Jesus: "Mom, Why didn't you know?" (Luke 2:41-52)

Luke 2:41-52 ⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." ⁴⁹ He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

"Mom, When you figured out that I was missing, Why did you feel anxiety? Why did you even have to search for me? Why didn't you know where I would be?"

When our boys were little, we took them skiing two years back-to-back at Alta just outside of Salt Lake City.  Kit took to the slopes right away hurling himself and his multi-colored jester hat down the mountain with skis pointed straight ahead the entire way down.  He had no fear whatsoever. 

Brent, on the other hand, was born with vision issues that make hurling oneself down the mountain a lot more difficult.  So before we went I called around at Alta to find someone who could teach a vision impaired person to ski. Neither Steve nor I skied well enough to know how to teach Brent ourselves.  The first year Brent stayed on the bunny slope with his teacher all week long.  And it was so tough for him.  I wondered if bringing him had been the right thing to do.  One day at the end of the day, we met him there.  He started to cry and said, "Mom, you have no idea how hard it is to be me."  Brent was not one who ever cried.  And it broke my heart.  It was the first and only time in Brent's entire life that I had ever heard him complain about his vision.  But the next day he wanted to go try again and he did.  There wasn't a lot of improvement that year, but he kept getting back out there every day.

The next year we found the same teacher and hired him again to spend the week day mornings with Brent teaching him how to ski.  The first day, the man said, "Brent, one time down the bunny slope, then we are going up the ski lift."  I was scared.  I thought this was asking too much.  I voiced my concerns.  Brent heard me.  And despite my worries, Brent said, "No,  I am okay with that!"  I couldn't stand to watch so we went and skied on the other side of the mountain.  When it was lunch time, we went and got Brent.  The instructor was glowing.  He said Brent did great.  I wasn't convinced - thought the man was just offering positive support.  But I said nothing.  After lunch, Brent said he wanted to ski with us.  So we hopped on the ski lift and rode up to the top of the mountain.  Brent skied.  Not by pointing his skis straight down  the mountain, but by gracefully going from side to side.  Steady and even.  He never even fell one time.  His execution was perfect.  When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we had a huge family hug!!!  I said, "Brent!  You did it!  WOW!"  He said, "Mom, this is the first time you have ever doubted I could do anything."  The picture below was taken at the top of the ski lift just before I watched Brent "own" the mountain for the first time!

April, Kit, Steve, and Brent
Alta around the year 2000

Had Mary forgotten who Jesus was?  Had her faith wavered?  She had no reason to feel anxiety.  She should have known by Jesus' character and by all that she knew of the prophesies about the Messiah - exactly where he was and what he was capable of.  In a scene from the movie, The Passion of the Christ, a scene that would have occurred years later in Jesus' life, Mary and the other women who were friends of Jesus are watching helplessly as Jesus is tortured before his death.  The other women ask Mary why Jesus doesn't use his power to stop his persecution.  And she calmly affirms that to suffer for us is Jesus' choice.  The movie portrays Mary as one who has come a long way since the days when she anxiously searched for Jesus.  She knows Jesus even better - she understands his purpose and his character - she has faith in Jesus.

There are days in all of our lives when Jesus seems to go missing.  The immature Christian starts to panic - starts to wonder if Jesus really is who he claims to be - if following him is really worth the effort.  We might even start to search frantically for him.  But don't.  Stop.  Have faith - rely on what you know about the character of God to guide you.  Jesus is in the same place today where Mary found him.  He is with the Father - OUR Father.  And he is still in control of the universe.  Rest.