Dear BAGBR Churches,  

Luke 2: 49 “…did you not know that I had to be in My father’s house.” 

Losing Jesus.  How could Joseph and Mary have been so careless…struggling desperately for three days to find Him? There are many discussions on how they lost Him. Often in ancient travel people grouped together in caravans. The women traveled together and so did the men.  The children would stay in one group or the other.  So, Mary and Joseph may each have assumed that Jesus was with the other parent. Also, they had at least six other children (Mark 6:3), so the assumption would be that He was with one of the traveling groups.   It was not until evening when they realized they were missing Jesus.  This seems like the most plausible explanation, but this is only an inference from the text and tradition.   To their great horror they realized they had somehow lost Jesus. 

Is it possible these parents could lose Jesus, not intending to, but because of their busyness in life and schedules, assuming He is with them and yet He is not?  Their frantic search in Jerusalem concluded when they found Him in the temple.  Similarly, too many “lose Jesus” because they are searching in all the wrong places and fail to go back to the place where He can be found…at church.  Instead, they are looking for other things, with other motivations. If they would have started at the last place they had left Him—the last place they had worshipped together as a family—then all this trouble never would have occurred.  We need to go back to church, with one thing in mind—finding Jesus—listening to Him, being grateful, but also repentant.  Mary fussed at Jesus, but in reality Jesus had not run off, they had left without checking, without counting heads, and without keeping all their children as their priority. 

If you have lost Jesus, the best place to find Him is where He will be found most easily…at Church:  a Bible believing, Gospel preaching one!

 In  Christ,
Tommy Middleton

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