Finding Jesus

If you couldn’t find your 12-year-old, where would you look: a friend’s house; at school; the mall?   How about at church?  Would you think to look there, or would that be the last place you would look?  Where’s the most likely place your child might be?  Where’s the least likely place your child might be? 

Jesus was twelve years old, and his family had had traveled to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. After the festival they were on their way home when Joseph and Mary discovered that Jesus wasn’t with them. That was not unusual. Those who made the journey to and from Jerusalem often traveled in caravans, providing protection from bandits and wild animals. Children would play under the watchful eye and care of the group. After discovering Jesus missing, Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem and began searching for him.

It took three days to find him!  Can you imagine how frantic they must have been; a large cosmopolitan city filled with so many dangers - three days – a parent’s nightmare?  When they finally did find him, Luke says they were “astonished” to find him in the temple.  Jesus was also surprised that they didn’t think to look for him there first.  After a brief conversation between son and parents, Luke tells us that the precocious Jesus returned to Nazareth with Mom and Dad and was obedient to them.

“Astonishment” by Joseph and Mary is an important response for us to note.  In fact, it may be the key to understanding this story.  It is important because their astonishment suggests that where they found their son is not where they expected him to be. They were looking for Jesus based upon their expectations. They did not find him until they looked beyond their expectations. They had become lost in their expectations.

This raises an important issue for us, an issue I believe Luke wants us, the readers, to explore.  Where do you expect to find Jesus?  What are your expectations where Jesus should reveal himself in the world and in your life?  I think it is a key question of faith.  I believe it is a question that Luke intends for us to ask as we read through the chapters of his gospel.  It is also a question we must ask as we live out our faith in the world and apply our faith to our personal lives and the issues of our time.  Do you look for Jesus only in your expectations?  If you do, then I guarantee you will be disappointed, and you may not ever really find him, and you will never experience "astonishment" in your faith!

A theme of the Gospel of Luke, from beginning to end, is that Jesus kept turning up in places where no one expected him to be.  Jesus didn’t turn out to be the kind of messiah that most expected him to be.  Luke tells us that right from the beginning of his ministry Jesus pretty much squashed the popular expectations of the messiah.  Remember the story of the temptation by the devil in the wilderness?  (Luke 4)

Right then and there Jesus dismantled three of the most popular expectations of the messiah:  1) that he be a political/military messiah   2) that he be a bread messiah/solve-all-my problems-for-me messiah   3) that he be magical wonder working messiah.  

But even so, his disciples still didn’t get it.  They continued to hang on to their expectations of who they thought Jesus should be, what they thought he should do, and where they thought he should go. 

When Jesus came into the world the disciples expected, since they were a part of his inner circle, they would have special privileges like to sit at his right and left hand in power over others.  But that is not who they found, and they were astonished.  Instead they found a man who taught them to serve one another and to take up their cross and follow.  (Luke 9:46-48; 22:24-27)

When Jesus came into the world people were expecting a messiah who would tell them that their neighbors were those who looked and believed like them.  But that is not who they found, and they were astonished.  Instead they found a man who told them that their neighbor was anyone in need, and when they ministered to them they really were ministering to him!  (Luke 10:25-37)

When Jesus came into the world the Pharisees were expecting a messiah who would congratulate them for being so righteous and upright.  But that is not who they found, and they were astonished.  The found instead a man whose look pierced the veneer of their self-righteous bigotry and laid bare their empty souls.  (Luke 11:37-44)

When Jesus came into the world the zealots of the Jewish underground were expecting a messiah who would side with their political cause to forcibly drive the hated Roman army from their land.  But that is not who they found, and they were astonished.  They found instead a man who made them put away their swords and face the wrath of their enemies with no weapons but love and goodwill. (Luke 6:27-28, 32-36)

When Jesus came into the world the good people of Jerusalem were expecting a messiah who would assure them that the sick and the poor at their gates had pretty much gotten what they deserved, and their suffering was the result of their sin and God’s judgment upon them.  But that is not who they found, and they were astonished.  Instead they found a man who healed the sick and had compassion for the poor and oppressed and told them to do the same.  (Luke 5:17-26)

When Jesus came into the world the people pretty much expected that the great temple would be the center of all things in the new age of the arriving messiah.  But that is not what they found, and they were astonished.  Instead they found a man who told them that the primary residence of God was no longer in a building but in the human heart.  (John 2:17-22)

Who is your Jesus?  Is your Jesus only the Jesus of your expectations shaped and molded by who you desire Jesus to be?  Does your Jesus more resemble you than you resemble Jesus?  Does the Jesus of your expectations take you only to the places and people that are appealing to you?

Mary and Joseph were looking for Jesus based upon their expectations, and they became lost in their expectations. They finally found him in a place beyond their expectations, and they were astonished! 

That is my prayer for us, that we too will be astonished by Jesus at where he turns up in this world and where he leads us.  I pray that we will be astonished time and time again as he leads us to not the places of our expectations, all the safe places where we want to go, but to the places and people where love is desperately needed.

In my mind, it is no coincidence that it took Mary and Joseph “three days” to find him.  It points  to  another three days at the end of his life that we find him dying on a cross between two thieves – the last place that anyone expected the messiah to be; forgiving the sins of the world, even those who nailed him there – the last thing anyone expected the messiah to do!

And then, on the third day, after he was dead and buried, to show up in their midst again very much alive – the last place anyone expected him to be!

And now, there is no telling just where he might turn up.  I do believe this: that if we can ever lay aside our expectations he will astonish us every time.  We will discover to our astonishment and joy that he first finds us, and for sure he will lead us, not to merely where we want to go, but to all the places and people in this world where God’s love is desperately needed!