Amy C Walters

Boy Jesus at the Temple – Luke 2:41-52

What would it be like to parent the Son of God? Yes, you’d have an obedient, sinless child. But you, as a parent, are sinful, with limited understanding. That could get complicated! The story of Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem teaches us a tough lesson that Mary and Joseph learned: to love fiercely, but hold loosely.

What would it be like to parent the Son of God? It would probably be a little complicated, right? 

On the one hand, it would be amazing to have a child who was obedient and kind, one who never sinned. How often do we wish that our children would behave just a little bit better, be those perfect little angels that we want them to be?

But on the other hand, we, as parents, are sinners. To have a sinless child when you are supposed to be the one in charge and who knows everything, that would get a little complicated. It would be hard to feel like the adult in that situation when your child is the Son of God, and you are a sinful human being.

We know from this story, too, that being a parent to Jesus, the chosen one of God, doesn’t always mean that you’re going to feel comfortable. It doesn’t always mean that he’s going to do what you want him to do.

We’ve seen from this story that Jesus’ ultimate purpose was to pursue God the Father’s purpose for him. And sometimes that put him in contradiction with his parents. Sometimes that put Mary and Joseph in uncomfortable, scary situations. Simeon even warned Mary about this in the previous story, that “a sword would pierce her own soul,” too, because of her love for her son, Jesus.

That love for her son, of course, is a beautiful, wonderful thing. And yet, Mary would have times of suffering because of that love for Jesus, because of where the Father’s purpose was going to take him.

Mary and Joseph were learning a very difficult lesson that all of us parents who desire to honor God have to learn. And that is we need to love fiercely, but hold loosely.

We hold loosely in the sense that we aren’t gripping on so tight to our children and our plans for them that we don’t allow them to follow God’s plans. It means that we’re not placing such a high priority on their safety or comfort or happiness that we are not allowing God to do things in their lives that take them in a different direction. That is a tough thing to learn.

And it’s not a one-time deal. We have to regularly remind ourselves that we are releasing our children to God for him to do with them as he will.

But this doesn’t just apply to children. This applies to anything that we hold precious and dear and valuable. Those things can become idols that become more important than our relationship with God. And we have to learn to hold all of those things loosely.

It might be a talent or a skill that you have, maybe it’s your job, maybe it’s something that you have, like your home or another possession that’s very precious to you.

These are all things that are not bad in and of themselves. In fact, we know that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of heavenly lights. God is the giver of those gifts.

But we must always be careful not to love the gift more than the Giver. And we must recognize that those gifts are given to us for a purpose–pursuing our heavenly Father, bringing him glory.

God wants to use your talents and skills and job to bring him glory. God wants to use those things that you own, those gifts that he’s given you, the things that you hold precious. He wants to use those for his glory. So we love fiercely, but we hold loosely.

Now, I know that this is much easier said than done. And some of you have gone through a lot more pain and suffering than I could ever know, because someone you love is hurting, or a situation that you’re in is so difficult. And it is hard to see what God’s purpose in it could be. I’m sorry that you’re going through that. I can’t imagine the struggle that it must be. But I pray that God does bring his glory out of it, that God does bring good purpose and good things out of it.

You probably could relate to Mary really well with that feeling of a sword piercing your soul. And yet look at what good God brought out of the sacrifice of his own Son! Look at the good that came from that, the salvation of humanity. You and I have peace with God because he allowed his Son to be sacrificed on our behalf. God the Father is the ultimate example of loving fiercely but holding loosely. I don’t know what your struggle is, what your suffering is, what you’ll face. But I know that God is able to bring good out of it.