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Has anyone seen Jesus?

Luke 2.41-52 – Has anyone seen Jesus?

We all do it – lose things! We can’t remember where we left the items, when we last saw them, where they might possibly be. Age doesn’t help the remembering process, but at any stage of life we may struggle! And when we find something (where it was all along!) we are relieved. The item was not “lost” – our memory of where it might be was “lost”.

The digital age doesn’t help either. We “lose” things on the computer – and the reassurance that “it’s here somewhere” doesn’t help the recovery process. Our local community internet notice board is full of pleas from people looking for their lost parcels – “Does anyone recognise this doorstep…?”

And have you ever “lost” one of your children – left them behind somewhere…? We left our youngest at church some years ago. Given that we only have three children, you’d think we might have noticed – but he was oblivious to the fact he had been lost! Imagine the angst of Mary and Joseph when they discover that they have lost Jesus (read Luke 2.41-52). He’s not where they thought he was, and not where he ought to be. As they travelled with the large caravan of pilgrims back from the Jerusalem temple through the countryside to Nazareth, the men talking together, the women and younger children conversing and playing, the older children grouped somewhere in the crowd, at the end of the day they discover their Jesus is not in the group. Companionship turns to concern to crisis. Where is he? Three days later they find him – where he’s been all along – in the temple, being schooled by and giving schooling to the teachers. “Why have you treated us like this? We have been anxiously searching for you”. Did Jesus know he was “lost”?  Their angst is met with the answer “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luke uniquely reveals the first recorded words of Jesus with an insight into Jesus’ understanding of His purpose and place in the plans of His Father.

It’s really rather easy to “travel with the crowd” yet miss out on Jesus. Maybe our experience of Jesus is some time in the past now, and we continue to satisfy ourselves that this is OK. We may have “left him” in church, alongside an experience that once really mattered but now seems rather dated. How many days have you travelled until you realise you are missing the presence of Jesus? What anxieties have gnawed away at you until you have discovered the need to go back and find Him where He has always been? Hear the gentle words from His lips “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know…?”

Lord Jesus, forgive me when I have “lost” You in the melee of life, and wondered where You are. Help me to stay close to You just as You have promised to keep me close to me.

This week’s Thought for the Week is from Paul Rosier, a retired minister living in Cromer, and author of several books including “A Word with Jesus” (Loxwood Press) available from Green Pastures, Dereham; Jarrolds Cromer and Amazon online. His latest book “A Word with the Psalmist” is published later this year.