Our journey into 2004 has already begun, and already we're faced with the annual challenge:  learning to write a new date on our important papers and checks.  "-03" has become "-04."  I don't know about you, but my mind is still not comfortable with the "0" thing.  Every now and then I find myself writing "98" and once even "89."  My mind simply cannot fathom the swiftness that time goes by in our lifetimes.

          But there's an even greater difficulty with time.  It's coming to terms with how much change the passage of time affects those we love.  We visit our aging parent or uncle or former neighbor and are almost shocked at how old they've become.  Or what about our children?  How did they grow up so quickly?  In one year a child can grow up 3-4 inches, or act up with new emotions or new energies, or speak up with a new voice or come up with new insights and knowledge and we wonder where they learned that.  When they take their first steps, never again will they be so helpless.  When they begin to speak, never again will they use the coos and gurgles they once mystified us with.

          There's something wonderful about this week's Gospel lesson.  It's a peek into Jesus' childhood, an up-close and personal view of Jesus as a boy, not as a baby, not as a child or even as a Messiah.  This is Jesus a young boy going His own way, much to the fears of His parents.  We can all connect with the feelings Mary and Joseph must have experienced in today's Gospel.

          Have you ever turned your back on your child, only to have him not there when you looked again?  Travelling in the safety of a family caravan, at the end of the first day's travel back to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph are horrified to discover their son is not among them.  Immediately they turn back for Jerusalem, frantically searching for Jesus.

          Think of what they must have considered:  Maybe Jesus had fallen in with another family.  Or maybe Jesus had fallen prey to a pack of thieves.  Maybe Jesus had gone ahead of them and was waiting for them to catch up.  Or maybe their young son had been lured by the attractions of the big city.  Maybe he was with good people who would care for him, or maybe he was alone, cold, and frightened.

          The text tells us after three days of searching the streets and alleys of Jerusalem, they found Him in the temple.  What must have gone through their minds as they searched?  Jerusalem numbered 250,000 during the Passover and others may have lost children.  The soldiers or local police would not have helped much.  There were no computer-based searches, no Amber alerts, no bands of relatives willing to form a search party - only a mother and her husband searching from house to building, hoping for the best, fearing the worst, and becoming more worried each day they did not find him.

          Who of us cannot imagine the relief when Mary and Joseph found Him, calmly sitting in the temple and learning at the feet of the teachers?  Have you ever had a spouse or a friend forget to call and check in after a long trip?  Ever had a parent mysteriously not show up for a meal?  Ever lose track of a child?  As a child, twice I was lost, once as a ten-year old playing with the pastor's children after church and another time as a 16 year-old daydreaming over a new blue Chevy convertible that had just been delivered to the local dealership.  The boy was retrieved by his father, but the teenager had to find his own way home.  The boy's childishness was overlooked, but the teenager was left to solve his own problem.

          When you finally find your lost child, what do you want to do?  Shout at him?  Hug her?  Scold him?  Whatever the case, you will certainly breathe a prayer of thanks.  And you may even lay on a little guilt such as Mary did.  ("Son, why have you treated us like this?  We've been looking all over for you!")  But what Jesus said must have almost slapped them in the face.  ("Why were you searching for me?  Didn't you know I must be in my Father's house?")

          Here we see the unique relationship Jesus had with both His parents - His earthly parents and His Heavenly Father.  Here at the beginning of His adolescent years Jesus felt a special closeness with His Heavenly Father that may have confused or even hurt Mary and Joseph a little.  Here they feel what every parent feels when a teenage son or daughter steps away to become independent.  But that's how it should be.

          Adolescence is when we stop being our parents' children and start struggling to find our true self, who we really are, based on us and not based on our parents' expectations.  Most all parents have learned that God created adolescence so we wouldn't want to keep our kids with us forever.  There's a refreshing (if not also aggravating) candor about Jesus' response to His mother's worried question, when He said, "Why were you searching for me?"  And to that, parents throughout all history have responded, "What do you think, you little pip-squeak?  You had us worried sick!"  Mary didn't say that, but she may have thought it.

          Later on Jesus would again cause His family some pain and confusion as they fail to understand His mission, but today their relief is for a lost child just found, that He was safe and with them again, and Jesus did not grasp that.  The divine 12-year-old does not have all the answers at this time of life, which is true of all 12-year-olds.  None of them have all the answers, no matter how wise they think they are.  Even the perfect boy Jesus did not yet understand how desperate and scared His parents were.  He had yet to understand a parent's love when a child is potentially lost, even if that child has grown up and joined the Army or gone off to college or just gotten married.  A parent's fear knows no bounds.  No matter what our age, we can still be scared silly at the thought of losing a child.

          The preteen Jesus had a few days to revel in the unique relationship with His divine Father, debating and learning from the Temple teachers.  For the first time He knew more of His purpose in coming into the world.  And yet despite His sense of rightness in being there, He knew He must go home.  Jesus left the Temple with His parents and was obedient to them (verse 51).  And His mother Mary remembered this incident well, treasuring it in her heart.  This experience had left an impact on both of them, just as the incident of my being left behind in town by my Father.  In his later years, I once asked Dad if he remembered the time he left me in town, and he said, of course, a parent never forgets those times.  And both a young boy Jesus and a future young man named Bob could not at that time know the fears a parent might have when their child is left on his own.

          The bond the young Jesus had with His parents was broken with adulthood, but the one with His Heavenly Father was never broken.  Though Jesus was never homeless, He did say, "The Son of Man has no place to lay His head." (Luke 9:58)   God the Father was always with Him, and we parents must remember that God will always be with our children as well.  You see, everywhere Jesus went, He was with family, and that's what I want you to remember from this message:  When you follow the Lord, you're never without a family.  Our home is wherever other believers are gathered.  That's why joining a church today is more important than ever, even if it's an imperfect church.  When you join the church, you're never without a family.  And today we all need family of some kind.

          As you continue your journey into 2004, just remember that you're not alone.  The Christ who left His heavenly home to live on Earth has forgiven us and will always love us, no matter what.  He who left His parents to learn in the Temple will live in the temples of our hearts so long as we have faith in Him.  So travel boldly into the new year, knowing God is with you.  Wherever you may go, whether through adolescence or Afghanistan, into your first home or your last apartment, whether on a wilderness walk or an urban commute, God goes with you.  For our Lord Jesus has promised us, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

          But I have a request for you all.  Maybe you can even make it a New Year's resolution.  This year in 2004, for heavens sake, wherever you go, don't forget to tell your family where you're going!  God be with us all in our journeys in 2004.  Amen.

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.