At nearly every place of business there is a mechanism for lost
and found items. You go to a restaurant
and misplace your phone, and you desperately hope someone else turns it in to
the lost and found. Though depending on
how new and how wonderful your phone was, actually finding it in the bin is
unlikely. For this mechanism to work,
you depend on the honesty of those who find your lost items, to turn them in to
be found again. Further you depend on
the honesty of those working in the business to not simply rake through the
lost and found and take what they want.
For a phone there is a shot. For
cash, you might as well write off the loss, cause the chances of reclaiming
lost cash is nearly zero. For that to
even work, it would depend as well on the honesty of the customers, who far too
often have proven themselves less than spotless (see shoplifting, dine and
dash, etc.). But have you ever lost
Jesus?
For us losing Jesus consists more of us walking away from
Him, turning our eyes off of Him, and persisting in ignoring His love. It seems improbable to a Christian. The very essence of being a believer is
claiming to “follow” Jesus. But Jesus is
not a physical presence in most of our lives.
We don’t pick Him up from school, or go out to eat with Him at a
restaurant. He lives “in heaven”. So we know where He is. But that leaves us away from His personal
touch for most of our lives. So to ask,
have you ever lost Jesus, has more to do with “if” you even look for Him at
all. When faith waivers, we begin to
question the existence of things unseen, and doubt is allowed to creep in. After all it is plausible, that if Jesus is
unseen, then the probability of His existence is as likely as the spaghetti
monster who lives on the far side of the moon (at least this is what every
atheist I have ever met has asserted). But
if on the other hand, our God is truly love, then perhaps we look for Jesus in
the wrong places.
The Bible is the first place my Christian friends cite as
where to go to find Jesus. And truly the
pages of His word are filled with His story, as well as our own. But Bible study, that does not result in
change of hearts that melt with love to others, is Bible study empty of
Jesus. Doctrines are supposed to be a
set of beliefs that lead us closer to Jesus, that increase our understanding of
Jesus, and help us understand His love even better than before we learned
them. But how many doctrines do you know
that accomplish that goal? Oh sure they
all claim to. But the claims are
secondary at best. Deciding that smoking
is a “sin” because it pollutes my body, therefore polluting the temple of God,
and corrupting my ability to come to know Jesus, is at best a secondary
claim. That kind of “doctrine” focuses
more on me, and my health, and less on Jesus, and His love. And that kind of silly example is just one of
hundreds of doctrines that teach us, but do not educate us, about the love of
Jesus.
The simple truth is that when I take my eyes off of
something I own, I tend to misplace it.
I use routines to help prevent this.
I keep my car keys and my house keys in the front right pocket of the
cargo shorts I wear. When I feel the
lumps in that pocket, I know I still have them.
My wallet is always in the right rear pocket, if I shift my weight when
I am sitting down, I know right where my wallet is. However, on occasion I have to change shorts
(my wife tends to mandate this), so during the change out, I place both sets of
keys on my dresser, next to my wallet.
Always in the same place, and only in this place. Another routine to keep from losing them. Routines help, but to make them effective, I
have to follow them without fail, and when new circumstances emerge that I have
never encountered before (say staying in a hotel that has neither my cargo
shorts, or my dresser) I have to adapt and develop a new set of routines in the
foreign environment. But do I use the same
routines to keep track of Jesus?
We go to church. We
assume Jesus is there. We pray over our
meals. We assume Jesus is listening. But is Jesus really in our comfortable
churches for 3 hours once a week, at the exclusion of love in our hearts for those
who have not? Or do we wrongly associate
Jesus with a particular building we call church, while Jesus waits to be seen
in the demonstration of our love for someone else? And as we give thanks for our meals; do you
think Jesus gets tired of being thanked for the excess we plan to consume while
right outside someone else lacks the means to even eat a meal at McDonalds? That kind of thanks sounds more like the
prayers of the Pharisees (thank God that I am not like that guy, full of sin,
and poverty). So I ask again, do our
routines really help us keep our eyes on Jesus, or do they mask a lack of deep
change in our hearts, that would upset the routines of our lives, because of our
love for others?
Mary and Joseph once lost Jesus. They did, what we do. They took their eyes off of Jesus, and assumed
they knew where He was. Every parent
does this. They “know” their child is at
school, or with a relative, or at home with the sitter. We all know what it is like to make
assumptions, and 99 times out of a 100 we are completely right about them. Jesus was 12 years old after all, the age of
becoming a man in ancient Israel (generally the age when puberty would be
done). Jesus was not a toddler incapable
of caring for Himself, or dependent on His parents for every need. He was a young man. He was capable of making His own
decisions. And therein is our worst
nightmare, that Jesus might be somewhere else, somewhere other than where we
assume, because that is where He wants to be, rather than where we think He
should be. Mary and Joseph lost Jesus
once. Do we lose Him quite a bit more
often than that?
Luke tells us this story of the end of childhood of Jesus in
his letter of the gospel in chapter two, picking up in verse 41 saying … “Now
his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. [verse 42]
And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of
the feast. [verse 43] And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned,
the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not
of it.” We begin with routine. Going to Jerusalem once a year was tradition,
was habit, was routine. This was not the
first trip. And on every other prior
trip, there had never been a problem like this one encountered before. But one variable was different. Technically on every other prior trip Jesus
was still considered a child, on this one, He had become a man. The routines established in our childhood
with God may not be the same ones we can rely upon as our childhood gives way
to maturity. Our God expects more of us
than to remain babies in the faith. He
looks to heal us, to remove our evil, and to change our hearts to be more in
line with His own.
This story begins with assumption, the assumption’s of parents. Jesus was a good boy. If He was not right here where we could keep
an eye on Him, He “must” be with our kinfolk elsewhere in the long procession
that was leaving Jerusalem and heading back to Galilee, to Nazareth. This trip to Jerusalem was not done like the
one at His birth, where Joseph and Mary traveled alone. It was done with nearly the entire town,
anyone able to travel would. So the
dangers from thieves and criminals was less, because too many folks traveled
together to make that viable. Jesus
would be safe, even if He was not right there where Mary and Joseph could reach
out and touch Him. But then, Jesus is
always safe. He is kept in the love the
of the Father, His Father, and for that matter our Father. No matter what we face, no matter what evil
Satan conspires to throw on us, we are still kept in the love of the Father,
your Father, my Father. His love does
not fail, no matter what the level of evil we may wind up facing. But to assume we need to protect Jesus, is
error on our part.
Luke continues in verse 44 saying … “But they, supposing him
to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among
their kinsfolk and acquaintance. [verse 45] And when they found him not, they
turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.”
So much certainty in our routines and our assumptions that we travel a
full day’s journey away from Jerusalem, and Jesus nowhere in sight. Do we share the same certainty in our current
routines, of going to church, and sometimes reading the Bible, or saying a
prayer? We call this our “spiritual
life”, and give it a modicum of space, but against the totality of our lives,
it is small at best. But our certainty
in these routines is absolute. And does
that certainty lead us to believe that love in action is not required from
those who claim to “follow” Jesus?
Instead we love our families, maybe our friends, and call it a day. That is “plenty” of love to show. Any more than that is left for “saints” and
“holy men”, not for the average Christian, not for me. And so we journey a full day away from Jesus,
certain in our assumptions and routines, and never discern that we have indeed
walked away from where Jesus has chosen to be.
But alas, Mary and Joseph realize their horrible
mistake. And the panic of a parent who
has indeed misplaced their child sets in.
The million questions pop up.
What if He is hurt? What if He
has been killed or attacked? What if He
is sick and unable to move? So many bad
things can happen to any child, even in our day. But in theirs was an additional threat, what
if the Romans had enslaved Him, or crucified Him (early), or did some other
horrific torture or mutilation upon Him for no reason at all. They did that kind of thing. And Jesus was last seen in the city where the
Romans were garrisoned. So they turned
back from the company of travelers to go back to where they last left Him. Do we?
Do we turn aside from our certainty and go back to where we last had
sight of Jesus? Are we prepared to put
aside our routines, and instead embrace passion and meaning in what we do? Passion that stems from a love of others (all
other) more than a love of self. That is
change. That kind of change happens only
in submission, not in arrogance, or certainty.
It happens in dependence and humility.
Luke continues in verse 46 saying … “And it came to pass,
that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the
doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. [verse 47] And all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” Not sure of the timing here, was it three
days in Jerusalem looking, or was it one day traveling back and two days
looking. But regardless, it was at least
three days separated before Jesus was found.
Do we believe it will be easy for us as well? Do we just assume we can “declare” we are
abandoning our certainty, and our routines, and our traditions and will embrace
an active love of others. And then
presto, it happens just like that.
No. It usually doesn’t. Not because God does not want it. But because we have not learned how to depend
on Him just that fast. To leave our
arrogance of declarations of our intentions, and ask in humility what Jesus
would have us do, to who, when, and where?
We are too comfortable controlling our spiritual life, and nowhere near
comfortable enough letting Jesus truly lead us, where He wants us to be, and
when, and to share with who He puts in front of us.
But when He is found.
ALL are amazed at His doctrines. Jesus
is teaching the preachers, the priests, the scribes, the lawyers, the students
of scriptures – what the scriptures truly mean.
Imagine that. The doctrines we
decide are valid, undone by a 12-year-old man, who knows with authority what
they truly were meant to be, and why.
And only then is perfect Truth revealed.
Because we study the Bible without the lens of Jesus, and thus invent
things never intended to be there. When
we study through the lens of the life of Christ, and in humility and submission
to what Jesus will lead us to, our view of the same Bible changes
radically. His love emerges, and the
doctrines that do not lead us here, are the doctrines we can leave behind as
not needed anymore. This is not an
invitation to embrace sin, but a method of leaving sin behind. This is not an invitation to avoid the
judgement, but rather a recognition that you have already been found guilty
just like your neighbor has and Jesus paid the price for both of you.
Luke continues in verse 48 saying … “And when they saw him,
they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt
with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” And here is our humanity revealed, Mary and
Joseph are upset with Jesus that “He” caused them all this grief. Are we different? When we lose sight of Jesus and bad things
happen to us from the choices we make while looking away from Jesus, we then
turn around and blame Jesus for all those bad outcomes. We blame Jesus for not “forcing” our will to
something better. We get mad at Him
because we leave Him and do stupid things.
We blame Him for our grief, when there is no one else to blame but the
person staring back at us in our mirrors.
Luke continues in verse 49 saying … “And he said unto them,
How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's
business? [verse 50] And they understood not the saying which he spake unto
them. [verse 51] And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was
subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. [verse
52] And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Jesus must be about His Father’s
business. If His Father’s business is
not being conducted in your church, then Jesus may not actually be there. If His Father’s business is not being
conducted in your heart, then perhaps you have not invited in Him there
either. It is easy to say the
words. It is more difficult to let go,
and give control of your heart over to Him.
Mary and Joseph did not understand these words of Jesus. Do you?
Jesus returned with His parents, because honoring them was always His
plan. But honoring them could never
supersede honoring God. Jesus
served. In doing so He increased in stature,
and wisdom, and favor with God and man.
That is a road map for our success. To serve.
To find the humility to serve. To
let go the arrogance of certainty in our routines and traditions and seek to be
found of God. This requires nothing more
than the honesty of God to fulfill His promise, and He has never failed. Be warned.
It is not Jesus that will move from where He needs to be. It is you, He will move to join Him
there. Be warned. What you believe may be radically altered by
the embrace of a passionate love for others.
But you will be found of God. And
Jesus will be someone you may never lose again.
No lost and found bin required. And
the feeling of belonging will be one you would not trade for the world …
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