Lost and Found

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Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of passover with Jesus when He was tweleve years old. When passover was over they began their trip towards home. After they had travelled a whole day’s journey that they had realized that Jesus was missing. Some may criticize the parents for not watching their kids diligently. If we look at another angle and understand a little better on what happened we can get a more non-judgmental opinion. In those days, they travelled in large groups. Men would travel ahead of women and children to prepare the tents for the stay at night. By evening time the women and children would catch up. I guess Mary thought Jesus was with the men's group and Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary. So it wasn’t until evening they found that they had lost Jesus. Regardless, they lost Jesus. “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” (Luke 2:46)

It is part of Christian living that we can be at danger of losing Jesus for a while. We take our faith for granted and get caught up in the busy schedule of life. We can even get caught up in the church activities and miss out on Jesus. The Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard wrote an article called “God Lost and Found” in an issue of 'Christianity' magazine (Dec 2012). He writes, “Have you ever looked around your church and wondered what all these good people are really, thinking about the worship this morning? I fear if you could see the thought bubble above many heads there would be rather less faith than the pastor would like to think.” John Pritchard goes on to say: “The reality is that most of us at some stage of our Christian journey enter a grey period when the vivid awareness of God that we used to delight in has disappeared. What was once bright and shiny is now tarnished and dull. Of course we keep the mask on because it would be just too embarrassing to stay home or go jogging on Sunday morning, but deep down we are going through the motions. The great illusion is that we think he is lost when he has probably settled down in the everyday heart of our lives, in our ordinary experiences and waits for us there."

All of us can all lose Jesus for some time at certain points in our Christian life. The good news is that it is not too late to go back to where you left Jesus and start over because He waits where we left Him. He is the same yesterday today and tomorrow. As we prepare for a new year, let us challenge ourselves to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus every day and keep our love for Him strong in time and strong in priority. "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:1,2 NIV).

Blessings

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