1. In reading this week’s Gospel reading I was
reminded of the stories we hear on the news of
parents who unintentionally leave a child
somewhere.
Some of these parents tend to be first time parents. I
fell into this category. When my first son was about a
week old I needed something from the store. A quick
run to Newt’s would only take a few minutes. It
wasn’t until I was in the car backing out the driveway
that I realized, Whoa, there is a baby all by himself
locked in that house. The former Prime Minister
Tony Blair also fell into this category.
Then there are parents who may be at a large
gathering and assume another family member or
friend is taking their child with them. The poor child
is left and it isn’t until the parent or family members
see the child on the news they realize the child is not
where they think he is.

2. Then there is the family that has many children, so
many that leaving one goes unnoticed. I love the
move “Home Alone” poor Kevin is the youngest child
of a family that has a plethora of children and is left
behind as the family leaves for a dream vacation in
France.
And I think we have all heard of families who have
to backtrack many miles to where they left a child
when on a pitstop while traveling on a road trip.
Leaving Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary
inadvertently leave Jesus. They each thought Jesus
was with the other.
In reading the scripture for this morning I initially
wondered, “If you are the parents of the Son of God”
don’t you keep pretty good track of Him? Did they
become so complacent in their daily lives that Jesus
would have been overlooked? Were they frazzled by
the packing and thought of the long journey home? I
was curious as to how they could not notice that He

3. was missing. I mean you are traveling with your
husband and son at some point you are going to
look at your husband and wonder where is my son.
So I did some research on traveling in the First
Century, especially pilgrimages, which is what the
Joseph family was doing, taking a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem for Passover. We are told in today’s
passage that Jesus’ parents traveled to Jerusalem
every year for the Feast of Passover.
Travel in the First Century was a dangerous
undertaking and not done alone. For Pilgrimages
whole villages and extended families would travel
together. Women and men traveled in their own
groups with the women and children leaving first
because they traveled more slowly than the men.So
it is not hard to imagine that Mary thought Jesus was
with Joseph and Joseph thought He was with Mary.
I can imagine the scene at the end of the first
travel day. The men catch up to the women and

4. children and go to check on their families. Joseph
finds Mary and as they chat about the day’s travel,
Jesus is mentioned and Mary says, “but I thought he
was with you” and Joseph says, “ I thought he was
with you.” Looks of panic are exchanged and then
they each set off to question others in the caravan
even though they each know he is not around. They
have to wait until the next morning to travel back to
Jerusalem where they spend another frantic day
searching in vain.
We are not told why they finally went to the
Temple. Possibly they went to pray or maybe to look
for more help. But that is finally where they find
Jesus.
In the whole New Testament today’s reading is the
only passage that tells us anything of Jesus as a
child. Luke includes this story because of its
importance. It is an important passage because it
shows that even at His young age Jesus knows he

5. is God’s son and is obedient to God first. He is about
His Father’s business. He is obedient to Mary and
Joseph but God, His Father, is First. That is
precisely what he tells Mary and Joseph when asked
“What in the world does he think he is doing and
why in the world did he not stay with his family?” He
states, “Did you not know I would be in my Father’s
house?” In fact He is amazing those in attendance
at the Temple. We are told in the passage that He is
seated with the teachers, listening and asking
questions. They are amazed at his answers. He
understands fully the questions asked of Him and
even impresses them with his own questions.
Everyone is impressed;everyone but Joseph and
Mary. They were hurt and upset.
Mary and Joseph both knew Jesus was the Son of
God. It was pretty hard to miss, both being visited by
an angel and having your son worshiped on the

6. night of his birth and being visited by Magi bearing
gifts. So even though Joseph and Mary have had
Divine experiences, the full impact and reality of who
Jesus wasand what would take place, could not
have entered their thoughts and minds.
Since they didn't really grasp who He is, they
couldn't immediately know where would be.
Today’s passages tell us they had no idea what he
was talking about.
The passage ends with Jesus obediently leaving
with Joseph and Mary and tells us he lived in
obedience with them. The passage also tells us that
Mary held that dearly to her. I can surely imagine
that.Mary and Joseph did not have the luxury of
reading about their lives in the Gospels. They
reacted as any human parents would even if we had
angelic visits, and it would have been confusing,
difficult, and maybe even frustrating being parents to
the Messiah.

7. Losing Jesus and finding Jesus.
Even as I was trying to figure out how Mary and
Joseph could have lost Jesus I realized that losing
Jesus is fairly easy. We get busy and if we don’t
actively keep Jesus with us we lose Him. Finding
Him, like Mary and Joseph found out is hard. We
seem to find Him at His birth at Christmas and shout
Hallelujah at His resurrection at Easter, but in
between do we keep Him near us?
Where is He to be found in our lives? How do we
keep Him close when we are so busy going about
our daily lives? Like Mary and Joseph we get caught
up in the mundane things of our ordinary lives and
forget Jesus.
To find Jesus we must find God. Where and how
do we do that?
To do that we mustslow down, seek a quiet place,
actively listen for that small, quiet voice.
Look, actively look at God’s work in our lives.

8. To see Jesus we must have eyes to see and ears to
hear. With that we see Jesus everywhere.
We see Jesus in the relief workers like Bob and
Jo’s daughter Wanda, we see Jesus here in this
church in the Food Pantry, we see Jesus in our Play
School and Play Ark Day Care as they do
community outreach projects, we see Jesus alive
and well in our offerings that are used here in our
church and community and also used around this
country and abroad. We see Jesus as we come
together each fall in our CropWalk. We see Jesus in
our Children’s Circle, we see Jesus in Susan as she
leads our children in their explorations of the bible in
Sunday School, we see Jesus in our music leaders
for the Chancel Choir, the Jubilee Ringers, the
Chime Choir, Henry whose hands craft the music on
the organ. We see Jesus in our fellowship with one
another here in worship and the fellowship we
spread as we interact with others in our daily lives.

9. We should see Jesus in every face we see in our
daily lives and act accordingly.
Is that easy? Certainly not. I don’t find it easy, I
don’t know many people who do find it easy or even
think about the people they meet that way. Who
meets a new person and thinks of them as Jesus?
Who looks at a homeless person or a person with a
drug problem as Jesus? We run into all kinds of
people we would rather not bother with or who just
seem to rub us the wrong way. Is that seeing Jesus?
Jesus teaches us that everyone is to be treated with
respect and love. I have met a few people who treat
everyone they meet with open hearts, these people
amaze me. I aspire to be them, to live with an open
heart. Like Jesus.
If we look for Jesus in all these things we can also
see Him in so many other places, we can hear His
voice ring out in so many other places. It is up to us
to be His voice, His hands, His feet. That is His

10. mission to us, that we spread His Word and deeds
to others with open minds, open hearts, open hands,
with the resources that we have.
As Jesus told Mary and Joseph, “didn’t you know I
must be about my Father’s business?” so must we
be about Jesus’ business.
I know I used this story the last time I spokeand it
fits this lesson so well I am using it again. It is the
story by Tolstoy. Before I had paraphrased it, today I
will tell it in its entirety.
An old shoe cobbler who dreamed one Christmas
Eve that Jesus would come to visit him the next day.
The dream was so real that he was convinced it
would come true.
So the next morning he got up and decorated his
little cobbler shop and got all ready for Jesus to
come and visit. He was so sure that Jesus was
going to come that he just sat down and waited for
Him. And he waited and he waited and he waited.
The hours passed and Jesus didn't come.

11. But an old man came. He came inside for a moment
to get warm out of the winter cold. As the cobbler
talked with him he noticed the holes in the old man's
shoes, so he reached up on the shelf and got him a
new pair of shoes. He made sure they fit and that his
socks were dry and then sent him on his way.
Still he waited and waited and waited but Jesus
didn't come.
But an old woman came who hadn't had a decent
meal in two days. They sat and visited for a while,
and then he prepared some food for her to eat. He
gave her a nourishing meal and sent her on her way.
Then he sat down again to wait for Jesus. He waited
and waited but Jesus still didn't come.
Then he heard a little boy crying out in front of his
shop. He went out and talked with the boy, and
discovered that the boy had been separated from his
parents and didn't know how to get home. So he put
on his coat, took the boy by the hand and led him
home.
When he came back to his little shoe shop it was
almost dark and the streets were empty. The day
had nearly passed and yet Jesus never came. In a
moment of despair he lifted his voice to heaven and
said, "Oh Lord Jesus, why didn't you come?"

12. And then in a moment of silence he seemed to hear
a voice saying, "Oh shoe cobbler, lift up your heart. I
kept my word. Three times I knocked at your friendly
door. Three times my shadow fell across your floor. I
was the man with the bruised feet. I was the woman
you gave food to eat. I was the boy on the homeless
street."
The cobbler was looking and looking for Jesus, but
didn’t know where to look or what Jesus would look
like. He just couldn’t “see” Jesus.
He wasn't looking in the right places.
To find Jesus, you have to know Him, and you have
to know where to look. People who really know
Jesus can see Him everywhere. But again, you have
to know Him, to see Him and recognize His voice.
Amen.