Searching For Jesus
by Katie Harding on February 27, 2023
Sometimes we read a passage of Scripture that we have read time and time again, and suddenly an insight is revealed that has alluded us in the past. That’s what happened as I recently reread Luke’s story about Jesus in the temple at age twelve.
When the festival of the Passover ended, Jesus’ family and their friends began the five-to-seven-day trek back to Nazareth. They were only a day’s journey away from Jerusalem when his parents began looking for Jesus among the group. “When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.”
“After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Upon seeing Him sitting there, His mother said, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” For three days they had been searching all over Jerusalem for their child, probably revisiting all the places they had been, except one — the temple. Jesus’ reply gives us great pause for thought. He asked, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?”
Jesus didn’t question why they had come back for Him, but why had they been looking everywhere but the temple, the one place where He would be about His Father’s interests. His questions make me wonder how often we are searching for Jesus in places we think He should be — in our packed schedules, plans, and activities? How often do we busy ourselves, sometimes to the point of great anxiety, looking for Jesus as we try to accomplish all the tasks set before us?
Maybe Jesus is in the same place now as He was then, waiting to be found. Paul says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). What if we stopped expecting to find Jesus in all our busyness and instead started looking for Him in the temple within? To show up and sit with Him as He listens to us, asks questions of us, and shares His great insights.
“What if we stopped expecting to find Jesus in all our busyness and instead started looking for Him in the temple within? ”
In his book, Experiencing God, Pastor and author Henry Blackaby encourages us to look where God is working and join Him there. Yet, one of the places often overlooked is God at work in our own lives. Just as He was then, Jesus is still about His Father’s interests — in the temple — helping us to grow in Christlikeness, to experience His peace and bring wholeness and joy to our lives.
How different would your day be if you started each morning — in the temple — with Jesus?