Where do you look first?

In Luke 2:41-50 we have this very interesting moment in Mary and Joseph's life. After spending time in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover, Mary and Joseph head back to their hometown unaware that Jesus stays behind to spend time in the Temple discussing the things of His Father with the teachers of the Law. After a day of travel Mary and Joseph discover their 12 year old son is not with them or anyone else in the group heading home. Scripture says they spend three days searching for Jesus. Finally they look for Jesus in the Temple and find Him.

The question was asked: Why didn't they look in the Temple first? I think that is such a good question. I think it is a question that goes to the heart of who we are as a people. I think the image of a searching Mary and Joseph is Luke's depiction of a truly human condition. Why didn't they look for Jesus at the Temple first? I think it is the same reason we look for wholeness and contentment everywhere else first before we find it in Christ. Jesus' parents discovered they have lost something along their journey. And so often that happens to us along our way. And at the point we discover something is missing we look almost everywhere before we look upward. We will look to our jobs; our families; our possessions only to find out they are insufficient surrogates to Christ.

It's really hard to go to Christ first. We seem to think running to Christ first will require much of us. It seems as if it will be a lot of ripping, breaking, and wounding. When in truth it only takes one thing: Our willingness to be absolutely loved & taking that love to it's natural conclusion. But often we will look everywhere else before we move couragously toward love.

For believers, Christ is in the temple of our being. The indwelling of the very Spirit of Christ; the Holy Spirit resides in our being. And Christ stands open armed in the sacred space of our inner life waiting for us to find Him there. Find Him in a place where we can be accepted wholely in the divine.

Where will you go first?