Luke 2:49

A Great Awakening

Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house? Luke 2:49.

Many of you boys and girls have sat in the gallery of the church on a Communion Sabbath. You thought there was something strangely solemn about the service. You could not quite explain it to yourself, but it seemed like no other meeting you had ever attended. You caught a glimpse of several people you knew; they were seated at the communion table. But you could not keep your eyes off someone who was just a few years older than yourself; he was quite lately in one of the upper classes at school. You felt somehow as if you would be afraid to speak to him on Monday. You wondered too if, after a few years, you yourself would be sitting there, and if then you would feel as solemn as you believed he did.

Today I want to speak to you about Jesus Christ at the age when He began to understand about His mission on earth, and His Father in Heaven. He had just passed His twelfth birthday, but He was regarded as a child no longer. He was a man not a grown man exactly, but a youth. At that age a Jewish boy became a member of the congregation and had to attend the services and observe the fasts. But what would please Jesus more than anything was the fact that He could now join His parents in going up to Jerusalem to the three great national and religious feasts. He had never been there. To a Jewish boy Jerusalem would seem as big as London or Glasgow seems to you; and it was just about as far from Nazareth, where Jesus lived, as Dundee is from Aberdeen, or London is from Southampton. How He would look forward to going to the great city for the first time!

The feast of the Passover was held in April, when all Palestine was glorious with lovely spring flowers. The air was scented with their fragrance, and the birds sang in pure joy. The main roads leading to Jerusalem were crowded with people all going on the same errand. Many walked, some rode, and the numbers constantly increased as the city was approached.

Old people could tell you of great open-air meetings that were held in Scotland in the early sixties of last century. Boys and girls were among the crowds that gathered together from all parts of the country to attend them. Family parties walked long distances from outlying country districts, and as they went along they sang revival hymns together. But on the road to Jerusalem those devout Jews sang the noble Psalms of David. One company would start with a verse, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help,” and another would continue, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.” Don't you think you would have liked to join them?

Jerusalem would seem very beautiful to Jesus when it first burst upon His sight. But after He had seen the Temple He would have eyes for nothing else in the city. He knew there were men in the Temple who lived wonderful lives; they sought knowledge continually. He was sure that God was with them all day and always.

The time passed so quickly that, before He knew it, the day for returning had come. The women and children usually set out first, so Joseph and Mary started, each thinking that their boy was in the company of the other. But after a time they discovered that Jesus was missing. Had no one seen Him?' “Have you seen my son?” they kept asking. They sought and sought Him, but in vain. Back to the city they went. Through one street after another they wandered, still with the same question. At last they ventured into the Temple, and there, in a chamber adjoining one of the main courts, Mary caught sight of Jesus. He was sitting in the midst of the wise men listening to them and asking them questions.

Doubtless many questions had occurred to the Boy in the little home at Nazareth. Here, as He listened to these men who gave up their time to the acquiring of knowledge, there came a sudden feeling of being lifted up above this world; His pure soul was filled with a great joy. He felt God was His Father. He knew now that he was in reality the Son of God. He could not move; He sat on. To His mother who chided Him because He had lingered and had made it necessary for both Joseph and her to return there came the surprised reply the only saying of Jesus' boyhood that we have. “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house?” It was as if He said, “Did you not know, Mother? I was bound to be in God my Father's House.”

But although Christ had awakened to feel that He was the Son of God, and the Savior of the World, He went back to Nazareth and was subject unto His parents.

Jesus came into the world to teach boys and girls how to live, to tell them that they, too, are sons and daughters of God. And He is one of whom you can make a Friend; for He lived your life, at home, at school. He knows your difficulties and temptations, and He can help you to become worthy sons and daughters of the Great Father.