𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗖𝗧

Where is Jesus?

Jesus is somewhere in the temple. Can you find him?

Finding someone in a crowd is never easy. And this was exactly what happened in Luke 2:41-52.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗

Luke 2:41-52

During this time, the Jews were celebrating the Passover and Jesus went with his parents to Jerusalem.

42-43 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑦 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑚. 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡,

45-48 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑚, 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑚, “𝑆𝑜𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑜? 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠.”

49 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, “𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒? 𝐷𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟'𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒?”

51 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑁𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡.

Jesus was very wise for a 12-year-old and he knew that He is the Son of God (v. 49). People, including His earthly parents, were amazed at His level of understanding. But the story takes an interesting turn as Jesus, who fully knew His true identity as God, chose to obey His earthly parents (v. 51).

This is a beautiful reminder for us to obey our parents and to honor them as God commanded us to do so (Deut 5:16). Even if Jesus knew that He was wiser than His parents, He chose to humble Himself and obey them because He was still under the care of his parents and He loved them.

Jesus showed us a very good example of how we should live our lives, especially how we should obey our parents.

𝗛𝗨𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘

Parent to Kid

2-6 years old

· When your parents call out “Time to eat!" or "Time to sleep!", do you do it right away?

7-12 years old

· What do you do when you know you have a chore to do but you are engrossed in playing a game or watching videos on your gadgets or TV? Do you bargain for "just 1 last game/show", or do you shut down your gadgets right away and do your chore?

· Is that easy or difficult to do?

Kid to Parents

· Were you obedient to your parents when you were a child? Did you obey them all the time?

· What activities did your parents ask you to do that you had to obey even if you did not feel like doing them?

How do you feel when sometimes we do not obey you?

Isn’t it amazing that even when Jesus knew He is the Son of God, He still had an obedient heart? As a young boy, He obeyed his earthly parents, Joseph and Mary. And years later, He obeyed His Father's plan to die on the cross for us.

Let’s pray today that we will have a heart like Jesus that chooses to obey.

𝗣𝗥𝗔𝗬

Dear God, thank You for the life of Jesus and his heart of obedience. Teach me to have that heart too so I may obey You and my parents, no matter what. In Jesus’ name, amen.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥

Do you want to become wiser as you grow older? The key is to obey and honor your parents.

The Bible says, “A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes” (Proverbs 13:1)

We were all taught to be obedient at school and at home because it is God's command. But more than a command, it is God's design for children to obey their parents because God wants His children to live longer and wiser.