Jesus: The Temple is “my Father’s house”

My emotions have always vacillated while reading today’s passage: When Jesus was 12 years of age, in the midst of the hubbub of the Passover celebration, He was left behind in Jerusalem at the Temple. On one hand, when we had 2 young boys, this story was extremely unsettling for obvious reasons. (Similarly, post-kids, the “Home Alone” movies aren’t quite as hilarious.) On the other hand, I’ve been intrigued by the subplot. Let’s take a look:

     Aside: Today, I can easily re-create the heart-stopping anxiety of Kevin’s Mom in “Home Alone” anytime my smart phone is missing.

With Jesus missing for 3 days, Luke tells us that Jesus was in the Temple sitting amongst the teachers listening to them & putting questions to them. Luke adds that everyone was amazed at His understanding & His answers.

     Aside: Jesus going missing here is one of the overlooked miracles of the Bible: You mean to tell me a 12-year-old boy can road trip for an
     entire day & never once ask for money to buy some powdered sugar doughnuts & a Gatorade at a camel stop? Sorry Luke. I can probably
     buy the Virgin Birth, but this stretches my brain.

So, let’s unpack these 2 sentences:

• Normally, if a 12-year-old was alone in “the big city,” a town He had visited sparingly, then He should have been panicky & distraught. Yet, Luke tells us that Jesus felt quite at ease.
• Jesus is listening to the teachers in the Temple & putting questions to them. Luke doesn’t give us any information about what they were talking about, but I doubt Jesus made any comments like, “What was God thinking when He made camels” or “Samson’s superpower is kind of lame; I’d rather be fast like The Flash” or “Did Adam & Eve freak out when their kids started losing their teeth?”
• And then we come to the jaw-dropping statement from Luke: Everyone was amazed at Jesus’ understanding & His answers. Whoa. Not only is this in Jerusalem, the Capital City of all Judaism, but more specifically, the Holy Temple where the cream of the crop of Judaism would typically hold court, asking questions & debating theological ideas  (The Talmud, a guide to Jewish law, ethics & commentary, models the Jewish approach of discussing questions of the faith, where different viewpoints are presented & debated before reaching a conclusion.) To have a 12-year-old from Nazareth, not one of their prodigies from Jerusalem’s finest theological schools, intelligently discussing spiritual ideas would be stunning to say the least. (Interestingly, some 20 years later, Jesus would be teaching in the Temple & be questioned about His educational background as noted in John 7:15.)

This scene makes me think of lyrics from the song, “If I Were a Rich Man” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman in Tsarist Russia, has the common daydream of imagining he is a wealthy man. He wouldn’t have to work hard, food would be plentiful, & all would be good.  Then, near the conclusion of the song, we hear this: 

If I were rich, I’d have the time I lack to sit in the synagogue & pray. 
And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall. ***
And I’d discuss the holy books with the learned men several hours every day
That would be the sweetest thing of all!

Imagine dreaming of achieving great wealth & comfort, not to play golf or travel to bucket-list destinations, but rather just so you could leisurely read God’s word, pray, & discuss spiritual topics with close friends. 

Perhaps this would be a great time to look into joining a small group of believers (or re-committing to your current small group–seriously, click here for more information) to chat about Biblical themes like who is your favorite disciple (mine is currently the Eeyore-like “Doubting” Thomas), what food would be on your Tree in the Garden of Eden (mine would be Jack Stack’s Cheesy Corn) or your choice of plot for a 6^th Indiana Jones movie (mine would be Indy discovers in a cave near the Dead Sea all of the components & instructions to re-erect the traveling Tabernacle). You know, maybe Tevye’s right; sharing fellowship with believers would be the sweetest thing of all.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to preview “The Chosen” for our upcoming sermon series. Say, judging by the synopsis this series is going to be epic: “Our hero is having a bad day when an eccentric church informs him that he’s “The Chosen One” who must travel to Kansas & save the world from Ninjas, Giant Monsters, & a Posse of Kung Fu Robots.”

Um. Wrong DVD (see poster below). That’s “The Chosen One,” NOT “The Chosen.” – Editor. Oh. I was going to be really impressed to see how it could be tied into 4 sermons – DL.