Where is Jesus Luke 2;41-50 010707
Where is Jesus? (Luke 2:41-50)
Intro: Give Background (vv. 39-42). Back to Galilee. 12 yrs later. Annual festival of Passover was celebrated at the beginning of the New Year, which corresponds to a date in months of March and April. Passover was the opening day and feast of the seven-day feast of Unleavened Bread. It commemorated the Exodus from Egypt and the passing over of the death angel. This story occurs after the seven-day feast. Read Luke 2:43-50
1. Jesus is often left behind in the busyness of life (vv. 43-44a)
a. 80 mile journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem. 20-25 miles a day, making it a 3-4 day journey. Mary and Joseph were not bad parents. They simply thought Jesus was with the large caravan of people with whom they were traveling.
b. We do not know what Mary and Joseph concerned themselves with on this first day’s journey, but they were unaware that Jesus was not with them until the end of the day as they settled for a night’s rest.
c. It reminds me of the reality that we so often move away from Christ in our own lives. Sometimes we do not even recognize it until we have traveled miles away in our spiritual journey. Our own busyness and matters of the day get in the way. Often times there is nothing inherently wrong with what we are doing. It is just that we are so busy we leave Jesus in the dust. We start doing our own thing.
ILL: Paul left Nancy at a gas station on cross-country trip. Northwest state. Are we so busy in our own lives that we have moved away from Jesus and do not know it.
APP: Get your priorities right. Quote: “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” French Writer Jean de la Bruyere (1645 - 1696)
Get your priorities right. Our commitments reveal our closeness to Christ or lack of. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
2. We often look for jesus in the wrong places (v. 44b-5)
a. They looked in the caravan, where family and friends were suppose to be. They traveled back to Jerusalem and anxiously looked for Jesus in the city. They probably looked in all the places one would look for a 12 year old boy. Two days searching, traveling, and searching, but they could not find Jesus.
b. They did not know fully who Jesus was, or they would have known these places are not where Jesus would be found. We, who are believing in Christ, should not be so foolish as to look for Christ in the wrong places. Joseph and Mary had a valid excuse, but we do not.
APP: We look for Christ in all the wrong places. You don't go cutting down trees looking for gold: you know it is found in the earth. You don't go digging in the earth looking for apples, because you know they come from a tree. You don't go to a grocery store to buy a coat. You don't go to a clothing store to buy a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk. You don't go to the hardware store to buy gas, or to the gas station to buy nails.
When it comes to looking for Jesus, we often look to our own musings. We say “I think” instead of “I know, because God says.” When it comes Christ, we often look to our family and friends. We say things like, “I have always heard that, instead of “The Bible says.” When it comes to getting closer to Jesus, we often look to famous preachers, and self-called anointed teachers, or we even look to worldly wisdom from entertainers and faulty thinking from pundits and politicians who think they know more than God. We say things like, “I heard ‘so and so’ say ‘such and such,’ instead of quoting from God’s Word. Don’t be deceived by false expectations or faulty beliefs about Jesus. Whether it is Our own; our family; our friends; the world in which we live.
ILL: Guy Goma waited in the reception room at the local television station of BBC 24. After being directed by the Television producer to a live, on the air, studio, Guy was asked about a lawsuit within the Apple Computer ranks concerning internet downloading of music media. Guy Goma was asked three questions in the 2 minute, live interview. The obviously shocked and confused, Guy Goma, did his best to answer the questions.
As it turns out, Guy Goma, a national from the Congo, was to be interviewed for a support job at the Television station. It was only later that it was discovered that the expert on technology, Guy Kewney, was still waiting in another reception room. The mix-up occurred when a producer went to collect the expert from the wrong reception room in BBC Television Centre in West London. The producer asked for Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net, who was due to be interviewed about the Apple vs Apple court case.
After being pointed in Mr Goma's direction by a receptionist, the producer - - opened the door of the reception room and asked: "Are you Guy?" The wrong GUY answered in the affirmative and was whisked up to the studio.
Mr Goma said his interview was "very short", but he was prepared to return to the airwaves and was "happy to speak about any situation". He added that next time he would insist upon "preparing myself". BBC News 'wrong Guy' is revealed 2006/05/16
3. Jesus is always right where he is suppose to be (vv. 46-49)
a. After three days, they found Jesus in the Temple.
b. Jesus simply stated that He was right where He was supposed to be. He was in His Father’s House, about His Father’s business.
APP: If we are not experiencing Jesus as we should be, the problem is not with Jesus. The problem is with us. Jesus is always where He is supposed to be. Be where Jesus is. Jesus was consistently worshipping in God’s House, studying God’s Word, Witnessing about who God is and who He was, He did the work of the Father. This is where we will find Jesus. This is where we can expect Him to be. Are we where Jesus is?
4. To truly Find Jesus, We Need to Understand who Jesus Is (vv. 50, 47, 49)
a. Mary and Joseph did not fully understand who Jesus was.
b. Luke has informed us that Jesus is unique in chas. 1-2. In verse 47, we, again, see that Jesus is no ordinary human being. He is now 12, but He was no ordinary 12 yr old boy. His “listening and asking questions” was supernatural.
c. Jesus understood who He was. This is the key point of this passage. Here, Jesus speaks his first words in Luke’s gospel in v. 49. His words reveal His identity and His purpose or mission.
i. God was Jesus’ father. Jesus was His Son. This is no ordinary relationship. This is an intimate connection with God. No one spoke of God like this in Jesus’ day.
ii. God’s task or mission was related to His relationship with God the Father. His mission was to make others sons and daughters of God. He came so we could also call God, Father.
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
iii. The cross was the place where Christ made this possible.
APP: Know who Jesus. As Mary pondered (v. 51), so we should reflect on this Jesus when we encounter truths about Him. Know Him personally.
Conclusion: ILL:
Invitation:
Richard Speight tells a personal story that occurred when he was traveling by plane. He took out a Bible to begin working on a Sunday School lesson. This caught the attention of the man sitting next to him. However, Richard didn't want to engage in
conversation. He had work to do. Then he noticed the man had a Bible of his own and decided to talk with him. The man was a new Christian who had a powerful story to tell.
Things had gone from bad to worse and then to unbearable, the stranger said of his life. At first it was a single drink to be sociable, then it was two, then several. Before long, there was a bottle in the desk drawer to make the long afternoons more bearable. "You wouldn't believe how much booze I could put down in a single day," he told his seatmate. "I would start with a juice glass full in the morning." Then he began to tell of his business going nowhere. He spent a lot of time trying to make his new business successful. Eventually his wife and children, in tears, left him. "All I wanted was my friend, the bottle," he said.
A business trip took him out of state one day. "I was drunk, driving a rental car," he said. "I pulled up to an intersection. The cross street I was facing was a main highway," he remembered. He thought he had stopped, but in his drunken state he rolled through the busy intersection and was hit broadside by a truck. "I was thrown out of that car with terrific force. My body skidded along the pavement; all of my clothes were torn off. I was bloody, raw, and battered, but I was alive."
He continued his moving story. "The next thing I remember was two medics standing over me." They thought he was dead and so did a policeman. "I watched him as he felt my pulse and listened for my heartbeat. He said I was dead, too." But they decided to take him to the hospital. He could not make a sound. "I prayed and prayed the whole time. I promised God that if He would help me get their attention, if He would help me get out of this, I would never touch another drop of alcohol again, and I would be His servant forever."
"The next thing I remember is sitting on a gurney in the emergency room, talking to the doctor. The medics and the policeman were still there. They were absolutely astounded!" He was not seriously injured. After he was cleaned up, he was released. He decided to get some rest, so he checked into a local motel. He bought a six pack of beer, opened a can and laid down in bed. Flipping through the channels, he encountered Billy Graham leading a crusade. "He was looking right at me, pointing a finger," the man recalled. "You have made promises to God today," Dr. Graham said, "that you haven't kept." This hit home. "I buried my head in my hands," he recalled, "and leaned over, almost touching the ground with my face. I had admitted my weakness to myself for the very first time."
In this time of struggle he discovered answers in the Bible. "The Holy
Spirit came into my body and into my life," he said. The Spirit gave him the strength "to open those beer cans, one by one, and pour that beer out. That's the hardest thing a drunk can do," he testified, "I couldn't. The Holy Spirit did it for me." (4)
4. Richard Speight, The Pancake Man & Friends (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1992), pp. 68-76.
BBC News 'wrong Guy' is revealed
The mix-up occurred when a producer went to collect the expert from the wrong reception in BBC Television Centre in West London. The producer asked for Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net, who was due to be interviewed about the Apple vs Apple court case.
After being pointed in Mr Goma's direction by a receptionist, the producer - who had seen a photo of the real expert - checked: "Are you Guy?" The economics and business studies graduate answered in the affirmative and was whisked up to the studio.
Business presenter Karen Bowerman, who was to interview the expert, managed to get a message to the editor that the guest seemed "very breathless and nervous".
Mr Goma was eventually asked three questions live on air, assuming this was an interview situation. It was only later that it was discovered that Mr. Kewney was still waiting in reception - prompting producers to wonder who their wrong man was.
Mr Goma said his interview was "very short", but he was prepared to return to the airwaves and was "happy to speak about any situation".
He added that next time he would insist upon "preparing myself".
A BBC spokeswoman said: "This has turned out to be a genuine misunderstanding. "We've looked carefully at our guest procedures and will take every measure to ensure this doesn't happen again."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/4774429.stm
Published: 2006/05/16 16:52:18 GMT