MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/15/2026
9:48 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The
Incident At Twelve”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke 2:41-51
Message of the verses: “41 His parents went to
Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And
when He was twelve years old, they went up there according to
the custom of the feast; 43 and as they were returning,
after spending the full number of days required, the boy Jesus
stayed behind in Jerusalem, but His parents were unaware of it. 44 Instead,
they thought that He was somewhere in the caravan, and they
went a day’s journey; and then they began looking
for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 And
when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for Him. 46 Then,
after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the
teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And
all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. 48 When Joseph
and Mary saw Him, they were bewildered; and His mother said to
Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I
have been anxiously looking for You!” 49 And He said to
them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you
not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” 50 And yet they
on their part did not understand the statement which He had [made
to them. 51 And He went down with them and came
to Nazareth, and He continued to be subject to them; and His
mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
This morning I begin, what will be a rather long time
looking at these verses, perhaps 3-4 days.
This incident that comprises the
bulk of the passage finds Jesus, who at this time is on the brink of adulthood,
as twelve years after His presentation in the temple seen in 2:22-38. It is a powerful and poignant story, and also
a profound testimony by Jesus to His true identity as God the Son (v. 49); yet
there is nothing miraculous or supernatural about it.
This incident began at the Passover
during Jesus’ 12th year. I
would think that He would have been around 12 years and a few months old at
this time. Joseph and Mary, as a devout couple,
went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover in order to
celebrate with the Nation God’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt which can be
seen in Exodus 12:1-51. Passover was one
of the three major annual feasts in Israel, along with Pentecost and
Tabernacles. Now right after the
Passover day was the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread. So this entire eight-day period eventually
became known as collectively as Passover.
MacArthur writes “According to
Exodus 23:17; 34:22-23 and Deuteronomy
16:16, all Jewish men were required to attend the three major
feasts. But by the first century, the
dispersion of many Jewish people outside of Palestine had made that
impractical. Consequently, many Jewish
men came to Jerusalem only for Passover.
Women were not required by the law to attend (though some rabbis
strongly encouraged them to do so); for a woman to attend the feast was
considered a sign of unusual spiritual devotion.” This last statement about women being “unusual
spiritual devotion” certainly fits Mary.
“As they did every year, the year
that Jesus became twelve Joseph and Mary went up to Jerusalem according
to the custom of the Feast. The trip
from Nazareth was an arduous one of about eighty miles, lasting three or four
days. They did not travel alone, but
with a large company of people in a caravan (v. 44). To journey to Jerusalem in a group offered
both the opportunity for fellowship and protection from the threat of highway
robbers. Such caravans would also include
children, since the rabbis taught that Passover should be a family celebration
(cf. Ex. 12:26-27).” I want to look at these two verses at this time.
(cf. Ex. 12:26-27)
“26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do
you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall
say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses
of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our
houses.’" And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.”
MacArthur goes on to write “When
they arrived in Jerusalem, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus would have found the city
teeming with hundreds of thousands of fellow pilgrims, who would have been
trying to find lodging and a place to celebrate the Passover meal, along with
purchasing their sacrificial animals.
The city would have been filled with the noise of hundreds of thousands
of sheep, which the priests would have been busy butchering. Beggars, no doubt decked out in their most
ragged clothes, would have been out in force.
Roman soldiers would have been on patrol, jostling with the crowds and
trying to keep some semblance of order.
Joseph would have taken the family’s lamb to be sacrificed, and one can
only imagine what went through Jesus’ mind, knowing that He was the ‘Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). The whole frenetic scene in Jerusalem must
have made a profound impression on Him.”
By this time in Jesus’ age, being twelve years old which meant that He
was a man, a young man, but a man who in His case may have been thinking of 21
years down the road that He would be dying on the cross for He was “The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world.”
MacArthur explains “This particular
Passover was especially significant for Jesus.
Jewish boys became accountable to the law of God at thirteen, a
transition later marked by the ceremony known as Bar Mitzvah (‘son of the law’
or ‘covenant’). The last couple of
Passovers before a boy turned thirteen were particularly important in preparing
him for his responsibility to the law.
“Luke did not describe any features
of that Passover but picked up the story afterward, when Joseph, Mary and Jesus
were retuning to Nazareth. The
seeming aside that Joseph and Mary lift Jerusalem after spending the full
number of days there is actually another affirmation of their devotion to
the things of God. In contrast to most
people, who stayed for only part of the eight-day celebration, Joseph and Mary
stayed the entire time.”
Now here is one of the key portions
of this section, perhaps the greatest key to it, as MacArthur explains: “Instead
of returning with the others, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Nothing was said to His parents, who
were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan. It was not until the end of the first day’s
journey that Joseph and Mary realized that Jesus was missing and they
began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. But their worst fears were confirmed; Jesus
was not with the caravan. When they
did not find Him, Joseph and Mary spent an anxious night before they
returned the next morning to Jerusalem looking for Him.” I will end now and Lord willing will pick
up this evening to write more about this very important story that Luke
includes in his writing, a story that is found nowhere else in the different
Gospels.
Spiritual
Meaning for My life today: Jesus was in control of what needed
to be done, and He is in control of what is needed to be done in my life as
well.
My Steps
of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord for the things going on in my
life and in the life of my wife as she continues to fight against the cancer
that has invaded her body.
4/15/2026
10:40 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment