ルカによる福音書2:41-52　Luke 2:41-52,

About a month after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God. At that time, Simeon and Anna, who had been waiting for the birth of the Saviour, rejoiced and praised God when they saw baby Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus then grew up in the home of Joseph and Mary. The house was in a village called Nazareth in Galilee. Once a year, Joseph and Mary travelled from the Nazareth to the city of Jerusalem and stayed there for about a week. This was to attend the Passover festival in the temple in Jerusalem. What is the Passover? Yes, it is a festival to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and to worship the Lord God who delivered them. When Jesus was 12 years old, he also went to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary to participate in the Passover. During the Passover, they eat unleavened bread and the flesh of a lamb, just as their ancestors did when they departed from Egypt. They then celebrate in thanksgiving for God’s salvation.

After the seven-day festival, Joseph and Mary began their journey home with the people of Nazareth. However, after walking for a whole day, they realised that Jesus was not among those travelling with them. Joseph and Mary rushed to ask their relatives and acquaintances where they could find Jesus, but they did not know. So Joseph and Mary left the people of Nazareth and went back to Jerusalem, looking for Jesus. However, they could not find him. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they looked in various places, but still could not find him.

Joseph and Mary, troubled, went to the temple in Jerusalem. They found Jesus there! He was sitting in the middle of a group of teachers studying the Bible in the precincts of the temple, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone listening was amazed at how clever Jesus was. Mary was also amazed. She thought, “What is he doing when he is only a child?” Then she said, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”

What did Jesus say? Did he say, “I am sorry for worrying you”? No, he said, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” “My Father’s house” refers to the temple, which is the house of God the Father. Some people might think that this is a terrible thing to say after causing Joseph and Mary so much worry. But if you think about it, before Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary were told by an angel that he was the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit. Somehow they may have forgotten this and thought of him as a normal child.

Jesus was the Son of God the Heavenly Father. And he was born into the world to fulfil the mission given to him by God the Father. That mission was the precious mission to make atonement for the sins of mankind on the cross. It is not until adulthood that Jesus begins his work as the Saviour. However, even as a child, Jesus must have often thought about the mission given to him by God the Father.