A Day’s Journey Without Jesus

Please turn in God’s Word this morning to Luke chapter 2.

We are not currently in a series; we have just finished studying Hebrews. For now, at least for a little time, it says in Acts 8 that they went everywhere preaching the Word. And that may be what we will do over the next few weeks. We will go from place to place.

Sometimes this has been described in homiletics as a way of referring to preaching that lacks focus, where everything said is true, but the message does not have a clear direction. The remark is sometimes made, “He went everywhere preaching the Word.” It was all the Word, but it lacked a clear purpose; it was scattered and unfocused.

But I trust that this morning the Lord will give the direction needed, and He has already given the direction for this occasion. While you may be in the mode of spring break or dealing with other concerns, may the Lord come with His Word this morning.

Look, we are going to read from verse 41 through verse 51 in this section, which gives us unique and profound details not found anywhere else. These are the very first recorded words of the incarnate Son: “I must be about my Father’s business.”

This context is important. We also have details concerning our Lord in the temple and the gifts that were evident from His earliest years. But we want to meditate on something specific that is contained in this record.

Luke 2:41. Let us hear the Word of God.

“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

“And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

“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 acquaintance.

“And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

“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.

“And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

“And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

“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.”

Amen.

We will end the reading of God’s Word at this point. And what you have heard is the Word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let us pray.

Lord, You know every heart. You know every heart. And You know the enemy who seeks to destroy us. You know how he comes to steal away the seed of the Word. You know, even as we thought on Wednesday, of the great battle that takes place every time the Word is preached.

And as we prayed on Wednesday evening that the Word may run and have free course, we could do no better than to pray the same prayer for this moment. Oh that the Word would have free course and be glorified. Take us from a sermon and grant us a message. Take us from dependence upon man to utter dependence upon God the Holy Spirit to commune with our hearts.

Lead us to the Lamb. Expose whatever needs to be exposed. Reveal what must be revealed. But grant renewal in our inner being. May we, like Isaiah, meet with God. Help me, Lord. We pray in our Savior’s precious name. Amen.

Not every spiritual decline results in scandal. The church has experienced many such cases in recent times. Those who pay attention, who observe the prominent leaders and well-known speakers of the present time, will be aware of repeated scandals.

But not all spiritual decline results in scandal.

Indeed, it may be the very strategy of the enemy, more useful to him, to encourage spiritual decline without the accountability that often follows scandal. For a scandal might actually be used, though it brings great shame, especially to public figures, to the cause of Christ, and to others whose lives are not so well known.

The real strategy is to keep them in a place where they are not enjoying the Lord’s presence and blessing, and where they are careless, indifferent, and complacent, not being motivated to make a journey that is absolutely essential—the journey that will bring them back into fellowship and the presence of Christ.

It is possible to keep the form and lose the fellowship, to continue on the journey to some degree in the Christian life while no longer enjoying what once was enjoyed. A real, conscious awareness of His nearness, a sense in which fellowship seems continual throughout the day, is what should be present.

Instead, some people are tied only to moments when they pray, saying whatever they think they should say, and then leave that part of their life to get on with the rest of their responsibilities. There is a real danger in that. There is a real danger in that.

Because the Christian life is one of fellowship—ongoing walking with the Lord. While it is right to have seasons of prayer, reflection, confession of sins, and prayer for families and children, all of which are necessary and proper, there ought to be, and for those who are truly walking in the presence of the Lord, there will be, a sense of ongoing communion. They do not leave the presence of God. The presence of God is always very much palpable to them. They walk through their days in the sense of constant prayer and ongoing dependence.

The passage before us, of course, reveals something of the early days of our Lord Jesus, giving indication of certain aspects of His humanity and its development. It offers much insight into many things concerning Him specifically. However, there is a context in which He is discovered at the temple that could have been overlooked or greatly condensed.

Instead, the Holy Spirit sees fit to extend this account, creating a sense of what is taking place. I believe this contains lessons for us that are not to be missed. I want us to see these lessons. I want us to reflect upon them and draw the necessary application that arises as we meditate on them and give them careful consideration.

Joseph and Mary are not in rebellion against God. They have just been. They have sacrificed time. They have sacrificed the economic resources necessary to leave Nazareth, go to Jerusalem, remain there for Passover, participate in the observance over multiple days, and then journey back to Nazareth. They have sacrificed all of this. These are not half-hearted believers. They are genuine.

They exhibit something of what is seen seated before me this morning. I mean, the vast majority here, I hazard a guess, were not debating whether or not to go to the house of God when they woke up this morning. It was a given. They got up, prepared themselves, moved in the direction of the house of God at the appointed time, and felt the impulse to be there.

It was not up for debate. They wanted to be there. Here they were. So it was for Joseph and Mary. I do not believe one or the other had to force themselves to go to Jerusalem. I do not believe any coercion was necessary. They wanted to be there.

They are not running from God. Yet the passage shows that for a time they were at a distance from the Lord Jesus Christ. This has important lessons for us.

The concern this morning, while it may lead to a specific point, is that there may be someone here who is so far from God that they are playing with danger that could jeopardize everything. That is possible. And if it is, this is the warning call.

Repent. Repent.

They were singing just a moment ago about the journey home. I am thinking about Megan. I do not know the details. Perhaps she was on her way home. A 16-year-old boy was in the passenger seat. She was on her way home to her husband and her four other children. She never made it.

There are husbands and wives, and family members, who are at odds with each other in ways that cannot be justified.

Set it right. Set it right.

By every means available to you, set it right. You do not know what a day may bring.

My main concern, as I look on you, is not what lies beneath the surface of the text, but rather that I do not see those living in outward rebellion. However, I do see the distinct possibility of those who drift away from the presence of the Lord and do not recognize it as quickly as they should.

So this morning, let us consider a day’s journey without Jesus. A day’s journey without Jesus.

This is what we are told. We are told in verse 44 that, supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey. A whole day of travel. A whole day. And their twelve-year-old child was missing.

Now some parents here may know the feeling of losing a child. I do not know, I have not spoken with each of you about it, but I imagine you have either experienced it yourself or know someone who has.

Think of a busy marketplace or a store, where you are looking at clothing or other items, and you keep glancing around, turning to check on the children. They are running in and out of the clothing racks and other displays. Then it becomes too quiet. You look around and they are nowhere to be seen. You call out, trying to remain calm for a moment, but there is no response. You begin to search, and a sense of panic starts to rise in your face and in your voice. If this continues, even for a short time, real panic sets in.

This happened to my mother. She was in a large marketplace that used to be in Northern Ireland, with many stalls set up, crowded and busy. People were shoulder to shoulder, moving in different directions. My sister went missing. That moment, the feeling of it, remains vivid. She can still return to that moment and feel the emotion of it as if it were happening now.

And yet I wonder—have you ever felt this way when you realize that you have gone some distance without the Lord?

A day’s journey without Jesus—how can that be?

First, consider the unconscious drift. The unnoticed departure.

I do not believe, and the passage supports this, that Mary and Joseph deliberately left Jesus behind. That was not their intention. It was not as though they had a conversation that morning, with Jesus saying, “I want to go back to the temple,” and they responding, “No, we are going home, son.” They did not decide to leave Him. That did not happen.

It might then, when you place yourself in this context, think of this unconscious drift in a couple of ways.

Consider first the assumptions they made. Because of certain assumptions they made, there were assumptions that could be seen developing here.

First of all, the historic claim. They had never lost Him before. This had not happened. This occasion had not occurred. In previous years, they had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover, and they had always made their way home without incident. On their way home, they had never discovered that Jesus was not with them. This had not happened. They had never lost sight of Him. He had always been there.

This is how a spiritual decline can occur. It is a confidence based on past experiences. People often say, when discussing investments, that they will invest in something because it has consistently increased over time. The historical trend does not guarantee future results.

Yet we do this, and people do it constantly with their finances, and they do it constantly in the Christian life. We assume it is fine because, historically, we have not fallen away from the Lord. We have continued with Him, and we can say, “I have never truly declined spiritually.”

There is then a borrowed confidence from the past, just as Mary and Joseph had. He had always been there. They had always known His presence. They had never lost Him, and so they assumed He was there, as verse 44 says: “supposing him to have been in the company.”

He’s there. Surely He’s there. He must be there.

And Christians live this way. They go from one day to the next, not realizing that He is no longer present in the same manner as before.

This is the tendency to live on yesterday’s manna. To use that as an illustration, the Israelites had to go out each day to gather manna, except on the Sabbath, and this has important spiritual lessons. The believer in his walk with the Lord must, every day, go and gather fresh manna.

Spiritually, this means gathering the gospel. It means going on to Jesus. It means looking to Him. It means fellowship with Him. The gathering of the manna illustrates the daily necessity of having interaction with the Lord each day.

Therefore, we can remember former experiences in prayer and worship, in the Word of God. We can recall times of usefulness and service, and conclude that all must still be well. But the past does not guarantee or promise the present or the future.

Old experiences are a poor substitute for present communion.

I mean, even last Lord’s Day, when we reflected on 75 years of our denomination, there is a real danger in anniversaries. I have a certain tension with anniversaries. I believe they are right. I believe it is good to acknowledge God’s mercy and recognize the mercies we have enjoyed. It is a proper thing, but it can very quickly become something harmful.

So what happens is that people try to strengthen their testimony—whether personal or corporate—by affirming, “We are still the Lord’s people. I am still walking with God,” by rehearsing past events. Thus, they constantly reflect on the past and draw their credibility from it. And that is all they have. They have nothing current, nothing fresh, nothing of today.

There is only a historical claim, and they have never lost it before.

Be cautious.

There is also the religious company. That is another assumption they could make—the religious company. They are in the company of those who appear to be committed to the Lord, are they not? They are all going to Jerusalem for the Passover feast, and this caravan of individuals is united in a common purpose. They are not alone.

Verse 44 says they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances. They are all sincere people.

We may draw the same conclusion: because of religious identity, because of the banner you carry, whether conservative, traditional, Reformed, fundamentalist, or any other term you choose, you use these labels to convey a sense of seriousness in your spiritual commitment.

You place great weight on these terms. You look around and see that you are part of a people, a movement, an institution, an organization. You rely on this identity, and you believe that this is enough.

Where else would Jesus be? He must be among these people.

They sought Him among their kinsfolk. Surely He must be here. He could not be anywhere else.

This pride sets in, imagining that if God is working, He must work through us. Thus, people become frustrated. They grow deeply frustrated. This was touched on briefly last Lord’s Day, but now it becomes clearer: seeing God favor others.

This could be nations, communities, churches, or individuals. You see divine favor resting upon them, and it is not what you are experiencing. Instead of recognizing this for what it is, you begin searching for flaws. You think it is impossible that God could bless them and not us, because we are so faithful.

Look at the company we keep.

But Jesus was not found in that company. They had not gone to wicked places, nor had they traveled to Egypt, nor were they among idolaters. They were part of a caravan of worshipers who expressed love for God in every way.

This led them to assume that surely the Lord would be with them, and this assumption made them feel safe. But He was not there. He was not there.

Never, the simple fact that you breathe the air of Zion does not mean you are breathing the same air that the Lord breathes. It does not mean you are in His presence. There is an outward expression of this, as you well know. It is not enough that we are found among the right company and people.

That is a good thing. It was not wrong who they were with, but it did not allow them to assume that Jesus was necessarily present.

There was also the gospel commemoration. They could assume, because they had just celebrated the gospel and the Passover. Consider this: they had stood near the lamb. It is the Lord’s Passover, and they had stood near the lamb, and blood had been shed. All the aspects of the celebration had been observed, and they had participated in singing the specific psalms that are sung at such an occasion.

They had been fully immersed in religious activity. They had been away from their work and from their normal duties. This had been a spiritual holiday, during which from morning until evening they had given themselves entirely to spiritual exercises.

Yet, they assumed the Lord was there.

And you do the same. I do the same. We come near Christ in His Word. We come near Christ at the Lord’s Table. We come near Christ in our singing. We come near Him in a certain way. I am not saying we are like Judas. Do not misunderstand me.

But it does illustrate for us, does it not, that you can have someone right there in the company, reaching forth in the dish, participating in the same meal with the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet be a betrayer at heart.

So if that can be true, there is a spectrum in which there are those who know the Lord, but are not truly walking in His presence. This is due to certain assumptions they have made, and also because of certain basic truths they have forgotten—truths they had once known.

What basic truths had they forgotten about living the life of a believer?

Number one: always keep your eyes on the Lord. Always.

At some point that day, when they left home, they took their eyes off Jesus. They took their eyes off Jesus. And they went through that day, and they managed to travel the entire day’s journey without ever thinking to themselves, “We should look in that direction.”

A day’s journey without Jesus.

These are basic truths. These are basic truths. You know these things. You know them.

Going a day—even just a day—without looking to Christ is dangerous. A day. Just a day. A day in which you do not intentionally look to Him. There He is. Look to Him in faith, trust, and dependence.

This is illustrative, is it not? They went through a day and did not fix their eyes on Him. How easy that is to do. How easy it is, especially when things are going well.

And some of you here this morning are going through trials, and those trials have pressed you so deeply that the impulse to seek the Lord has been heightened by the circumstances.

Oh, blessed trials that lead us into the arms of Jesus.

But the danger of times of ease, when things are going well, when we can say, “Things haven’t been better,” is that at that very moment we become weak. And here are Mary and Joseph just wandering away from home, never looking.

They forgot that basic truth: keep your eyes on the Lord.

Are you? Are you keeping your eyes on the Lord? Are you keeping your eyes on Him?

And how did you come to the house of God? Being here does not mean your eyes are on Him. No, it is far better to be here than not to be here. But being here does not mean your eyes are on Him. You can be sitting here while your heart is in many different places.

You can wake up on the Lord’s Day and go through your duties without once truly bringing your heart, your whole self, into His presence to say, “Oh God, meet with me today. Help me to worship You today. Give me Your Spirit today.”

You may assume He is present with the group, but your eyes are not fixed on Him.

They did not keep their eyes on Christ. They did not maintain fellowship with Christ.

These things are connected, but I want to examine them separately. If they had spoken, if they had simply asked, “Are you all right? Is everything okay?”—just a few words, just entering His presence—not only looking at Him, but communicating with Him.

There is no communication, no fellowship, no maintaining of relationship.

Oh, how this must be kept up—it must be.

The danger of backsliding is real. You see it, do you not? You can see this passage illustrating an unconscious drift. They did not intend it. They did not set out that morning thinking, “Today we will lose Jesus.” That was not their thought.

We were discussing backsliding in the college and career group this morning. I mentioned it.

Obviously, it is intentional, but not in the way that you plan for a vacation. You plan for a vacation, sometimes months in advance, sometimes even years in advance. You plan, you plan, thinking about the place you will visit, the schedule you will follow, the things you will see, and the money you need to save.

You never plan in this way to backslide. You never think, “In two months, I will abandon the Lord.” A genuine believer will never do that, ever. And yet, there is an unconscious drift that occurs, and we are still responsible.

They should have looked. They should have checked. They should have kept Him close.

This is unconscious drift.

Perhaps this describes your condition this morning. I mean, this summarizes the entire message that God has called me to preach to you today, because you are currently in a state of unconscious drift from the Lord.

And He is intervening early. He is coming to check before it goes too far.

There is not only unconscious drift, but also an unsettling discovery. We are told that they, in verse 44, supposed Him to have been in the company, and they traveled a day’s journey, and they sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.

And when they did not find Him, at some point they looked around and asked, “Where is Jesus?”

“When was the last time you saw Him?”

“I haven’t seen Him since such and such a time.”

“All right, let’s go looking for Him.”

They went looking, but they did not find Him. They found Him not.

This is the unsettling discovery. He is not to be found.

Now this is unsettling. It is very unsettling. If you move down to verse 48, when Mary says, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”

There are two things in this unsettling discovery. First, the loss of Jesus is a sorrow of heart. The loss of Jesus is a sorrow of heart.

I have described the feeling of having lost a child—the feeling that remains with you, especially with mothers. We have experienced moments like this, though I will not describe one right now. I believe there is one moment, or perhaps two, in the 16 and a half years of being a parent, that I can recall with such strong emotion that I can transport myself back to that moment.

Other events have occurred with the children, which I have been able to set aside and say, “I will be fine.” But mothers tend to be more anxious about such things, more concerned, and that is part of their caring and nurturing nature. That is correct. It is not wrong for mothers to feel this way.

As a result, they experience this emotion more deeply and are more likely to carry the memory of it into the future. This feeling—this feeling—is what happened to Mary and Joseph. The sense of loss was a sorrow to the heart.

They did not find Him. They did not find Him.

This spiritually illustrates how believers should respond, how they ought to feel when they discover that Christ is not with them as they had supposed. It is right to sorrow. It is right to mourn. It is right to shed tears over this sense of loss, as if Christ were half lost from the Lord. And if you are in that place, it is right to feel that brokenness in the soul.

There are times spiritually when this is like those emotional moments related to our children, when something terrible happens, the heart sinks, and a wave of emotion overwhelms us—emotions we may never have experienced at any other time in our lives.

And there are times spiritually when something similar happens, and our minds can go back to those moments—the moments of discovery.

Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His word?

It is a discovery that all is not as it once was.

The loss of Jesus is a sorrow of heart, but the loss of Jesus is a suffering like hell.

Reading this past week, at times you see a word, and it stands out on the page, and you begin to ask yourself what that word really means. I did that with the word sorrowing in verse 48.

What did I find? First, Luke is the only one who uses this word. Only he uses it. Second, he uses it four times.

One of these occasions is in the book of Acts, where he describes the feeling of the elders, the believers, as they let go of Paul, knowing they would never see his face again. There is a sense of separation. They will never see him again in this life. Never.

“Sorrowing most of all,” it says. It heightens the sense of grief that comes over them. It compares their sorrow to what happens here with Mary and Joseph. Sorrowing was not just a goodbye. Their hearts were overwhelmed and broken at the thought: we will never see this man to whom we are so indebted. We will never see him in this life again. It is a separation that causes great sorrow.

The other two occasions when Luke uses this word are in Luke 16, where the rich man is described as being tormented twice—tormented. Luke is very intentional in his use of this word. It is meant to convey a keen sense of agony, anguish, and suffering unlike what most people ever experience.

This is the word Luke used to describe the sorrow of Mary and Joseph.

It is like the torment of a person in hell.

Now consider this for a moment. Being separated from Jesus is, in one sense, a form of hell. There is no Jesus in hell. The absence of the favorable presence of God is so profound that it is unlike anything else.

And when a believer experiences even a brief moment of separation from their beloved Savior, it is like this kind of agony. Do not misunderstand me as saying they are identical. That is not what I am saying. But there is a hellish quality to the recognition that the Lord is not with you.

This is what came over Mary and Joseph. “We have sought Thee in agony.”

The unconscious drift, the unsettling discovery, finally the untiring determination. Untiring determination.

This is clearly seen in Mary and Joseph. They were not content to continue home to Nazareth.

First of all, this is evident in the immediacy of their response. The immediacy of their response.

Verse 45, “And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem.”

There was no hesitation. They did not need to discuss it. “Honey, what do you think we should do?” There was no conversation. Both of them understood the urgency of the situation they faced. And both of them immediately began to return, retracing their steps back to Jerusalem.

You know, when the Lord reveals the condition of your heart and you do not like what you see, the proper response is immediate. The strange ways we act, trying to rationalize and delay, are the worst thing we can do.

No, they did not accept the absence. They did not attempt to numb the loss artificially. They turned back immediately. And that is how renewal begins. When you turn back, when you realize you are on the wrong path or are without His presence, you immediately turn back.

Listen, I do not care what is happening in your life right now. I do not care what sin seems to be holding you captive. You may feel that you cannot break free from this. I tell you now: God is coming and saying, I will help you with that, but you must turn back today.

Today. Turn back today.

He is seeking an immediate response. He is seeking the realization and the change of direction—180 degrees.

Set it right.

This is also seen in the exclusivity of their search. It was exclusive, was it not? Once they realized that Jesus was missing, everything else lost all importance.

Joseph was not standing there thinking, I need to get back home because I have a job to finish for Reuben down the road. He was not thinking about that. It did not matter. Reuben can wait for his chair, or whatever he asked Joseph the carpenter to make for him. He can wait. The kitchen can wait. Whatever it is.

Exclusive. It becomes the one thing. The one thing. Nothing else matters.

If you want to return to where you should be with the Lord, that is the mindset you must adopt. Immediate and exclusive. It is the only thing that matters.

What does it matter if you have other things but do not have Him?

It is the one thing needful—to seek Him, to find Him.

Oh, that I knew where I might find Him. It is a language, is it not? Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Oh, I need to find Him.

All the amusement, busyness, and responsibilities—set them aside. Seek the Lord. Get it right today.

This may mean, for some of you, that you go home and politely say, “I’ll get dinner later.” You need to be alone with God. You need to put things right. Be alone. Wait.

Perhaps it is saying to you, “Do not speak with anyone after the service. Make your way home immediately. Go into your closet, your bedroom, or wherever you can be alone. Even sitting in your car alone is enough. Be alone.”

Nothing else matters if there is a need to turn back.

But also, it was rewarded with the blessing of recovery. It was rewarded with the blessing of recovery.

They did not seek in vain. They did find Him.

What is fascinating when you read this is that they traveled one day’s journey from Jerusalem, yet it took them three days to return and find Him. I do not know all that was behind this, but it illustrates something for us: the effort required to lose Him is less than the effort required to get back.

It will not be easy to return. Let me remove any illusion that you might have, thinking, “Oh, I’ll just pray a quick three-second prayer and I’ll be back in the most revived condition of my life.” No, that is not how it works.

Your time away from the Lord has damaged aspects of your fellowship with Him. You must come before Him and recognize that it will take time. It may take three times as long, or even longer.

This is illustrative. But I believe it is a very relevant truth. I think most of us who have gone down this path—those who have lost their connection with God and are trying to return—have discovered how difficult it can be at times to return. It can be hard.

And especially as you go on in the Christian life, I think that early in our Christian life, we find it a little easier. The Lord is merciful to the infant stages of the Christian life. He is never too far away. And if we stray for a short time, we can return and feel His warmth, His grace, His love, and His care.

But you know, you never want your children to remain like infants. A father wants to build spiritual strength.

Ultimately, it should have been clear where Jesus would be. He is in the temple. He is where God is known. He is in the most elevated place on the planet in terms of where we might expect to find God. And if you are seeking the Lord, it is clear where you will find Him.

Specifically, you sometimes need to consider what has caused the separation in the first place. You might say, I do not know how I have come to this place. But you probably do if you take a few minutes to reflect.

If I ask you, are you neglecting the Word? Then that is something that needs to be corrected.

Are you neglecting private prayer? And do you neglect other means of grace, the essential practices of the Christian life?

Are you isolating yourself from believers?

Are you placing greater value on the friendship of those who do not know the Lord?

Are you spending too much time on entertainment?

In some way, reading the Bible and praying, even though you are doing them, may feel like an inconvenience because they take you away from what you truly desire—playing video games, scrolling through the internet, or whatever the case may be.

You know what the problem is. It is time to recognize it as a threat and to put it away, or to find a way to gain control over it.

A day’s journey without Jesus is a day’s journey without the Lord. Some believers spend weeks, months, even years in this state, and they lack the understanding to turn back.

This morning, hear it—the Lord is calling. He is saying it is time to turn back. It is time to turn back.

May the Lord give us grace.