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Luke 2:40-52—And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ⁴³ And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ 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, ⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching 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 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.” ⁴⁹ And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹ 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.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Before we really dive into this text, I believe it is incumbent upon me to make one very important observation: Parents, this text proves that even if your kids were perfect and sinless like Jesus, you would still be stressed out. Press on.

This text is unique as it is the only time in all of the Gospels where we are given a glimpse into the life of Jesus as a child. The vast majority of the four Gospels deal with about 3.5 years of Jesus’ 33 years on earth, and a significant chunk of that focuses on one week – Holy Week. So why does Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, include this account that is at least mildly embarrassing for Mary and Joseph, the parents of the Messiah? Well, this event becomes the theme of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

For twelve years, Jesus has lived with His parents being perfectly obedient to them. He listened to the Scriptures in the synagogue and became filled with wisdom. This Passover is significant for Jesus because He is twelve years old; in other words, Jesus was considered to be spiritually mature. On top of that, twelve years old also places Jesus on the threshold of becoming an adult.

The family journeys up to Jerusalem. Large groups of people would travel together to go to the feasts. After celebrating God’s deliverance, Mary and Joseph’s caravan of friends, neighbors, and relatives leaves Jerusalem. They would all be spread out, some traveling more quickly and others more slowly. People in the caravan knew where they would meet and camp. But when everyone assembled at the meeting place, Mary and Joseph don’t find Jesus.

I would guess that every parent knows the panic of not knowing where your child is, even if it is only for a few seconds at a playground or in a store.

Imagine traveling for a whole day and realizing your child is not with you. And this is not any child; Mary and Joseph both know that this Child is the Son of God who will save His people from their sins. They had been entrusted with raising Him, and now He is lost. Though it was only for a moment, even Mary and Joseph failed at being parents.

Jesus is gone. Mary and Joseph experience the hellish terror of losing a child. They are apart from Jesus. To be without Jesus is hell, even when that Jesus is only a twelve-year-old boy. He is the Savior of the world. Whenever we are without Him, we are in hell – eternally suffering in our sin, eternally dying.

Mary and Joseph lost Jesus, and we do too. We lose Jesus often. We take our eyes off of Jesus and become distracted with many things. We worry and fret about what we see in the news. We fuss about our bank and credit card statements. We pester ourselves with planning for the unforeseeable. And we stew about our health problems. We focus on how we are doing in every area of our lives – our social skills, our parenting, our mariages – we look at all these things and we see our many failures. We let the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh distract us and lead us far, far away. We lose Jesus.

But Jesus is never lost. He is always right where He has promised to be.

After three days, Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the Temple. They are amazed and in wonder at finding Jesus sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. Imagine their shock and amazement and joy at finding their Child, not playing baseball or video games, but sitting and talking with pastors and spiritual leaders.

Even in her joy, Mary is somewhat dumbfounded. In her emotional mix of relief and irritation she says, “How could You do this to us? Your father and I have been torturing ourselves searching for you.” And Jesus, you have to love this especially from a twelve-year-old boy, calmly answers, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”

Now, this translation is debated. Literally, Jesus says, “I must be in the things of My Father.” Jesus doesn’t say exactly what ‘things’ of His Father He needs to be in. Every translation fills in the blank for us. Most English versions will translate this, “in My Father’s house.” But the King James does a better job I think when it translates Jesus as saying, “in My Father’s business.”

Jesus is never lost. He must always be doing His Father’s business.

Even Jesus’ word must here is significant, especially in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus talks a lot about the things He must do: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God” (Lk. 4:43); but most importantly five times Jesus either directly or indirectly says that He must suffer, die, and be raised on the third day (9:22; 13:33; 17:25; 22:37; 24:44). Even when Jesus does what He must do and “gets lost” in death, He is right where He has promised to be.

You see this event of Mary and Joseph losing Jesus is very similar to the scene Easter morning (Lk. 24:1-11). A small caravan women arrive at the empty tomb expecting to find Jesus, but He is nowhere to be found. For Mary and Joseph, Jesus was lost in Jerusalem for three days, and for the women, Jesus was lost in death for three days. Mary and Joseph are asked why they were searching for Jesus, and the women are asked why they are searching for the living among the dead.

But Jesus is never lost. Jesus is always where He has promised to be. And He is always asking us, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s business: dying and rising and forgiving your sins?”

Jesus is still doing His Father’s business, working in His Word and Sacraments. When you lose Jesus, remember that it’s not Jesus who is lost. Jesus will always be found where He has promised to work. That means Jesus is here through His Word. He is here in this bread and here in this wine doing His Father’s business of removing your sins from you.

If it is possible for Mary and Joseph – the people chosen by God to care for Him – to lose Jesus  than you certainly can lose Him too. Too often we assume that we can bring Jesus with us on our own business. And eventually we get the sense that we are far from Him, but it is not because He has moved.

Go and search. When you look in the right places – His Word and Sacraments – you’ll always find Him. Amen.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and forever. Amen.