Summary

Tamara K. Anderson and Amy Johnson delve into the intriguing story of young Jesus found in Luke 2:41-51, where his parents accidentally leave him behind in Jerusalem during a Passover pilgrimage. The main takeaway from their discussion is the importance of God's timing and how it plays a crucial role in our lives, especially when we find ourselves in periods of waiting or uncertainty. As they explore the emotions of Mary and Joseph during the three days they searched for Jesus, he hosts skillfully draw symbolism between this biblical story and Mary having to wait three days after Christ's crucifixion to find him again. They also reflect on the lessons of patience and growth that emerge from such experiences. They highlight how Jesus, even at the age of 12, was already demonstrating remarkable wisdom while being mindful of his role as the Son of God. With a blend of humor and insight, Tamara and Amy remind listeners that in moments of limbo, we can focus on becoming who God intends us to be while trusting in His perfect timing.

Takeaways

• The timing of our lives can often feel unsettling, but it's all part of God's plan.
• The parallels between Mary having to wait 3 days to find him at the temple and how that prepared her for the wait of seeing Him after His crucifiction.
• Even Jesus, at the age of twelve, had to learn to wait for His mission.
• Mary's experience with losing Jesus teaches us about parental anxiety and divine timing.
• Understanding that waiting can lead to personal growth is a critical life lesson.
• Jesus's wisdom as a child shows that we can learn from younger generations.
• In moments of limbo, we should ask ourselves who we need to become during this waiting period.

Guests & Hosts

Tamara K. Anderson

Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/

Amy Johnson

Amy is a member of our Women Warriors of Light Advisory Board. She is a leader of women, a homemaker, and a licensed cosmetologist. Amy enjoys nurturing women through betrayal trauma to becoming a beacon of support and inspiration.

Transcript

If you’d like to read the transcript of today’s episode, you can find it on our Women Warriors of Light website blog. https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/blog/divine-delays-what-12-year-old-jesus-can-teach-us

Have you ever felt that you needed to do something, but perhaps the timing was off? Maybe you needed to take a few steps and then pause and learn a few things. If you have ever felt that way, take heart. You're not the only one.

Today we're going to talk about a story. It's one of the few stories we have of young Jesus's life where this happened to him.

So stay tuned and we'll see what we can glean from it for us today.

Welcome to Bible Women in Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of Bible Women and Bathrobes. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson. And joining me today is an amazing member of our advisory board for Women warriors of Light, Amy Johnson.

Amy, thank you for being here again today.

Thank you for letting me.

Oh my goodness.

And it's so funny that that here we are talking about God's timing and before we even hit record on this podcast, Amy and I were talking about timing in her own life. And I'm like, oh my goodness, what are the odds that this exact topic is what we're talking about today?

So I think it's not by chance that Amy and I are discussing God's Tim in our lives today, right, Amy?

I. I agree. And I really, truly believe God is in the details.

Absolutely, absolutely. So, guys, today if you want to follow along, we are in Luke chapter two and we're going to be covering verses 41 to 51.

And like I said, this is one of the few stories we have of young Jesus. And probably the reason we have it is it's a story that scared Mary so much that she remembered it.

I tell you what, when my kids scared me, I remember those experiences from their childhood.

But I don't think the situation was as scary for Jesus because he knew what he was doing and he was totally confident who he was and what he was doing and all that stuff. So this is the story of Mary and Joseph, who were devout Israelites.

And if you, if you read in verse 41, it talks about now, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of The Passover. Every year at the Passover they would go to Jerusalem. And finally when Jesus was 12, they said, guess what, you get to come this year.

And he's probably like, sweet, here we go, I get to go to Jerusalem. Now we know that the family had been to Egypt and they've come back now.

And so Here we have 12 year old Jesus on the cusp of manhood here and it says, and when he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And then it says, and when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.

And Joseph and his mother knew not of it, but they supposing him to have been in the company went a day's journey and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him.

Now I know you guys are thinking, how could any parent leave and not realize their son was with them? But you can hear here in, in, in the story that they traveled with a big group.

They traveled with family members, with friends, they all kind of caravanned up to Jerusalem and then they went back together.

Well, they probably saw Jesus hanging with his 12 year old buddies, his friends, and they're like, okay, sweet, that's fine, you can travel with them. We'll be up here with the moms and dads and chatting with our friends. And they get to their first camp and they're like, where's Jesus?

Wait, he's not with you?

Yeah, I've had that happen to a friend.

Oh, did you?

Where? She was like, where is he? And he's like, I thought you had her. And he's, she's like, no, I thought you had him.

I thought you had him and nobody had him.

Yeah, so it's not as, as hard to imagine in a scenario like that as you might imagine. Right. And so this is interesting. So here we have a story where there's like a perfect setup for Jesus to have some alone time.

We know he spent it in the temple and we'll get to those verses in a minute. But to kind of stretch his wings for the first time and, and really step into his role as the Son of God and knowing answers and all that stuff.

We'll get to that. But I thought I'd pause here and just say thoughts. Amy, on these verses leading into the meat of the story, do you have anything you wanted to share?

All I just keep thinking about is Mary and what she must have been going through in her Head. Like, how did I let this happen? Like, how. Where could he possibly be? Like, they're just. And your heart starts racing.

As a mother, I, I just, I, That's. Yeah. I just keep thinking about Mary.

Yeah.

And, and, and what? And all the insecurities.

And whether it's the insecurity of having her son lost or the insecurity of how she caused the problem or, you know, because we do that to ourselves. Right. So just that's. I just keep thinking about Mary.

Yeah. And I think as parents and we learn in the next verse that. And it came to pass that after three days, they looked for him for three days. Oh, my gosh.

Like you said, as a parent.

Yeah.

You're freaking out. And the added burden of we have just misplaced Heavenly Father's son who's come to earth.

I mean, he has a pretty important mission here and we have lost him. You know, this isn't just, you know, an average Joe child.

This is somebody super special that angels sang at his birth and shepherds and everybody has witnessed Holy snap. I mean, I'm sure there are prayers going, dear God, you know where he is?

Can you just tell us?

Can you help? And what's interesting is he. He didn't help them find Jesus right away. These are Jesus's parents.

You'd think they'd have like super divine connection straight to heaven. Oh, no, it was not immediate.

Yeah.

They've had dreams and visions and talk to angels and. Oh, my word, you know, they're good people. And I guess I.

I guess one thing we can kind of glean from this is that there was a timing issue in them finding him. You know, hey, this just came to.

Me out of nowhere, like. But think about this. She's got three days where she thinks her son is dead, and she's going to go through that all over again when he's 33.

God is such a good God to prepare her for those feelings a little bit. Because she thinks for three days Jerusalem's not a safe place. She thinks for three days. My. I've. My son is dead. At least to me, for three days.

And then he will be for three days. I. I just think that's beautiful. To me, I don't think there's anything coincidental about that timing.

Wow. I have never seen that story.

I've never seen that until just now.

Wow. God is good, man.

That's awesome. And then you, you parallel that with our own lives. Right. And. And we know he gives us line upon line and we know he prepares us for things.

So things that I went through as a young mother that were.

Seemed so huge, so huge in the last couple of years, I feel like I've walked through some of them all over again and they have been much easier because I remembered what God did for me back then. And, and I think that that's a beautiful thing that he does.

That as long as we keep going to him and we keep remember he has prepared us all along the way and, and I've never, ever, ever seen that parallel until today.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

That is so cool. Right?

That's the kind of stuff that makes my heart just explode. Like that's awesome stuff.

Yeah. So, so good and so, so beautiful to see that parallel. Oh, thanks for, thanks for hearing that from God today and sharing it with the rest of us.

Well, let, let's keep pressing forward.

It says in verse 46, and it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. Holy cow.

So after three days they find him in the temple and he is talking to and conversing with these doctors of the law. He's asking them questions. They're asking him questions, amazed at his insight and his wisdom. I mean he's 12.

I don't know if you've met a 12 year old boy before, but holy cow.

They're not, they're not usually that kind of amazing, Is that what you're saying?

You know, I mean, obviously he was divine. So you know this. You're not even comparing apples to apples. You know, I'm not going to compare my 12 year old son with Jesus.

Totally different ballpark here.

But I think it's amazing that Even at age 12, Jesus had such amazing wisdom and insights that he had spent sounds like four days talking to these men who, who were at the temple and knew the malaw of Moses and him sharing wisdom and insights and perhaps they needed to hear him.

Yeah.

And, and honestly, what's almost more remarkable because he was divine, but what's really amazing to me is that somehow the Spirit could take their eyes and focus and let them see that a 12 year old does have wisdom.

And, and honestly, I have learned so much from my children from the time they were really young that maybe it's not only about him having the wisdom, but it's also about them having the veil removed enough from their eyes to see that there is wisdom in the mouth of babes. There is wisdom in a 12 year old.

Yeah.

For me that's, that's because I. We've talked about how important it is that God can change hearts without taking away agency.

That's the real miracle to me is that these old men who are doctors know a lot, could see that there was wisdom in this 12.

Yeah, I agree.

And you know what's interesting is as we were, as we were just discussing that, it made me think back a couple episodes again ago when we were talking about Simeon, there was a verse where Simeon prophesied and he said, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. And so I think we kind of decided that that meant he was going to shake things up a bit.

And you can see him beginning that right here as a 12 year old. I'm going to shake things up a bit.

Yeah.

The wisdom of a 12 year old compared to these doctors of the law.

And the folly of a 12 year old not realizing what he was doing to his family.

Yes.

But yet God's still able to take that and sanctify it for everyone's good.

Yes, yes. Yeah. And, and, and so it's interesting, we kind of blend the two together here with these next few verses that say verse 48.

And when they saw him, these are his parents, they were amazed, right? They're like, what? He's hanging out with these people at the temple. And if she thought he was dead.

Too, she would have been super surprised to see him.

Right? I know. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

So it's interesting that here, here he is having this wonderful experience, probably being blessed to talk to people who are more on his level and understanding God's doctrine than, you know, his little podunk village in Galilee. And so he's being filled spiritually as he's talking to them.

But like you said, the folly of youth not realizing, oh, my parents are like, not very happy with me right now. I totally disappeared and they didn't know where I was. And, you know, probably seeing their grief and he had a tender spot for his mother. We know.

And, and just realizing, oh, I have caused them grief and pain and sadness, you know, being able to sense that in his parents. Wow.

We had an experience in Yellowstone one year with our teenage son.

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We had an experience in Yellowstone one year with our teenage son. We were hiking to the falls. Can't remember their name right now. Starts with an M. Anyway, and he asked if he could go ahead.

And we had mapped it out and it seemed like it was just a straight shot to the falls. Like, stay on the trail, you're fine. Yeah, go ahead. And he, he was a teen. He was probably 14, 15, 16, somewhere in there.

And I, he went ahead and we came upon a fork in the road. And it wasn't a huge fork. Like, it seemed like you would have known which way to go. But I had a hesitation for a minute, like.

And when we got to the falls, he wasn't there. And Yellowstone's a big place.

Oh, yeah, it gets.

And there's no service. And back then we didn't even have phones. He didn't for sure. And I, I didn't. We didn't know what to do. Like, we just didn't know what to do.

And my husband said, well, he. I'm going to go back. And I gathered the other four children. This is our oldest.

And so I gathered our other four children at the falls and we stood there at the falls in a circle and we just prayed that God would let us find my son. It was going to be dark soon, and I knew it was going to be dark soon. And Yellowstone's a big place and it's gnarly.

It's cold and it's not a safe place. And so anyway, Blair went back to the fork in the road and he was almost to the fork in the road and Nathaniel came bounding down back the way.

He had the wrong fork, right? And then by the time they got back to us, right. I had. I was getting really, like, what are we gonna do? Like, I was getting pretty worried anyway.

But they got to us. And I was like, you got lost? And he's like, I wasn't lost. And he's still 30 years old this year. He still is adamant. I wasn't lost. I knew where I was.

And that's what I mean by the folly of youth. Right? Like, what do you mean you weren't lost? And that, that kind of. That kind of almost feels like Jesus's answer. Like, what do you mean?

We haven't read yet, but you know what I mean.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And. And, and this is Jesus's answer, verse 49.

And he said unto them, how is it that ye sought me, wish ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And then. And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. So they're like, what is he talking about?

What do you mean you're about your Father's business? Well, it was, you know, he's divine. So it's his heavenly Father's business. Right. And then I love this verse.

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. So he. This is a matter of timing. Right? Jesus is like, all right, I know who I am.

I know what I'm supposed to do. I understand all these doctrines of the law. I'm having an awesome time at the temple. Let's. Let's get this show on the road.

And gaining wisdom from this experience. Right. That I need to also bear in mind that I am still young and subject to my parents. I love the Word. Yeah. And was subject unto them.

That he had to still be a child and grow up and wait for the timing to come to pass when he would fulfill his mission, which wasn't until 18 years later, you know, age 30.

Right.

And his ministry. So that's quite a weight. That's quite.

It is. And I do. I really can see God teaching in both scenarios.

Yeah.

God teaching Mary, like we talked about a little bit, like getting her ready and preparing her and helping her know that you can survive anything. Right. You're good. And I honestly do not have a clue what would anybody was feeling or thinking, let alone God.

But if I apply it to myself, I can see the one hand where Mary. Okay, let's say that God's preparing me.

And then on the other hand, where God is preparing Jesus Christ and helping him be better at seeing people and being thoughtful before he just acts and, and, and how his actions affect everybody and how you don't. My mom always says, you don't live in a bubble. She used to say that when I was a teenager, you don't live in a bubble.

Even the things you think don't affect anybody but you. That's not real. You don't live in a bubble.

So I can see through Mary and through the Savior how the Father is constantly putting me in places to prepare me for, for more and more and more, line upon line, precept upon precept.

Back here I wasn't strong enough to handle something that now today I'm strong enough to handle that I'm still right now not strong enough to handle something further down the road. And, and I can see that through their story for me and I love that.

Yeah, I think the wisdom here that I'm seeing is that God's timing is always perfect. It's us figuring it out and sometimes we're in a holding pattern for a while while, while we learn.

This feeds into the verse that we talked about last week that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. This was still his time to be learning. He knew a whole bunch.

We can see at this point he knew significantly more than probably any other 12 year old boy ever on this planet. But he still was learning.

And so as much as he wanted to just take off on his mission right then and there and be about his father's business, he still had more wisdom to be learned. He had to grow up a little bit more.

He had to increase his faith and reliance on God, submit to his parents a little bit, and also learn to relate to the people around him. And so I love what your mom said in there about not living in a bubble.

I think a lot of teenagers, there's a lot of just, hey, it's just me, you know, in my head. And so just growing up. And what is it they say that our brains aren't fully developed until we're in our 20s, so that let that naturally happen.

So you grow up, you see the world a little differently. There's wisdom that comes through experience and this is just one of those experiences.

You know, we're just a fly on the wall here looking at this experience, saying, wow, Jesus had to learn and grow too, you know?

Yeah. Because you really, you really do have to take into that. We do all have mortal bodies and, and that body and spirit have to learn to work together.

They have to, they have to learn to grow together and become one before we can become one with those around us, have to be one in here before we can be one with Those around us. And I like that it talks about. He increased in favor with God and with man.

Sometimes I think we get a little lopsided and we're more concerned about what man thinks than we are with what God thinks.

Yeah.

I think it's interesting too, this timing and this waiting and this holding pattern. Sometimes, oftentimes I've been like, what am I doing wrong? What am I. How do I fix this? What? And I'm. I'm. I'm pretty. I.

I consider myself a pretty good soldier for God. I consider that if I, He. If I know he wants me to do something, I consider myself pretty good at going and doing it.

And so often I'll think in my brain, wait, well, tell me what to do and I'll do it. What do you want me to do? And I'll do it. But being told to wait is not. It's not as easy as doing for me. Maybe other people have no problem with it.

No. I think being in limbo is one of the hardest things.

Yeah.

Ever.

Right. It's just really hard. And so. Yeah.

So this morning, as I was driving, thinking and praying about things and, and pondering this holding pattern, this waiting game, this not doing, but focusing on being instead of focusing on the doing I did, I. I found myself saying to the Lord, okay, so what is it I need to become while I'm here in this holding pattern? What is it I need to become?

What is it? That. And, and, and these, these verses that bookend this section we're talking about are. Are beautiful for that they are. The, the. What.

What was Jesus becoming? And what was Mary becoming? And what was Joseph becoming? And, and so what. What is it I need to become?

The other day I had a prompting to send a message to a child that's trying to have a. A child. Babies have babies. It's a.

One of my children tried to have a baby and I felt just really clearly to tell them, God would rather you focus on being the right kind of a parent than on being a parent. Prepare yourself during this time when he's not granting you a child to become the kind of parent he needs you to be.

And I think that's how it is with everything. While we're in the waiting, what does God want me to become while I'm in this waiting? And I, I got some answers yesterday about that. For me.

Right?

We can all get them as we ask.

Oh, that is a beautiful way to think about it. And to lessons that we can learn is who can we become while we're waiting for God's timing to fall into place?

I think so.

Yeah, I think so too. I think those are good questions to turn to him in prayer and to ponder and, and I'm sure Jesus did too.

You know, in Those in intermediate 18 years, he sure learned and grew a lot.

So by the time he did step into his mission, he was ready mentally and physically, and he had a stronger connection with God and he knew to that what he. Even little decisions he made impacted all the lives around him. So there's a lot that he learned and, and same with us.

We can learn a lot in those limbo, those holding patterns while we're waiting for God's timing unfold. And I think I'm thankful to know that those times have a reason, there is a purpose. Find it. And even though it's not fun to be there, right.

Lord knows I've been in limbo so many times and it is a not very fun place to be.

Right.

It. I think those times have made me turn to him more earnestly in prayer because I'm seeking for those answers. Come on, I'm trying to move.

No, no, gotta wait, gotta wait. You gotta wait for this, this, and this to happen. And you're just waiting and waiting. But I've learned to.

I think I'm so desperate for an answer that I, I pull myself closer to him. And if that isn't helpful, I mean, that's, that's probably what he wanted all along. Draw near unto me and I will inspire you.

I will help you become while you're waiting. Right?

Yeah.

And later in Jesus's ministry, we learned that he really does disappear into the wilderness and into the mountains and spends time with the Lord, with the Father, and that. That is not the natural man. That does not come naturally. But, but that's something we learn by the things that we go through.

And, and, and honestly, I have really truly learned in the last, probably nine months. I would say that.

If I can.

Do nothing else in this life except be with Jesus, that's enough for him. I don't, I don't have to be anything else except his. That's all he wants from me.

And I think that in the time that Jesus Christ was growing and learning and increasing and stuff, I think there's got to be things that he was being taught along the way that taught him that, look, you are mine. I just want you to choose to be mine. And I, and for me, if I am God's, that's enough for him. Yeah.

Oh, I love this well, my friends, thanks for joining us on today's episode. It's been really fun to dive into this story that man. There's been some amazing insights that I've never thought of before.

So trust if you're in limbo right now and waiting for God's timing to unfold that he's got you and focus on drawing near to him and on becoming who you can become in the process.

Thanks for tuning in to Bible Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you.

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Until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.