Looking for Jesus

Mary and Joseph are desperately looking for Jesus. They have lost him while returning home from celebrating the Passover in Jerusalem. What started as a festival ends in panic.

“After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:41-46).

Mary and Joseph traveled a day before they realized Jesus was not with them. Like all parents they must have experienced worry, distress and ultimately panic. They began searching, asking others, “has anyone seen Yahshua?” No one had seen him. Panic rises. Years ago while on a family vacation, my husband and I lost a child, or rather he wandered off, in the split second that we looked away. It didn’t take but less than a minute before panic set in. We looked and looked, called out his name, had others looking, to no avail. I’m sure it was only minutes that he was missing, but it seemed like an eternity until we found him playing in a corner hiding, and not answering to his name. I can’t even wrap my mind around what 3 days of looking for a child would be like; the word crippling comes to mind.

As I pondered this scripture of Jesus gone missing, I was struck by my own lack of looking for Jesus. I should not need to look for Jesus for I should be by his side each and every day. Being honest, I am the one that wanders…the one that drifts…the one who forgets… Challenges, stresses, responsibilities, “stuff” arise, and I let my emotions take charge. It’s easy to forget Jesus in these circumstances as we trudge through alone, believing we can handle it.

Getting through is a choice. Nike coined it best “just do it”, but there’s more to it than that. We can all “just do it”, that’s only part of the challenge. The other part is how we do it – with joy, contentment, peace, faith, trust and grace. If I do it alone, I don’t display those qualities, rather I’m stressed, fearful, worried, angry, cranky, even. I think we can all fill in the blank with what emotion overtakes us given what we are facing.

The other night my son was struggling with something and as I was trying to impart some words of wisdom he said, “how do you do it, mom?” I replied, “not that well, but we all have a choice- I can do it alone or remember to look for Jesus in whatever the situation, and then it all seems to go better.” As I walked away from his bedroom, I thought to myself, “I’ve got to always look for Jesus.” Then the Lord reminded me of a conversation He and I had one morning. I was telling the Lord that I was sorry for drifting, getting distracted, forgetting about Him and wandering off. His simple words to me were, “just take Me with you.”

May God grant us the fervor and tenacity to look for Jesus the way Mary and Joseph did, and may we remember the simplicity of taking Jesus with us.