Three day weekend

 This week's verses are Luke 2:41-50:

Now Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. But when the feast was over, as they were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but (because they assumed that he was in their group of travelers) they went a day’s journey. Then they began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Jesus were astonished at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were overwhelmed. His mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” But he replied, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Yet his parents did not understand the remark he made to them. 

  These verses mark the end of Jesus' childhood and the beginning of him showing signs of his calling. Age twelve was the age when a boy would begin to prepare for adulthood, for the dedication and entry into manhood that would occur at age  thirteen. And we see that he has been preparing for a destiny that has nothing to do with what most boys his age would have been pursuing.

To understand this and Jesus' ministry, we also need to look at his priorities. Here he is rejecting the safety and comfort of his family to take the first steps in what will become his adult vocation. And elsewhere we see that he frequently withdraws to quiet places to pray and connect with the Father.

So if already he is comfortable to go his own way, and he is intimate with the scriptures already at that age, it is quite possible that the practice of withdrawing to pray was already happening in his childhood. So what we're seeing in these verses is quite possibly the result of his devotions and prayers over years, rather than a case of "hey our twelve year old is suddenly acting weird." 

Not only is Jesus familiar with the scriptures and with the right interpretation of them, but he is also familiar with his place in them. He knows who he is and what he must do, and that takes priority over the day to day and year to year routines.

It is offensive to his relatives to be put in second place, but it is the only rational choice from someone knowing what Jesus knows and being who he is. The two world views are not compatible.

If we are called to follow Jesus, we must look and see if our priorities are as clear as those Jesus practiced. Do the things that seem essential and obvious to you cause offense to those who are attached to a different world view? Has anyone asked you "why are you doing this?" Do you find you gladly give up comfort and safety to make room for eternal priorities?

If not, consider your lifestyle. Do you make time regularly to withdraw and spend time in devotion? You don't have to be Jesus to have an active prayer life but you have to have an active prayer life to be like Jesus. Consider what that might take.

To imitate Jesus, we must imitate not only how he uses a three day weekend, but how he used the time leading up to it.