Wist Ye Not

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2.40, KJV) says Christ to his parents after they were searching for him during three long days in Jerusalem. It is an extraordinary statement and one that confounds his parents. Indeed, they do not understand what he meant for a very long time, although they do remember the encounter.

We don't know exactly what Christ knew at the age of twelve—everything, some things? We do understand from this incident that he knew enough to confound the intellectuals with his questions, and to know that God was his father and that he must be at his father's business. Deep waters here.

NAC: "After over a decade of normalcy the supernatural nature of their son and his destiny broke in on them again."

When Your Pockets Seem Full of Holes

Reading in Hag 2.14-19. I take a couple of faith lessons from this passage for us.

The first thing we should do when things go against us is to ask ourselves, "Is the Lord poking my pockets full of holes?" Which is to say, is the Lord bringing difficulty on me because I have not been faithful to him, or because he is trying to tell me something? God does not always bring difficulty because we have been unfaithful (witness Job's life); however, he sometimes does, which is why we need to rule that out first thing.

Second, the people had holes in their pockets because they were building their own stuff while the Lord's house lay in ruins. They were neglecting God's dwelling place among his people. God does not dwell in church buildings now, as he did among his people then (some deep theology here that I don't have time to go into. How can God "dwell" in the temple and yet be everywhere?). Where does God dwell? He dwells in the hearts and lives of believers, so in the same way the exiles should have been rebuilding the temple first, we should be, as the group Watermark put it, asking the Lord to "come and make my heart your home."

A Sword Will Pierce Your Own Soul

Simeon's words to Mary at the presentation of the baby Jesus at the Temple as recorded in Luke 2.35: As a result the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul. Simeon's comment is fascinating. Why does he say that a sword will pierce Mary's own soul? Mary's soul would not be unaffected by her own child. How so? She will come to the point where she will understand that her own son will bear her sins in his body at the cross. The baby that she had delivered would himself deliver her from the power of sin and the sting of death.

Amazing.