39 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
39 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Luke 2:41–52"
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date = "2022-10-25"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk2.41-52)
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Fast forward twelve years. Mary and Joseph take their family to Jerusalem to
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celebrate the Passover, as they have done every year. When the feast is over,
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though, they accidentally leave Jesus behind. They get as far as stopping for
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the night with the group they are traveling with and finally realize he isn't
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there.
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They go back to Jerusalem to search. "After three days" could mean they spent
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three days searching, or that he was separated from them for three days. This
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sequence makes sense to me: a day of travel out, a day of travel back, and a
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day of searching before looking in the temple courts. But that is where he is,
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discussing with the teachers. The teachers are amazed at his answers, but Mary
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comes in and tries to bring a guilt trip on him. (Understandably. I'd be upset
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too if it took me three days to find my child.) Jesus doesn't get defensive,
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but merely states that he was doing what was necessary.
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It's like he expected them to know where he had been the whole time. Usually I
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have heard this interpreted as "he's the Messiah, of course he needs to be in
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the temple doing God's work. Why didn't Mary and Joseph remember that?" There
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might be an element of that, but I don't think there were constant reminders
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that Jesus was special in his everyday life. He was perfect and sinless, yes,
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but the Magi visited about ten years ago, and things had settled down since the
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family vacation in Egypt. More likely, I think, is that Mary and Joseph had
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their plans, Jesus had his plans, and somehow these things were not
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communicated clearly enough. It's hard to tell when Luke doesn't tell us all
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that was said. But in the end Jesus returns home with his parents and obeys
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them as he should.
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* * *
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Help make it so that learning about You is the normal, expected thing for
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people to do.
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