Category: Thoughts and Reflections

In the late 50’s and early 60’s some larger grocery stores had a section where parents could leave their kids while they shopped. In the old Mick or Mac store it was an elevated platform with waist high walls near the entrance of the store. It had old children’s story books, comic books, coloring books and crayons and a few old toys for entertainment. That’s where me, my little sister and brother would stay while mom and dad shopped.

On one occasion dad and mom had finished shopping and were on the way out the door. Dad had already called “come on” several times so we knew he meant business and we headed for the door too.

We piled in the car, slammed the doors and dad was quickly on the road headed for home. My sister and I just stared at each other. Half way home mom turned around in her seat and looked back and forth from Jennifer to me and suddenly yelled, “Where is your brother!?” In unison we answered, “You left him at the store.” The next question was, “Why didn’t you say anything!?” All she got were shrugged shoulders and a, “I don’t know.” Maybe it was because we were in shock. They had just left Jeff! Who knew, it could have been planned and we were next. After all, Mom had promised on occasion when we had exhausted her patience and trampled on every nerve to give us away.

We returned to the store as fast as we had left it. My little brother Jeff hadn’t even noticed that we were gone. He was perfectly content playing. Of course Mom was crying. She grabbed him up, hugged and kissed him and promised she would never do that again. I’m not sure at the time he understood what mom promised she would never do again. Dad was very quiet on the way home.

In the book of Luke chapter 2:41-52 we find the story of another father and mother who had unintentionally left their child behind. It took them more than a few minutes to locate their child. It took them three days. However, Luke’s intent in telling this story was not to remind us of our parental responsibilities. He wanted us to get a glimpse of how Jesus, the Son of God, matured as a child, and what kind of child he was to His earthly parents and to His heavenly Father.

It had been a long week in Jerusalem. Every year Joseph and Mary had made the trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the week of Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. It had taken them three or four days just to get to Jerusalem. The week would have been very busy and crowded. They were a day’s journey on their way home when they realized that Jesus was not in the group. By the time they got back to Jerusalem two days had passed since they had seen Jesus. The temple complex itself covered about 34 acres. After a day of searching in Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph found Jesus under the tutelage of some religious teachers.

First, note Jesus knew where he was and was not panicked because His earthly parents had gone away. He was perfectly content to be there in the temple listening and learning. While my little brother had been oblivious to his surroundings and the fact that we had all left, Jesus was well aware of His circumstances, where He was and who He was with.

Second, A jewish boy twelve years of age would have been under intense training the year before his bar mitzvah. From Luke’s brief description Jesus was the perfect student. He listened. He asked substantive and relevant questions. And, He comprehended what he is told.

Third, note Jesus response to His mother’s rebuke.

(Let me just say that Mary seems to be blaming Jesus for her anxiety over losing him. Didn’t she and Joseph bear the brunt of the responsibility to know where their 12 year old boy was at all times? Maybe it tells us that they had such a great deal of trust in the boy Jesus that they just took for granted that He had obediently followed them.)

Jesus responds by reminding Mary and Joseph that He is God’s Son. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” or as the KJV translates it “about my Father’s business.” Jesus seems to be keenly aware of His relationship with the Father and the necessity of doing His work. He seems to have already developed some insight into His mission and ministry.

Finally, note that Jesus was obedient to His earthly parents. In every regard, this short passage demonstrates that Jesus was perfectly submissive to His heavenly Father and also to His earthly father and mother. Luke tells us that he went back to Nazareth and was not only obedient to Joseph and Mary but that He grew in a right relationship with both His heavenly Father, and with people. Jesus loved the Father and others. Even as a child Jesus had His priorities in the right order.

The next time we meet Jesus is some eighteen years later. He is thirty years old and He has come to the Jordan River to be baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist.

It is too much to hope that our children will be perfectly well behaved and always obedient. We are part of a fallen world and no child will be like the perfect, sinless Son of God. However, it is not too much to expect Christian parents to model their love for God and others and to teach their children daily what it means to obediently follow Christ. From this story we can surmise that Mary and Joseph had been teaching Jesus Scripture and it’s application to life. They demonstrated that God was a priority in their worship and daily life. After all, they didn’t leave Jesus at the Mick or Mac. They left him at the temple.

A few years ago, my wife and I along with my cousin and her husband traveled out West. It was absolutely beautiful and we had the best time exploring and site seeing. But there were a few times when we would be on a stretch of highway that seemed to go on forever. The landscape was flat low scrub as far as the eye could see in every direction. The straight two lane road had barely a ripple or a dip or a passing car. It was monotonous. It appeared we would never close the distance to the barely visible mountains on the horizon. The only thing closing the gap was the needle on the gas gauge toward empty. We did eventually reach the mountains, cooler temperatures, and a gas station with restrooms.

For some, 2020 has been like that very long road. No matter which direction they look, the landscape is bleak and barren. Closing the gap on much of the turmoil that’s going on both in our country and the world seems too great. And, some are running on empty without hope.

Christmas reminds us that God left eternity to enter His own creation as one of us. He came as an infant born in the humblest of circumstances to a young virgin named Mary. The road he traveled is the same birth to death road that every generation has followed since the fall of Adam. However, Jesus traveled that road with these exceptions. His was aways focused ahead on pleasing God the Father. He was perfectly obedient to God the Father in every way and He knew what was waiting for Him at the end of His earthly road.

Fueled by the Holy Spirit, the perfect God/man, Jesus closed the distance between eternal death and eternal life with our Creator God. Jesus’ road lead to His sacrificial death and payment for our sin. Sin alienates us from any relationship with a perfect God. For three days He endured a landscape devoid of God. That is the eternal punishment we all deserve because of our sinfulness. Jesus took on our sin in exchange for His perfection in order that we might become pleasing and acceptable to God. This exchange happens only by a personal faith in the saving work of Jesus. And, only then are we made perfect in God’s eyes. He no longer sees our sin but Jesus perfection.

As a result of Jesus perfect obedience to God. God was pleased to raise Jesus from the dead and give Him authority and power over everything on earth and in heaven. He is the mountain on every believers horizon.

So Christian, as you travel this road, fueled by the Holy Spirit, keep your eyes on the mountain. He is closer than you think. Only He can bring true peace and comfort during and at the end of your road. Share that knowledge with those you might meet along the way.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11

On November 11, 1620, 400 years ago today 41 men signed the Mayflower Compact. A covenant between themselves and God as to their associations and governance in the new world. 

The American Bar Association noted in 1978 “The document represents the application to the affairs of civil government of the philosophy of the church covenant which was the basis of Puritan theology. This theology found in the Scriptures the right of men to associate and covenant to form a church and civil government and to choose their own officers to administer both religious and civil affairs.”

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.

In the blink of an eye the world can change. That is not an exaggeration as the world and the United States in particular has been turned upside down in the span of 5 months.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought sickness and death, the shuttering of businesses and the collapse of global economies. That resulted in high unemployment and restrictions on personal freedoms like attending church, going out to eat or visiting with friends and family. Add to that, the racial and political unrest, protests, riots, and utter mayhem brought on by the tragic and totally avoidable death of George Floyd by a bad police officer and the last few weeks have looked like a scene out of an apocalypse movie. Pandemonium and lawlessness reign.

The question is what can we as Christians do?

None of what is happening in the world today caught God unaware. He has known from eternity past that these things were going to happen at this time in human history. We are here because He placed us in the middle of this global pandemic, civil unrest, and anarchy. The Christian cannot believe that he/she just happened to be born in this time and place. No. Throughout the history of the world God has placed His people strategically and purposefully in the places where He could most effectively use them to bring glory and honor to His Name. The Bible is replete from start to finish with story after story of how God used His people to bring about a change. His desire is that all people would come to know Him.

As Christians, wherever we are, whatever situation we find ourself in, we are to walk the road that God has laid out for us since the beginning of time. It is not the road that most of the world is on. We can clearly see in the current events, that following that road leads to a constant desire for more, more power, more control, more violence, and more chaos. Solomon described following that road in Proverbs 4:14-19

¹⁴ Do not enter the path of the wicked,
    and do not walk in the way of the evil.
¹⁵ Avoid it; do not go on it;
    turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
    which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
    they do not know over what they stumble. (ESV)

Jesus also described that road in Mathew 7: 13-14

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

For those of us who follow Christ the road ahead will be hard but we must travel it. The road has been laid out and Its end has been declared. We are to guide as many as will come to travel the road with us to eternal glory.