib.

So in Deuteronomy 16 .1, observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib, the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. When was the season in which the Israelites came out of slavery in Egypt?

Well, it would have been about the spring. That was when the Lord delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. And so the Feast of Passover that the Hebrews continued to observe for 1 ,500 years now up to this point.

And notice that it says they go up to Jerusalem, verse 42, and when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. Now, later on, when it says in verse 51, he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.

So they go up to Jerusalem, they go down to Nazareth. You look at that on a map, and Nazareth is in the north and Jerusalem is in the south. So how is it they go down to Nazareth? Well, that's the way that we typically refer to directions.

If we're talking about some sort of global travel, if anybody goes south, we say they went down. And if they go north, then we say that they went up. But here it's with regards to elevation. Jerusalem was higher in elevation than Nazareth.

So as you go up to Jerusalem, you would be ascending to Jerusalem. There's also a theological aspect to this because Jerusalem was said to be where God resided. Traditionally, this is the thought, this is the idea.

God is in his temple dwelling with his people. So he's on what would be called Mount Zion. Wherever it is that God dwells, whatever mountain God dwells upon, that's Mount Zion. And the temple is built on Mount Moriah.

So to go to Jerusalem, you go up to the place of God, even if there may have been some sort of location that was higher in elevation, it would still have been said that anytime anyone goes to Jerusalem, Hebrews in particular, that they would be going up to Jerusalem.

So that's the use of the word up here. Jesus is 12 years old. And I think it's telling us that, Luke is telling us that because this particular occasion happens when he's 12. It's not that they were not partaking in Passover until he turned 12.

And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. It was every year according to custom. So they always went up to Jerusalem every Passover. This just happens to be an occasion that takes place when Jesus is at the age of 12.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Missing Boy

Verse 43, and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it. Now, in the course of Passover, it said in Exodus 12, 15, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

On the first day, you shall remove leaven out of your houses. For if anyone eats what is leaven from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day, you shall hold a holy assembly and on the seventh day, a holy assembly.

So they are spending a week in Passover here. And when Passover ends, when the feast ends, so they have that particular celebration on the first day and on the seventh day. First day, you have a holy assembly, seventh day, a holy assembly.

No work shall be done on those days, but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For on this very day, I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.

Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. In the first month, from the 14th day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening.

For seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling places, you shall eat unleavened bread. So there you go, feast that happens for seven days. And so it was after this feast, after they had completed the time of the Passover celebration, that's when they return going back to Nazareth.

But as they are heading that way, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Now it says boy, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but the word here for boy can also be rendered child or it can be rendered youth.

And that would be, the range of youth could be closer to like a teenager. It could be anywhere from like 12 to 17. So that word applying to Jesus, and it doesn't just have to do with the age of Jesus.

The word itself for boy doesn't just have to do with the age of Jesus because the way that we would describe different age groups, if you referred to a teenager, you would be assuming a boy or a girl that would be between the ages of 13 and 19, right?

But teenager rarely if ever has anything to do with parentage. It has only to do with a child's age or a person's age. Whereas this application of the word boy has to do with parentage. Essentially what's being said with the use of boy or the Greek word that appears here, peos, the use of that word also implies parentage.

So Jesus is not yet old enough to be without parents. It's really what's being illustrated here. At the age of 12, he is still under the guidance, under the teaching, under the authority of his parents.

That would be the general idea. Hence why he's being referred to as a boy, the boy Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem. He shouldn't have been. He shouldn't have stayed behind. He should have been with his parents.

That's what you would typically expect anyway of a boy of this particular age. So the use of this word, not just about age, but even in reference to parentage. His parents did not know that he was not with them.

But supposing him to be with the group, they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

Searching for Jesus, the Son of God

Okay, let's jump back here. His parents don't know that Jesus is not with them. Why not? Why is that so puzzling? Didn't Jesus go everywhere with Mary and Joseph on a donkey? That's the picture we have whenever Joseph and Mary come to Bethlehem, right?

Mary is pregnant, she's sitting on a donkey. And so if it's just the three of them, Joseph and Mary and Jesus, wouldn't they automatically realize Jesus is not with us? Well, they traveled in a caravan.

It would not have been traveling just alone, Joseph and Mary and Jesus by themselves. That's the way it's even depicted in the Christmas story. But even there, when Joseph and Mary came from Nazareth down to Bethlehem, they would not have traveled by themselves.

They did not come alone. That's the picture, those are the paintings, those are the illustrations, that's in all the movies, films, TV shows that depict this also, Joseph and Mary traveling from Bethlehem down to Jerusalem, down, right?

Because they're going south.

Yeah, anyway. I lost my train of thought there all of a sudden. Yeah, so they're always traveling alone. Any of those Christmas depictions, it always just shows them alone. That was not the way that would have been.

That was unsafe. That was actually a very unsafe way to travel. Now, of course, Mary's pregnant with the Son of God. The Father would have been protecting them. Angels would have been guarding all around them.

Surely no thieves would have come upon them anyway. But still, in the practical sense of things, people did not just travel alone like that. If making that kind of a journey, they would tend to join some kind of caravan or travel with family.

And most likely with Joseph and Mary coming down to Bethlehem to be registered in the time of the census, they had other relatives that were making that trip. So they traveled together in a caravan of people, even in that 100-mile trek from Nazareth down to Bethlehem.

Now here, once again, it's still about 100 miles, going from Jerusalem back up to Nazareth. And that would have been, that would have taken about a week, about a week's time for them to cover that distance or something to that effect, from one Sabbath to the other.

And I say 100 miles, it was really more like 80 to 90 miles as the crow flies. And since this is a major holiday, it's a major feast, right? This is Passover. So they're traveling with a whole caravan of family members.

And there may have been certain cousins or relatives or things like that Jesus is palling around with while he's with Joseph and Mary. So they think he's with one of the other relatives. And he was probably there helping Joseph load up their goods on a wagon or on one of the pack animals or something to that degree.

And so he's been there with them already, but then they start on their journey not knowing that he isn't still with them. He has broken away from them at some point and gone back to the temple. And so his parents are unaware that Jesus is not with them, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey.

So maybe at some point after about a day, they're getting to a particular location where they're gonna stop and start setting up camp and they're gonna hang out, get some shut eye for a little bit. That's probably what's about to happen here.

And it's at that stop that they recognize that Jesus is not with them. They start looking around for him. They search for him among their relatives and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

They had to go back. Jesus wasn't with them. And you just have to wonder what's going through their minds. Maybe they feel like terrible parents. We left our son in Jerusalem. What is the matter with us?

We were entrusted to take care of the son of God and he's not even with us. What are we gonna do? How terrible parents are we? With all of my wandering away that I used to do as a kid, my dad said, yeah, it was pretty scary sometimes because you just disappear and we'd have no idea where you are.

And they would feel like bad parents, but no, I was just a wanderer. That's the way that went. And so it could have been the same sort of thing with Joseph and Mary. They can't find Jesus. They've misplaced the son of God.

What sort of terrible parents are we? We don't see anything in the narrative about that. Like they're afraid of the wrath of God because they've misplaced the son of God. Nothing to that degree, but they still may have felt like the worst parents in the world.

This is their oldest son, the first child they've ever had at the age of 12. And we can't find him. Where is it that he has gone? And we'll pick up the narrative there tomorrow and talk about what Jesus was teaching exactly in the temple.

What sort of questions was he asking? We have to speculate about that, but nonetheless, the questions he asked and the things that he said, astonished all the teachers that were around him. This is kind of Luke's way of coming into what Matthew said in Matthew chapter seven, that all the people were astonished because Jesus did not teach like the other scribes and Pharisees.

He spoke as one having authority. And even at the age of 12, that would have been the case. He was no less God at age 12 in his incarnation than when he was sitting on his throne in heaven. Jesus is upholding all things.

He is the one who holds all things together as said in Colossians chapter one. He sits upon his throne and there is nothing that is happening that is outside of his control. I'm teaching this lesson on the day of the election in the United States of America.

It has been a very intense election season. And a lot of people don't know exactly what's going to happen on this day, how the vote is going to turn out. But however it comes out, know that this day was ordained by God.

Every day is election day to a Christian because there are people whom God has elected from before the foundation of the world who will come to salvation in Jesus Christ this day. And so may we continue to trust in the Lord who holds all things in his hands.

There's nothing that is happening today that is outside of his knowledge or his control. He's not altering the plan. He's not having to renegotiate things that he was planning on doing, but now he's got to do something different because something turned out differently than he anticipated.

No, God knows all things because he has decreed all things. And so may we continue to trust in the one who reigns over all. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here today and I pray that we continue to explore the scriptures that we may know you more.

Just as Jesus was obedient to the will of the father and he himself grew in wisdom, may we also desire to grow as our savior did. We would search the scriptures. We would know God's word that we may know you better and your plans and your intentions and the things that you are doing in the world that we cannot see the end of it.

We know that you hold all things in your hands. So give us comfort that we may always seek the things that are above where Christ is. And when Christ who is our life appears, we will appear with him in glory.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Gabriel Hughes. Pastor Gabe is the author of 25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says, examining some of our most common Christmas beliefs and traditions and bringing them back to the truth of scripture.

You can find this and other books at our website, www .wtt .com. Join us again tomorrow for more Bible study when we understand the text.