My 12 Year Old is Missing!

“Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they couldn’t find him. . . ."               Luke 2:41-45 
    

Reflect

Joseph and Mary had no 911 to call.   Jesus was simply missing for days.   His parents must have been panicked.  Jesus was entering his teen years and, like all teens, was beginning to feel an inborn need to pursue a life beyond the confines of his parents’ boundaries.    

I don’t see any sin here, however we may be seeing  a fully human Jesus being careless about his parents feelings.   Yet the calling he felt on his life was not just a direction, it was a passion that needed to be balanced with respect for those to whom he was accountable.    

Perhaps there’s a lesson there for each of us.

Prayer  

“Lord, please grow within me the kind of passion for You which others sense through my genuine attentiveness to and respect for them. Amen”