Luke 2:41-52

Luke 2:41-52

A friend of mine loves to say, “God is not punishing you, He is preparing you.” Every circumstance of life is at one level preparation for some future circumstance or point. Jesus is at the temple at age 12 and perhaps has already been at the temple for Passover in prior years. A Jewish boy wasn’t expected to fully participate in the activities of the Passover celebration. But among pious families boys of age 12 were taken to the Passover as a way of preparing them for full participation in the next year. This custom sheds light on this passage, which is unique to Luke's Gospel. Jesus was undergoing preparation. Teaching in the temple would be a major theme that will be developed throughout the Gospel of Luke.

Again, we see a moment of preparation. “Being about my father's business” is another point of preparation. Perhaps too much to be read into the verse, but even Mary’s mild rebuke about the anxiety they suffered may be a sort of preparation for the sword that would pierce her own soul. The passage does seem a bit odd until we began to look at it as a transitional point and a point of preparation.

How might our lives be different if we took the view that each day, each moment, each encounter, is both the moment engaged in and a moment of preparation? The moment of pain is both an occasion in that moment and a time of preparation. The occasion of temptation is in that moment the opportunity for loyalty to the Lord and a training and preparation time for future temptations. Success is a time to prepare for the future and a moment to be enjoyed. This is not to suggest that we take a silly-hearted approach to hardship, pain, or suffering. Life can be bitter and failure painful and circumstances difficult. But in every moment we call “now” there is the seed of the future; indeed, there is the seed of eternity. Seeing every moment from the most difficult to the most delightful as a moment of preparation gives us the ability to endure with wisdom and perseverance.

"Lord, help me see in each moment how You are preparing me to know You better, service You move fully, and love You more deeply. AMEN"