Luke 2:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
We are still looking at lessons to be learned from our 2nd Luke scriptures which began this series. Here Mary and Joseph have returned to Jerusalem after missing Jesus in their caravan. Their first internalized reaction was amazement. Their outward expression was a “me first” reaction. They wanted to know why Jesus had not done what they expected of Him. “Why did you do this to us?” “Don’t you know we were worried about you?”
I have to admit that I have heard those exact words from my mother’s mouth. I can relate. In my case I was guilty of a sin. That doesn’t mean Jesus was guilty of a sin. His answer to His mother spoke directly to His becoming a man after the Jewish tradition.
V49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?
I have the feeling that there had been little discussion about following in dad’s footsteps. It is reported later in scriptures that Jesus was a carpenter, following in Joseph’s footsteps. Jesus might have had a eye on the future but His path to that point of entering into His ministry was not to be found in the temple in Jerusalem. Not yet anyway.
I have left out the greater lesson here. Mary is asking Jesus to consider her feelings and make an accounting of His actions. It didn’t matter that she was astonished by His achievements in the moment, she wanted a “me first” answer.
How would the answer have been received by Mary if His answer had been, “You left without me. What was I supposed to do?”
Here is our lesson, have we gone on with our life without Jesus?