Seeking

 

Who is Jesus to us? What are our expectations of him?  Are we aligned with his true character or have we allowed time or the world to skew our perception of him. Do we believe in a Jesus that we’ve created in our own mind, or have we searched the scriptures and come to know Jesus for who he is, rather than whom we might want or need him to be? Before you confidently say you know him, take into account the misconceptions that even his parents had at times. Take a moment to comprehend how his followers, who had seen miracles and lived and talked with him, became disillusioned. Pause to contemplate the complexity of his personhood and the depths of his divinity.

“Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. ⁴² When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. ⁴³ After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, ⁴⁴ 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.⁴⁵ When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. ⁴⁶ Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions.” (Luke2:41-46)

Where had they been looking? In the streets? A popular swimming hole? Play areas other children gathered? Friends’ homes? Mary and Joseph knew who Jesus was. These are the same two people who had been visited by angels; the same two people who were told that this child they would raise was the Son of God. Yet, they don’t even think to find Jesus in the temple when he goes missing. To them in this time, he is their child. To them he is vulnerable. To them he is a boy.

His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”

In that portion of Luke it reminds me of something. It reminds me of the ending of Luke. Another time Jesus wasn’t where people expected him to be.

In Luke 24 we see another pivotal third day. In this text it is the third day after Jesus’ death. It’s what we know to be resurrection Sunday…Easter. Luke introduces us to two people on the road to Emmaus. These people are walking away from Jerusalem. They are headed away from all they had previously believed. As they walked on this third day they spoke about everything that had just take place. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened.  “As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.  But God kept them from recognizing him.” (Luke 24:14-15)

Jesus asked them what they were talking about and they were surprised this man did not seem to know of all the events that just went on. They explain: “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. ²⁰ But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. ²¹ We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. (Luke24:19-21)

Jesus, to these people walking to Emmaus, was supposed to be a warrior, a soldier, a combative king! In both of these situations, the personal perception of who Jesus was gets in the way of who Jesus actually IS.

To his parents Jesus says “⁴⁹ “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^[a] 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.”

To these disciples walking away from their faith in Jerusalem Jesus says “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. ²⁶ Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26) It was clear in scripture that the coming Messiah would not be a warrior, soldier or combative king.

It’s funny how we often perceive things. We often see things in our own way, rather than the way they truly are.

If Jesus' parents stopped and paused for a moment perhaps they would have remembered they were raising the Son of God. Jesus for them had become one dimensional in that moment; a boy, a son, a child. Regardless of what they knew, they were blinded by their fear. Their perception became narrowed.

If these disciples who had scattered after the death of Jesus on the cross had paused for a moment to recollect all that the prophets had said, perhaps they would have remembered that it was predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all those things they had seen, before entering his glory.

Who is Jesus to us and what are our expectations of him? Mary and Joseph thought they knew. The disciples thought they knew. They thought they knew yet in a time of uncertainty they had perceived Jesus to be someone who only fit into their personal understanding.

Do we do that? I think we often can without even realizing it.

When Jesus doesn’t show up in the way we want or expect we sometimes feel he hasn’t shown up at all. When we expect situations or outcomes to reveal themselves in certain ways and they don’t, we can often miss the miracle that actually did happen. Sometimes the truth of who Jesus is doesn’t mesh with the person we are, so we try to create a Jesus that fits our persona or beliefs.

To see Jesus as a boy, or a warrior, was not seeing the true Jesus. To see Jesus as anything less than all that is revealed in scripture, is to not only do him a disservice, but to take away the precious gift of eternity our Heavenly Father has given us.

After three days his parents found Jesus. After three days the disciples found their faith in the resurrected Christ. I think these bookends that Luke gives us stand as an important reminder. I think our experience with Mary and Joseph is not only a foreshadowing of future events in the life and death of Jesus, but a reminder to us. Their oversight is a reminder to us of His sovereignty; a reminder to not allow Jesus to become a one dimensional character of our own creation. A reminder to constantly realign ourselves in faith with the very scriptures Jesus aligned himself to.

“Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

If we’re not finding Jesus in the places we are looking, perhaps we are looking in the wrong places. And if we are looking for him in the wrong places perhaps it’s because we have forgotten who he really is.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

-Pastor Patti