It is Passover. Twenty-one years earlier than the one you’re thinking of. Jesus is twelve. A boy becoming a young man.
And from Luke’s account (Luke 2:41–51), it would seem year 12 is significant. Beyond the physical milestone, perhaps it marks a heightened yearning in the boy Jesus. An intensified hunger for revelation, for the interlocking of the bits and pieces of His Father’s redemptive plan that must have been unfolding to Him as He grew.
My Soul Yearns
And maybe Jesus has been primed for this Passover along the journey to Jerusalem. Psalm 84 was quite possibly a song sung on just such a trek to worship at the Temple. Had He heard it this year, maybe sung along?
“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. . . .
Blessed are those who dwell in your house. . . .
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” (Ps. 84:1-2, 4, 10).
By the time Jesus arrives at the Temple in Jerusalem, it’s likely His mind is stretching Godward and His spirit craving communion with His Father. The way ahead that He’s been groping for, finally begins to take shape and clarity. Here in the majestic Temple, the symbolic Passover, the sweet odor of incense, and the imminence of His Father’s Presence in the nearby Holy of Holies so resonate in the boy Jesus that He has to linger in the midst of it (Lk. 2:49). He has to ask the parents who’d been searching for days for Him, “Didn’t you know I had to be in My Father’s house?”
The Temple in Us
By His Holy Spirit, Jesus still lingers in His temple. Not in Jerusalem’s Temple, but in each believer. In us. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19).
Passover 2023 is April 5–13. Easter is Sunday, April 9. So, during this Holy Week, let’s ask ourselves:
- Like the boy Jesus, are we drawn to God’s Presence, hungry to be with Him, giving Him our full attention?
- Do we, like Him,ask questions of the Most Learned One?
- Do we sit in worshipful silence before the Almighty, listening?
Let’s intentionally pursue a more intimate communion with God. Wider understanding. Deeper surrender. Increased love. Broader understanding of His calling on each of us.
Let’s come simply and sit lowly, setting everything else aside, letting time pass unheeded, asking questions, listening to His Spirit’s still small voice.
Lost to the world.
Found where we just have to be—
In His Presence.
SANDY MAYLE is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to Prayer Connect.
