When Jesus was twelve, His family and He made the long trek to Jerusalem for Passover. Tradition states that 12 year olds made this journey with their parents so that they would be prepared for the following year when they would be celebrated as an adult. Following their 13th birthday (Bar Mitzvah), Jewish boys became responsible for their own religious rituals. After Jesus’ family has fulfilled their time in Jerusalem, they begin their journey home. Then after they have journeyed a whole day they realize Jesus isn’t with them. (Think about that for a moment, how would you feel if you had lost your 12 year old?)
They made a return trip to Jerusalem to find Jesus, but they didn’t find Him for three more days. Take count; Jesus has been missing five days! One day of travel; discover He is missing and one day return journey, plus three days looking for Him. A 12 year old boy on His own for 5 days. I’d bet His parents were freaking out about now, and I’m positive tears were shed, but then they find Him in the Temple with the teachers of the day. After being asked by His mother why He would worry His parents like this? Jesus responds, “… Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?” Some translations of the scripture use the phrase “…I must be about my Father’s business.”
We then posed this question to the boys at campfire: "What is your father’s business?"
The discussion lead to us talking about their earthly father’s business or labor. Each boy knew what their earthly father or stepfathers did to provide for their families. Then we moved to our heavenly father. We stopped for a minute and pointed out the Sportsmen around this campfire were all about the same age as Jesus when this took place. We asked how many of them would have been able to feel comfortable in a similar situation? Many of them felt if they were in this position, they would have felt more fear. We shared 2 Timothy 1:7.
We helped these young guys understand that our strength comes not from ourselves, but from Holy Spirit. Jesus knew this truth even at His young age, which allowed Him to be this fearless at this young age. The Holy Spirit gave Jesus the courage to be about His Father’s business in His Father’s house because Jesus, Holy Spirit, and the Father were all together in one frame of mind. The business Jesus’s Father was about is redeeming the souls of the lost. Therefore we as Christians should be about this same business: redeeming the souls of the lost. We left our first campfire of this deer season with a purpose in mind and the CTO Sportsmen went home with a new purpose for their walk.
