Finding Jesus
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | December 29, 2024
Click here to listen to the service
Read Luke 2:41 – 52 (NIV)
As I thought about today’s sermon, FINDING JESUS, I was reminded of a story that I heard many years ago. Forgive me, if you have heard it before.
But the story goes like this... there was a preacher who met a man walking down a dusty road. It was clear that the man was somewhat inebriated, nevertheless the preacher took it upon himself to strike up a conversation with the man.
He explained that he was a local preacher that had recently come to town for a revival... and asked the man if he had ever been baptized. The man responded that he had not. Being the ever-dutiful servant of the Lord, the preacher asked the man if he wanted to be baptized now since they were standing near the shore of a small lake. The man responded, “Sure, why not?”
So, the preacher took the man out into the lake, dunked him under the water and when he brought the man back up, he asked him, “Have you found Jesus?”
The man responded “No,” and the preacher dunked him again. And when he brought the man up the second time, he asked him again, “Have you found Jesus?” And once again, the man responded, “No.”
Believing that the third time would be the charm, the preacher dunked the man again and when he brought him back up, he asked, “Have you FOUND Jesus?” To which the man said, “No, are you sure this is where He went down?”
Okay, I just wanted to inject a little humor this morning before we take a closer look at our New Testament lesson from the Gospel of Luke. It is a story that likely reflects every parent’s worst fears... not being able to find your child.
In fact, I remember when I was a little girl thinking that it would be funny to hide in the middle of the clothes rack in the department store while Mom and I were out shopping... only to find out that she did not find it the least bit funny... and rest assured, given her reaction to the situation and the way my bottom felt when she got finished... that was something that I never did again.
Now, as we turn our attention to our text for today, we find the story of a then twelve-year-old Jesus and His parents, Mary and Joseph, going up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover... as was their custom to do each year.
When the Feast ended, Mary and Joseph along with many other family members and friends started on their trek back home. About a day into their journey... they realized that Jesus was not with the rest of the family or with their friends as they had assumed... so they headed back to Jerusalem... for the express purpose of FINDING JESUS.
Can you imagine the range of emotions that they must have experienced as they frantically searched high and low for their son? Stopping strangers and friends along the way asking, “Have you seen our son?” “Tell me, have you seen Jesus?” “Please tell us, have you found Jesus?”
Then finally, after looking for Him for three days... they found Jesus back in the temple courts... sitting among the teachers... listening to them and asking questions.
A boy of only twelve years old... perched in the midst of the learned teachers of the Temple... engaging with them in a profound Q & A session.
So profound, in fact, that the scriptures say that all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. But let me suggest that there were at least two people who were not so impressed with Jesus’ demonstration of supreme intelligence at that exact moment in time.
In fact, His mother, Mary said something to the effect of, “Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you” (Luke 2:48, MSG).
(Words that I think might be vaguely reminiscent of what my mother said to me when she found me in that clothing rack.)
Yet amazingly, Jesus sounded neither contrite nor apologetic when He responded back to her, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?”
Perhaps we are more familiar with how His questions were phrased in the NKJV which reads, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Now, at first blush, some might say that Jesus was being more than just a little precocious. After all He was only 12 years old at the time... and the scriptures tell us that Mary and Joseph did not understand what He was saying to them in that moment.
But the text goes on to tell us that Jesus went with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them and that Mary treasured all these things in her heart.
Now just to put things into context... keep in mind, it had been more than twelve years since the Angel Gabriel first appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit...
More than twelve years since the Angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife... that the baby she was carrying was conceived by the Holy Spirit and he was to give Him the name Jesus... because He would save His people from their sins.
More than twelve years and not to mention how many other children that had been born to Mary and Joseph since those amazing pronouncements…
I can only imagine that enough time had passed that this was perhaps no longer top of mind for either Mary or Joseph. They had probably gotten so comfortable in their normal day-to-day routine that the Immaculate Conception and the promise that Jesus would save His people from their sins was not the first thing they thought of when they were not able to find their son for four days.
But after they returned home, the scriptures tell us that Mary pondered all these things in her heart. She and Jospeh had been on a journey that led them to FINDING JESUS doing what He had been sent to earth to do...
And so, on this first Sunday after Christmas, I want to invite us to consider what it means for us to be intentional about FINDING JESUS... what does that journey look like for us?
With the hustle and bustle of everyday life from January through November... we can easily lose sight of the meaning of Christmas. Just as soon as we take down the tree, return the lights and decorations to their respective storage places and put all of the gifts away in closets and drawers... it feels like we have also packed away the Christmas spirit that has filled our hearts throughout the season of Advent.
Once vacations from work and school have come to an end... we return to the daily grind that seems to grind out the hope, peace, joy and love that has captivated our hearts throughout the Christmas season.
But then, as the season of Advent approaches once more... we embark again on the journey of FINDING JESUS... looking for Him in the midst of all that we associate with the Christmas season... feeling the hope, peace, joy and love that fills our hearts with the Christmas Spirit yet again.
We sing the beloved Christmas carols: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; O Holy Night; Joy to the World; O Come All Ye Faithful…
We light the candles in the Advent wreath, and we join in our favorite service of Carols, Communion and Candlelight on Christmas Eve.
We designate the offering for the Geauga County Hunger Cupboards to help those who are less fortunate than us... and we can rejoice that the journey of FINDING JESUS in the season of Christmas continues.
And then, the cycle repeats... over and over again... year after year.
But, will this year, 2024, be the year that does not end like so many years before? Will this be the year when we make a conscious decision not to lose the Christmas spirit? Will this be the year when we are even more intentional about FINDING JESUS... not just in the midst of Christmas but throughout each and every day?
Will this be the year when we purpose in our hearts to keep the hope, peace, joy and love of Christmas alive 365 days a year?
Will this be the year when we live out the truth that Jesus is the reason for the season? That it’s not about the lights and the decorations and the presents under the tree... it’s about a Savior being born to save us from our sins.
Will this be the year that we proclaim that it’s about more than wise men and shepherds FINDING JESUS as a baby lying in a manger.
It’s about even more than Mary and Joseph FINDING JESUS as a twelve-year-old boy sitting in the temple.
It’s about FINDING JESUS as the One who gave sight to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, allowed the lame to walk and brought the dead back to life.
It’s about FINDING JESUS as our Savior who was crucified on a cross at Calvary and was raised from the dead.
It’ about FINDING JESUS alive and well in the presence of His disciples... breaking bread with them once again and giving them (and us) marching orders to go and make other disciples.
It’s all about a Savior knocking at the door of our hearts... waiting for us to invite Him in so that all who are intentional about FINDING JESUS will actually find themselves held in the eternal love of Christ.
That is why beyond us embarking on a journey of FINDING JESUS... we can rejoice in knowing that Jesus came to earth on a mission of finding us.
If we turn our attention briefly to Luke 15, we will find a series of parables that Jesus shared about the lost being found.
First there is the parable about a sheep that was lost and the shepherd who left the ninety-nine others to go in search of that one. And when the lost sheep had been found, the shepherd gathered his friends and neighbors together to rejoice with him.
That parable is followed by the parable of a woman who lost one of her ten coins and scoured every corner of her house until the one that was lost had been found again. She, too, gathered her friends and neighbors together to rejoice over finding that which had been lost.
And that parable is followed by the one about the Lost Son and the Forgiving Father... more commonly known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. The story of a loving and forgiving father who takes extreme delight and rejoices when his son who was lost to the ways of the world is found once again.
And that, my friends, is the ultimate reason why Jesus came to earth more than 2,000 years ago... so that all of us who have found ourselves lost to the ways of the world can be found again. As we read in Luke 19 (10), “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
And once Jesus finds us, He invites us to join Him in the family business... because He wants us to be about our Father’s business... spreading the good news to a lost and dying world about a living Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
He wants us to rejoice as we share the gospel and let the world know about God’s free gift of grace and mercy.
The Apostle Paul said it like this to the Ephesian Church (2:8 – 9), “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
It is by grace we have been saved... God’s unmerited favor...
It’s not about anything we have done to deserve it. And it’s not about us getting our lives in order so that we can be in a better position to receive it.
The reality is that we “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) but in spite of the fact that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The truth is that God loves us so much that He has given us a Savior who is willing to go to any extreme to find us when we are lost... and to show us the way that we should go.
It is in John 14 (6), that Jesus tells us He is “the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him].” ... which means we need to follow Him... wherever He leads us.
So, as we prepare to move forward into this New Year that lay ahead... let us reflect on our personal journey of FINDING JESUS... even in the midst of rejoicing that we have been found by Him... and let us make the conscious decision each day to follow Jesus... doing all that He has commanded us to do.
And with that thought in mind, I want to invite us to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus #344.
