Where do others find me?

Reflecting on Luke 2:41-51

"Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?" (Luke 2:49)

There are some children that become somewhat predictable.
Like the child who loves basketball who is always throwing balls.
Or the child who loves reading who is always in their room reading.
If a parent is looking for that child, there’s a place they will go first.
‘First check and see if they are on the computer…’
‘First check with their friend, they are always over there…’
Some of these examples are typical, others are not typical at all.
Like a child who wants to be at the food bank helping out.
Or a child who is often sitting with adults having deep discussions.
Or a child who is outside picking up litter from the neighborhood.

Do we supposed that Jesus was typical, or atypical?
Was Jesus an ordinary child, who played like the other kids?
I imagine that He was a sensitive, helpful child from the beginning.
Not as a conscious choice, but His natural disposition.
He leaned toward goodness and kindness, even if He didn’t know what that meant.
I also imagine Him listening to synagogue messages and lessons with keen interest.
His mind was caught up in these topics and conversations.
Maybe He spent at lot of time at the synagogue, with the leaders.
The people sensed that He was filled with wisdom, and grace was on Him.

Going to the temple only happened a few times a year.
It must have been exciting for the children, especially from backwater Nazareth.
They went together as families in large groups, the children dispersed among them.
Children will be who they are, whether in Nazareth or in Jerusalem.
The other children may have been at the stables, or watching the soldiers.
And no surprise, Jesus spent as much time in the temple as He could.
This was Who He was in Nazareth, and Who He was in Jerusalem.
I can’t imagine that Joseph and Mary ignored Him while there.
They could have known that He would be in the Temple.

Leaving a child behind does happen.
I’ve known of children who were left behind after church.
But when they realize it, the parents know where to go to look.
It seems that Joseph and Mary did not know where to look.
Was He at the stables, was He watching the soldiers?
Though it was atypical, they could have expected Him to be at the temple.
I do not blame them, and I don’t think Jesus did either.
He is not asking them to shame them: ‘didn’t you know…???’
But being in the Temple shouldn’t have surprised them.

He calls the Temple ‘my Father’s house’.
I am guessing this was not the first time He called it that.
Did He know He was miraculously conceived by God – did Joseph or Mary tell Him?
Did He know He was the Messiah, and that He was going to die there one day?
I do not think so; I think Jesus had a naturally strong heart for God.
He learned in synagogue that God was their Father, and lived among them.
He had memorized, and resonated with, the words of David:

“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

“I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1)

So an interesting question for me: where would people normally expect to find me?
What are the things I always talk about, things that I love to do?
Am I known, by my family and my peers, for the things I love, the things I seek?
In what direction do I naturally lean?
Is this the direction I want to lean?
I don’t want to be in church all the time (the church is not God’s house).
But I do want to be in God’s presence all the time.
To be aware of Jesus with me, to be looking for God moments or Spirit promptings.
We become what we focus on.
This is why I talk about being a Jesus-follower.
This is why I am constantly focusing on Jesus, and the love of Jesus.
This is why I memorize and talk about the fruit of the Spirit often.
This is where I want to be, this is what I want to become.
I am leaning in the direction of where I want to go, how I want to grow.
Like a sunflower constantly following the sun, I want to constantly follow the Son.

Where, and what, and who do you want to be?
Is that where the people around you will find you?

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I want to be where You are, and to be about Your business. Strengthen my heart for You and Your Way, that it may be evident to others that You are who and where and what I want to be.