As parents we try and protect our children from real dangers or imaginary fears. We want to put them in a bubble safe from illness, predators, bullying, and failure. This is impossible. Life’s challenges can’t be eradicated. However, when we trust the Lord with our children we are steeped in peace and comfort. He is in control. We know His presence is with them when our presence is not. Place your concerns at His feet.
Enjoy this brief excerpt from Sharing Stories of Jesus with Children as well as my reflection and scripture reference.
Jesus is a young boy around the age of twelve explaining scripture to the four rabbis surrounding him in the temple.
Lost and Found
At twelve the boy Jesus
is off to a feast.
Passover draws crowds
they come to find peace.
Listening to rabbis
sharing in the fun,
food is delicious
children will run.
Joseph and Mary
return to the road
assuming Jesus is
helping others load.
They travel for days
and discover he’s gone.
With fear in their hearts
they return to the throng.
Looking everywhere
high and low
they discover him
with teachers in tow.
Angry and frustrated
they question his concern.
“I’m safe in my father’s house
when will you learn?”
If you enjoyed this poem click on the books link within this website for easy access to purchasing Sharing Stories of Jesus with Children. God Bless You.
Reflection:
Traditions are so important, and many religions celebrate moments in history with a festive gathering. Passover then and now marks the salvation of God’s beloved Israelites under the umbrella of the blood of the lamb. The first Passover allowed God’s people to be saved when the blood of a lamb was placed above the doorframe and death passed by them. Today Passover is celebrated as the blood of Jesus covers our sins and we are saved.
The Passover celebration involved entire families traveling great distances to Jerusalem to feast, praise, reminisce, and pray. The event lasted for days and so Jesus’ absence was not alarming given that he would be amongst his cousins as they journeyed home.
Imagine what it would have been like to discover Jesus never left the city with the family!
He was a child of 12 alone in a community of strangers and potential danger as well.
As a mother I will never forget the terror of losing my young child in the mall. Our son was a toddler and wandered away from us in a small shop where a kind stranger found him and returned him to us. The time frame was minimal, not like the days that had passed in the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ disappearance. But each minute seemed like an excruciating hour. I can relate to Mary and Joseph’s panic on every level.
As parents we try and protect our children from real dangers or imaginary fears. We want to put them in a bubble safe from illness, predators, bullying, and failure. This is impossible. Life’s challenges can’t be eradicated. However, when we trust the Lord with our children we are steeped in peace and comfort. He is in control. We know His presence is with them when our presence is not. Place your concerns at His feet.
After an extensive search, the parents found their son in the midst of rabbis not being taught but rather teaching them about spiritual matters. Furious that he had not notified them of his whereabouts they scolded him. In response he calmly stated that they should have known he was in “his father’s house.” It was a reminder to them of his deity and purpose. He was no ordinary tween.
Luke 2:41-52
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[a] 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.