Children’s Sermon

Luke 2:41-52

Jesus and His Parents

By Dr. Carol J Miller

Jesus must have been having a great time with his friends! His family and a lot of other families were doing something special! The whole group was walking all the way to Jerusalem—the biggest city most of them had ever seen. Have you been to a big city? [Accept all answers]. Cities are exciting. Even more exiting was the fact that they were going to Jerusalem to celebrate their favorite holiday: Passover! At Passover they remembered how God saved their ancestors from being slaves in Egypt. There was always lots of food and games and special prayers.

Since Jesus was 12, he didn’t have to walk with his parents; he could walk with his friends and they could fool around and tease each other and have fun. Well, on the way home, after Passover, Jesus’ parents didn’t see him, but they figured he was walking with his friends. They walked a whole day before they discovered that Jesus had been left in Jerusalem! His mom and dad had to go all the way back to Jerusalem and it took them three days to find him! How do you think your mom and dad would feel if you weren’t where you were supposed to be and it took them three days to find you? What ONE WORD would you use to tell how they would feel? [Respect all answers—keeping to one word keeps the leader from getting too much information]!
Well, Jesus’ mom was glad he was safe, but she was irritated at him too. Here is what she said: “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.” She’s upset with him. One of the good things about this story is that Jesus knows what it’s like to mess up and get your parents upset. He did it himself! Jesus understands what it means to be a kid.

So, he apologized. He said he thought she would know that he would be in the Temple asking the religious leaders questions about God. Jesus and his parents went home, and Jesus did a better job of doing what his parents asked. The Bible says that as the years went by, Jesus grew taller and wiser and that people liked him; and so did God.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be young and small. He knows how you feel!

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible