They Lost The Son Of God!

At Christmas time, Mary and Joseph get a lot of attention. You find them center stage in nativity scenes everywhere. You see them portrayed in Christmas plays, on Christmas cards, and used as themes for sermons in most every church. Indeed, this couple gets a great deal of fanfare and rightfully so. After all, they were tasked with the responsibility of raising the Son of God. While all of us who are raising children of our own think of our children as special, Mary and Joseph were given the awesome responsibility of parenting God's Son. Think about the magnitude of that for a moment. They were chosen by God to parent the Messiah, the Savior of the World, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, God in the flesh. All I have to say is I'm pretty sure that had I been around 2000 years ago, no angel would have come visiting me offering me a shot at this.

I get the sense that Mary and Joseph were two pretty amazing people. When asked, they stepped up to the plate and accepted the massive responsibility of parenting this miracle Child from heaven. As amazing as these two were, one thing is abundantly clear, they were still human just like us. God did not choose Mary and Joseph because they were perfect parents and would navigate through His childhood without any issues. Yes, they were raising a perfect child, but as parents they were not without flaws. As usual, God chose imperfect, flawed people to work through. It's His chosen method of getting things done on the earth. God uses people just like you and me!

Need proof? There's a story we read in Scripture when Jesus was 12 years old. The family made their annual trip to Jerusalem for Passover and were returning home. They were about 24 hours along in their journey when Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not with the group. It was like a real life Home Alone moment. Mary and Joseph had lost the Son of God!!! Frantically they began to search for Him. I can only imagine the terror that gripped their hearts as they dealt with the realization that not only had they lost their son, but they had lost the Savior of the world! I remember a time when I lost my son in a store. In the minute or two it took me to find him, I was in complete and total panic mode. Remember that Mary and Joseph were a days journey away when they realized that Jesus was missing. They would not find Him in a minute or two. It actually took 3 days before they found Him. This couple, chosen by God to raise the Son of God, lost the Holy Child for 3 days!

I chuckle every time I read this story because I picture myself in Joseph's shoes trying to find Jesus. I'm a panic button guy. At the first sign of trouble with my children, my default is panic. If there's blood, I panic. If there's a loud bang followed by a scream, I panic. If I lose them in a store, I panic. I can assure you, had I lost the Son of God, my level of panic would have hit an all time high. For 3 days, the adrenaline flowing through my veins would have been off the charts. I would have been thinking, "God entrusted me to look after His Son and I blew it. I cannot believe that I lost the Son of God. I am going to go down as the biggest failure as a dad in the history of the world!!!"

Fortunately, they found Jesus and He was fine. I'm sure this became one of those stories that you laugh at after the fact. For years it probably served as a funny story that they replayed over and over to their friends and family. I find it interesting that the magnitude of this mishap as parents did not define this couple. As a matter of fact, this event is rarely talked about when we consider the story of Joseph and Mary. While the text does not tell us much about the upbringing of Jesus, I would think that Mary and Joseph had a few more hiccups along the way in their raising of Jesus. Like any other parent raising a child for the first time, they had to make some mistakes along the way. I know I'm taking a bit of liberty with the story but it would appear to me that this story of losing the Son of God gives us a clue that Mary and Joseph's parenting came with some challenges. They did not hit the mark of perfection as parents while raising Jesus.

Still, God chose them. God picked Mary and Joseph out of the sea of imperfect, flawed humanity to take on a monumental task. He trusted flesh and blood to care for the Hope of all humanity. He chose a young lady to carry the Deliverer of mankind for 9 months and then to raise Him until adulthood. God picked a simple carpenter to be a daddy to the Savior of the world. To raise Him and to teach Him how to be a man. A young couple, just like the rest of us, would serve as God's choice to nurture, protect, and raise the King of kings.

I find it interesting that God trusts us. Let's face it, we humans can really mess things up. Our history makes that abundantly clear. Yet, our Heavenly Father still believes in us. He still longs to partner with us. He longs to work in us and through us. Listen, I know myself well, and I am amazed at the thought that God wants to work through me. I've given God more than enough reasons to give up on me, yet He never does. He still longs to partner with me in this life. He longs to work through this imperfect, frail, flawed individual. I can assure you that in every area of my life I've made some mistakes, including my parenting. I look at the story of Mary and Joseph though and I see a couple who lost the Son of God. That my friends is a huge parenting blunder. That, however, did not disqualify them from being the parents of Jesus. I can honestly say that I have yet to commit a parenting mishap of that magnitude. Regardless of that, God chose me to parent two young boys. My mistakes and failures as a father do not alter God's decision to choose me. God chose me, from a sea of flawed humanity to be a father of two special boys. While they are not the Savior of the world, or the Hope for all mankind, God too has a plan and purpose for their lives. I'm honored, humbled, and amazed that God would choose me and entrust me with such a huge responsibility.

I'm glad God chooses imperfect people because that means I'm perfectly qualified to be used. Are you flawed? Imperfect? Broken? Faulty? Sounds like the kind of resume that gets you hired in God's kingdom. Regardless of how imperfect you are, God longs to use you. After all, it's not like you've lost the Son of God!

Tim is the lead pastor at Westlake Fellowship in Montgomery, Texas. If you live in the area, join us Sunday mornings at 10:30 am at 19786 Hwy 105 Suite 120 in Montgomery (beside Magnolia Diner).

For more on this topic watch "First Christmas - Joseph" below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4oriFbM_ro

Be sure to pick up Tim's new book, "Yep Even That One" available now on Amazon