Be Quiet, Be Still

“Your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow." Luke 2:48

There are very few stories about Jesus' childhood, and one of them is about how His parents lost him in the crowd during Passover. He was 12 years old at that time. Too young to be completely independent, but old enough that you don't hold his hand all the time while walking back home to Nazareth. Usually, a family travels with a party of relatives and friends, and Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was traveling along with them. When they did not find Him, perhaps during the evening meal, they got distressed, went back all the way to Jerusalem to continue the search there. I can imagine how Mary felt. Fathers are more sanguine and relaxed when their sons are missing. But mothers! The furrows in their foreheads says it all! I am sure Mary was continuously praying, while her eyes frantically looked everywhere.

After three days, three days!!! they finally found Him in the temple. He was calmly sitting among religious teachers, listening and asking questions. Apparently Jesus was also answering questions, because verse 47 says, "All who heard Him were amazed at His intelligence, His understanding, and His answers."

Sometimes we too lose Jesus. We forget to pray and read the Bible. There is just so much to be done in a day! Even during a pandemic. We forget to pray one day, two days, three days... and then we find out He is missing in our life! And we start searching for Him. Many people try different religions, read all sorts of books, try different kinds of meditation and positions. But Jesus, where is He? 

“You should have known that I would be in my Father's house," He told Joseph and Mary. We do not need to go searching all over the place. We will find Jesus in the Temple, the temple of our hearts. We just need to be quiet and be still. We will find Jesus when we read the Word, the Bible. He can answer all our questions, even the deep ones that bother our soul. God's promise to us is we will find Him when we seek Him.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8