Even Jesus Scared His Parents

ALL – Psalm 60:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 11:15
OT – Numbers 26:1-51
NT – Luke 2:36-52

Boys will be boys. But usually we don’t think of Jesus that way. We don’t think of Him as the kind of boy who could upset His parents at all. We like to think that He was so aware of His parents’ desires and worries that He took care to never ever upset them—and that He succeeded. But even Jesus scared His parents. At least once.

They had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover, and afterwards they were traveling home in a large caravan of people. Mary and Joseph didn’t know where their twelve year old Jesus was, but they assumed that He was with other boys in the caravan. Oops! Bad assumption, it turned out. After realizing Jesus was missing and searching for Him about three days, they finally found Him in the temple.

His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son!” his mother said to him. Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” – Luke 2:48, The Living Bible

They were scared. Jesus had done something they didn’t expect. Not rudely. Not inconsiderately. Jesus’ response to this question indicates that He simply assumed they would know where He wanted to be: in the temple. So Jesus wasn’t inconsiderate. But somewhere along the way, Jesus’ choice and His parents’ expectations didn’t quite meet, and Jesus scared His parents by going missing for three days.

The passage concludes:

Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them; and his mother stored away all these things in her heart. – Luke 2:51, The Living Bible

Jesus may have been surprised that His parents were frantic and uncertain of where He was, but that didn’t make Him argumentative or disrespectful. He obeyed Mary and Joseph and honored them rather than mocking or ridiculing them for not understanding His way of thinking. Such an obedient—sinlessly obedient—son. And yet even Jesus scared His parents.

I wonder sometimes if we parents set our expectations too high, and it’s more our fault that we get scared than our kids’ faults. We need to teach our kids to be obedient, but to expect them never to surprise us, even by accident? That’s asking a lot.

It’s worth asking the question, “How might I be expecting too much of my kids?” Father, help me to be an understanding father, and Christy to be an understanding mother. And please, keep our kids from scaring us too badly…even if they’re doing good things.

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