Twelve years before, in this place, they had been the center of attention. They had carried their Baby into the Temple for the routine requirements of Jewish law after a birth. Simeon had greeted them and knew immediately Who they brought with them. He had been expecting Jesus. Anna had known just as surely. She, too, had been preparing for such a day.
On this visit to Jerusalem, there was no one to greet them. They were just another couple bringing their oldest son for His first Passover. This was his first time to see the Temple, with memory, for Himself. They were used to the Passover Feast and its obligatory two-day Temple attendance. But to Jesus, it was all so very new and so very old at the same time.
As a human, He had no recollection of His visit the day Simeon and Anna rejoiced with his parents. As God, He remembered the very event the Passover commemorated: the Angel of Death passing over the Israelite people while their Egyptian neighbors lost their firstborn sons. As a human, He was eager to learn all He could about the Law taught on the big terrace by the learned group of men called the Sanhedrin. As God, He watched the Passover lambs being sacrificed around Him and knew that in a few short years, one Jewish Firstborn would die this time.
We don’t know exactly how Mary and Joseph lost sight of Jesus. He stayed behind, but they assumed He was with other relatives. After a day of travel, they discovered that He was nowhere in their company. It took them three days to retrace their steps and to find Him. As a mom, I can only imagine how distraught I would be. Mary, sainted as she’s been portrayed, immediately blamed Him for their fear and sorrow. His response was curiosity. He didn’t understand how she could have been looking for Him. It was obvious to Him that He was perfectly following the will of His true Father. As Larnelle Harris’ song puts it, He was right where He’d always been. They are the ones who had left Him behind.
As I thought about this truth, I wondered how many times I’ve left Jesus behind? Of all the places to leave Him, church is the most common. We tend to compartmentalize our lives. And we try to put the Creator of the universe in a small box we mark “Spiritual.” “Spiritual” happens when we go to church, when we pray, when we read our Bibles. When we think this way, we often tithe more of our money to God than we do our time. The place where we meet Jesus is incredibly narrow considering church does not make up much of a portion of our weeks.
Do I go to church to check off boxes and follow some law? There is a big difference between following the law and following the will of the Father. While it kept the family together for the first two days, the differing motivations took them separate directions in the end. You see, the separation had to be before they actually left on their journey. While they were in one part of the Temple, completing their obligation to the Law, Jesus was outside on the terrace fulfilling His purpose and preparing for the day He would become the Passover Lamb.
Am I so familiar with Jesus being there that it takes me awhile to realize when He’s gone? Jesus is always there, quietly blessing my life and hovering in the background to help me daily. I can get used to those things and totally forget Him as a Person. How can it be so easy to take the one Who has granted me everything, for granted?
Do I keep Jesus near in the mundane, on the dusty road of life? Do I keep Him near when I’m in a group of people? Just like Mary and Joseph, the tendency is to assume He’s with someone else. Someone who needs Him more. We’re perfectly content to start off on our journey (or our week, our day) without Him. We have perfect control. Until night comes, metaphorically speaking, and we turn to find He’s not there at all. Right when we need Him, we find Him missing.
When I rush to find Him, do I immediately blame Him for not meeting my own perceived needs? As much as we try to blame Him, the truth is always the same: He is right where He’s always been. We are the ones who leave Him behind. Without being too hard on Mary, the mother; what about Mary and us, the Christians? Why do we focus more on what Jesus can do for us than on what brings Him and His Father glory?
Here’s the thing we forget about the temple or the church. We get wrapped up in the idea of a building. A brick and mortar or stone structure where we go to present our version of worship. But, there is no longer a temple needed to sacrifice the Passover lambs. Jesus, the Firstborn, has been sacrificed for all of us. Once, for all. He no longer needs a temple made with material things. The Bible tells us that He has made His Temple in us. Our bodies are the Temple in which He now chooses to dwell. That celebration of the Lamb taking sin and death from us? It’s ongoing. It’s within us. He is within us.
And that’s good news. Because as long as I’m following the will of the Father along with Jesus, there is never reason for us to part again.