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?’ Luke 2:48-49
It was suggested to me on Sunday morning when we looked at this passage that perhaps there was a touch of rebuke on Jesus’ lips in his response to Mary and Joseph. Mary said ‘your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’ Jesus’ reply contradicts this, ‘I had to be in my Father’s house’. Was he making the point that Joseph wasn’t his real father? Perhaps, but to me that feel’s a little harsh on Joseph, who let’s face it had given so much for him in putting up with the rumours and insinuations from others when Mary conceived, and then fleeing from Herod, giving up his own life to protect Jesus. Yes, there is a touch of rebuke here, but it’s not about displacing Joseph’s vital role in his life, but underlining Jesus’ unique and special relationship with God.
One of the many amazing messages of the Bible is that the Spirit now lives in us (1 Cor. 6:19), in a sense wherever we go we are God’s house. Pray that God will give you a heightened sense of his presence as you open yourself to him today.
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