Wednesday Bible Blurb Our Father’s Business 10 28 2026
Church services were over, so we gathered up the kids and headed out to our van for the 30-minute drive home. With the realization that having three children will keep you busy all the time we find going to church each week to be about as coordinated as herding cats. Remember this, put that kid on the toilet and get coats on for everyone and change the diaper we are going to be late. This would have been fine if we only had three children, we have five. Like the Saturday morning cartoons, heading to and from church each Saturday morning could be confusion. We all got into the van, put on our seat belts and started for home just as someone ran out of the church holding our little son. He had stayed behind to help sweep the floor. He was going about his churches business at the age of three. Somehow in our preparation to head for home, our van seemed full of kids, but we had left our little son behind.
Are we going about our father’s business? Have we taken to heart His command for us to preach His gospel to the world until the end comes? Jesus was very direct with the apostles about the WORK they and us are supposed to do. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” Matt. 28:19-20 [NKJV]). Are we about our Father’s business?
Mary and Joseph had taken their family up to Jerusalem for the Passover. Traveling 2,000 years ago was more difficult than today. With all the hustle and bustle, packing of donkeys, herding goats and traveling in caravans for safety it would be easy to lose a child. The Judean roads could be hot and dusty. Water was scarce and taking a family up and down the hills of Judea on foot with donkey power was not an easy task. Jerusalem sits high on Mount Moriah at 2,575 feet above sea level. As the family of Joseph traveled to and from Nazareth (Elevation 1,138 feet) to Jerusalem they would have gone near the Sea of Galilee (704 feet below sea level). It was not an easy task to travel with family 2,000 years ago.
When Jesus was twelve years old Mary and Joseph took their family to Jerusalem for the Passover. (Luke 2:41-49). Jesus had at least four brothers and two sisters (Matt. 13:55-56) which would make traveling like herding cats. Synagogue services were over so Joseph and Mary gathered up the kids, loaded the donkeys and started for home in Nazareth. Thousands of Jews would have been on the road traveling to and fro and somehow, they left little 12-year-old Jesus behind. We can imagine their heartache as they found Him missing and began a search. The hot dusty road, had He gone on ahead, was He left behind or had he been kidnapped? The thoughts and worries of parenting can be a tremendous heart thumping experience. The family travelled for a day thinking he was somewhere ahead possibly with family. Finally, they returned to Jerusalem and searched for Him for three days. He was missing for about five days. Joseph and Mary, all the kids and donkeys would have been physically worn out and emotionally exhausted when they finally located Jesus.
Often, over a million people were in Jerusalem for the Festival seasons. Finding Jesus was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But after three days of searching in Jerusalem, He was found sitting in the temple, teaching. One can imagine the trembling emotional voice of Mary when she said, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” (Luke 2:48). She was his mother and her son was lost. Left behind at the church of all churches, the great Temple of God. The answer Jesus gave to His mom should hit us deeply. “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). He was subject to His parents, and this is the last we hear of the early life of Jesus until He begins to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God at age 30.
He was about His Father’s business! We are to be like and emulate Jesus. Are we about His Father’s business of preaching the gospel? To the consternation of the legalistic self-righteous Pharisees, Jesus healed people on the Sabbath day. He created the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath day. We are to do good on the Sabbath and healing is a very good thing. When the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by healing, He answered, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” (John 5:17). He was going about His Father’s business.
We picked up our little son in the church parking lot and securely buckled him into his car seat where his four older sisters could keep an eye on him. It was difficult to think we could have left him behind after church was over. He was sweeping the floor and going about the churches business. We can see how Joseph and Mary could have left Jesus behind. He was 12 years old and as a Jewish lad He was considered responsible for his actions. He was going about His Father’s business. Are we?
Mike Wallace
