NEW YEARS DAY, 2021 “A Fresh Start”

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Good morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this, the FIRST day of the new year 2021!

Consider this for a moment… an entire year lays out before you, like a fresh snowfall. Pause right here, consider this unique moment and I urge you to speak with God, inviting HIM to guide you carefully in this new year.

Let’s begin our 2021 with the only glimpse we have in the Bible into Jesus’ life between the time Joseph, Mary and little boy Jesus returned to Nazareth from their refugee days in Egypt… until the time adult Jesus left Nazareth to begin His mission here on earth. We find this one event recorded in only one place, Luke 2:41-52. It begins with this statement: “Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When He (Jesus) was 12 years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while His parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.” (Luke 2:41-43)

What do those three short verses tell us about Jesus and His earthly family? The fact that Joseph and Mary went EVERY year to Jerusalem for the Passover feast shows us they were devout Jews, doing all they could to be obedient to the instructions of the LORD.

Every Jewish man, as head of his household, was to observe three great Jewish festivals in Jerusalem, including Passover, every year if possible. (Deut. 16:16) But here we see BOTH Joseph and Mary went every year for Passover. That tells me they understood the huge responsibility they had to provide a God honoring home for Jesus, and their other children.

On this first day of 2021, for all of us who are parents or grandparents, what is our plan to lead our descendants well, building a God honoring legacy, and teaching them how to continue it after we are old or gone?

Do you notice young Jesus accompanied them to Jerusalem this year at age 12. Can you imagine His excitement? This may have been His first Passover in Jerusalem, and perhaps the Jewish family celebration which today is called Bar Mitzvah, may have been part of their experience in Jerusalem that Passover. It was the sacred ceremony of parents acknowledging their son is old enough to be held accountable for his actions both by God and by civil law.

When the week of the Passover festival was completed, it appears Joseph and Mary gathered up their belongings and started the journey back to their home in Nazareth, but didn’t give attention to see if young Jesus was with them or not. The boy Jesus was old enough now to be responsible and I’m sure they had discussed as a family what time they’d be leaving Jerusalem to start their several day journey. Do you see disobedience or at least disrespect in Jesus’ actions by remaining behind in Jerusalem when the family began their journey? What do you think about that? Or was it something else that is happening here?

Verse 44 and 45 paint a picture for us of a large caravan of friends traveling together, a group big enough that it wasn’t until when they stopped for the night, that Joseph and Mary noticed Jesus was not among them. What do you imagine they felt at that moment? Their only option was to return a full day’s walk back to Jerusalem and search for young Jesus. Can you imagine the conversation they had as they walked along discussing the challenge they had of trying to raise the Son of God?

Listen to what Luke writes next: “After three days they found Jesus in the temple courts, sitting among the scholars, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers. When His parents saw Him, they were astonished.” (Luke 2:46-48)

I presume the three day calculation is the first day of traveling to leave Jerusalem, the second day traveling back to Jerusalem and the third day searching the city and finding Jesus in the temple courts. Can you picture it in your mind my friends? A 12 year old Jewish boy sitting among the scholars, the teachers, and the learned old Rabbi’s, listening and asking questions, and occasionally answering the questions the scholars asked Him!

I wonder how long Joseph and Mary stood and watched before finally approaching Jesus sitting with these wise scholars? Did their frustration begin to subside as they listened to His wisdom? Did they feel some intimidation as they thought about what the next years would hold as Jesus would grow to adulthood in their home?

May I ask… what do you expect this next year will bring for you in your spiritual growth, your understanding of God’s Word the Bible? What about your expectations of your children and grandchildren and their spiritual growth? What responsibility do you feel for the spiritual development of your family, my friends? I urge you to consider Psalm 78:1-8, it’s a powerful challenge to all parents, grandparents and even great grandparents.

Luke invites us to listen in on what happened next as Joseph and Mary approached young Jesus that day as He sat among the scholars. “His mother said to Him (Jesus), ‘Son why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for Me?” Jesus responded. “Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house? But Joseph and Mary did not understand what He was saying to them. (Luke 2:48-50)

Look around, do you see the wrinkled brows, the confused looks on everyone’s faces? What could the boy Jesus have possibly meant by what He just said?

In this moment everything changed. Jesus was making several striking statements…

1. Joseph was not His father. Almighty God was His Father, and in the future Jesus in His teachings would repeatedly make this clear!

2. Jesus was no longer a child and His priorities were changing. It was now important that He begin preparing for the ministry and the mission for which God had sent Him to earth… to become Savior for all those who would repent of their sin.

3. The Temple and the teachings of God’s Word would become a priority in His life as Jesus prepared for His earthly mission. Likely Jesus would spend more time with scholars discussing God’s Word, than He would spend time with Joseph learning the carpentry trade.

Now friends, look closely at the closing verses of this event: “Then Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with mankind.” (Luke 2:51,52) The three of them walked out of the Temple that day and resumed their journey back home to Nazareth. Can you imagine their conversation over the next few days? How did the dynamic of their home change after this event?

I’m glad the Bible doesn’t tell us anything more about the next 18 years or so, as Jesus grew to adulthood. By the way, this is the last mention of Joseph in the Gospel accounts. While we don’t know for sure, we presume he died at some point over the next several years and thus Jesus spent at least some of his young adult years in a single parent home, without an earthly father. So if you have an absentee dad or husband, or your father or husband died early in your life journey… Jesus understands!

In closing today, this first day of 2021, I urge you to view this day for you, as a day of great change, like that day was for Jesus. A new future is before you. What decisions will you make today, which will guide your 2021 to be a year of great spiritual growth and character development? Will you be fully available, everyday this year, for whatever God wants to accomplish IN your life, and THROUGH your life in our world? As you put the rudder of your life into the water on this first day of 2021, what will be your course as you navigate a new year?

Here’s a new song I’ve found, that may help you start this new year in the right frame of mind and heart, and God bless you my dear friends:

Today’s Scripture is Luke 2.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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