And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them. Luke 2:49,50
We need to be very careful about finding fault with Mary and Joseph, whom God chose to be the earthly family in which the Lord Jesus would spend His childhood and adolescent years. This was a wonderful couple, devoted to their God and faithful to His Word. They were not perfect, but they surely did the best they could to fulfill the great task that God had given them. Few couples could have done better and we should be deeply thankful for the great service that they rendered. And yet, there came a time when they slipped up. It did not seem like a great error they made, as they travelled along the road home to Nazareth after the Passover events in Jerusalem. There were many neighbours and relatives to chat with as they journeyed, and they had every reason to assume that Jesus was among the crowd that made its way through the Judean countryside. But they had gone an entire day without checking on Him. His care and welfare was their ultimate responsibility, and they had come up short. And they now came under a gentle rebuke from their own Son.
Had Mary and Joseph been mindful of their responsibility, they would have noted that Jesus was not among those who departed from Jerusalem. And now, as they find Him in the temple, they rebuke Him for not having departed with them. But He turns the tables on them by reminding them of His greatest responsibility, that of tending to His Father’s business. What could be more important than that? And in His words are a subtle reminder that they had a responsibility toward their heavenly Father as well, a responsibility they had let slip. He did not openly challenge them about it, but His words must have caused them to hang their heads in shame. His words are also a reminder to us today that tending to the Father’s business is our greatest responsibility as well.
How was a 12-year-old lad pursuing His Father’s business? In what way could He serve at His age? He was an entire year shy of the age at which Jewish boys were considered to be entering into adult responsibilities. But even as a boy, He lived in the role for which He had come into the world. And He would continue to live in that role as He advanced through His teens into manhood. This devotion to His Father’s business is our pattern. The God Who saved us desires that we serve and follow Him. Unlike the Lord Jesus, we often falter and deviate from the course that we have been given. That course includes a life of service and worship, a life of kindness, honesty, and fairness, a desire for others to enter into the eternal life that we have been given. But a reminder that the Lord Jesus set for us a pattern helps us to keep our minds and hearts on the Father’s business.
Your Father’s business is before you. Wist ye not that ye must be about it? – Jim MacIntosh