Lost: One Boy
Lost: One Boy
Jesus could hardly wait until he was twelve years old. Because when he was twelve years old, something VERY IMPORTANT was going to happen. He was going to go with Mary and Joseph to the big temple in Jerusalem! Every year, fathers and mothers traveled to the big temple to worship - but boys couldn't go to the temple services until they were twelve.
All his life, Jesus thought about the wonderful day when he would be allowed to go. And at last he was twelve!
Oh, joy! Such scrubbing and packing and cooking to get ready! What a golden day it was, when Mary and Joseph and Jesus started out, with their little donkey packed right up to his long ears. What fun to meet other families along the way and travel along together. There were donkeys and camels and carts to carry things and people. There were goats and sheep and turtledoves and cattle to give to God. There were days of traveling. And finally -
JERUSALEM!
Jerusalem - with its funny, crooked cobblestone streets and rows of stores right outdoors. And the TEMPLE!
They could see its golden roof from a distance. They went through its big gates and into the huge courts. Of course, they could not go into the INNER courts. They could not see the rich curtains of red and blue and purple - and great chests made of brass - and candlesticks made of gold. But they went each day to worship God. And at last it was time to go back to Nazareth.
Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was with them when they started across the hills with the crowd. But when they stopped in the evening to rest, they looked for him - and he was GONE!
How dreadful! They went through the crowds, asking everybody. Nobody had seen him. Mary and Joseph went back to Jerusalem again, and for three days they looked in the streets, in the homes of their friends everywhere. Then they looked in the temple -
And there he was!
Not playing. Not crying. But sitting with the wise men of the temple, talking about the things of God! Jesus was answering the questions of the wise men, and they were surprised at how much he knew.
"Why have you done this, my son?" Mary asked him. "We've been looking for you everywhere."
"You didn't look in the right place," said Jesus. "Didn't you know I'd be here about my Father's business?"
They went back home to Nazareth, and the days went on exactly as they had before.
But Jesus had given Mary and Joseph quite a jolt. He reminded them of WHO HE WAS. They never forgot that day, when Jesus was twelve years old. And they never forgot that Jesus is really God's own Son.

THINK!
This was the first time Jesus ever acted as if he were really God's Son. How do you suppose it made Mary and Joseph feel? What did the inside of the temple look like? Do you know what his "Father's business" was? (Look back to story 33.) How do you think Jesus felt about God's house?
A VERSE TO LEARN
"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD" (Psalm 122:1).