This morning’s Wayside topic: setting out on journeys…..from “Bible Notes by the Wayside” by Rev. Horatio Hackett, written in 1852 following several months of travel in the Holy Land. He writes about the story of Jesus’ parents starting out on their journey home to Nazareth from Jerusalem and finding Jesus missing from the group, returning to find him teaching in the Temple. (Luke 2:41-49) He notes how strange this seems to us. But the way of caravan travel, which he documents from several sources, was that on the first “day’s journey”, the travel would start late in the day, about 3pm. and actually end with setting up tents only about 2 -3 hours out from the starting point. The reason for this was so that travelers could assess their readiness for the longer journey and there would be time to backtrack to the starting point to gather any thing that was needed that had been forgotten.
Mary and Joseph, likely having instructed their children to be with the family at the caravan departure site at the designated time and knowing that Jesus, the oldest of their children, was a responsible and obedient child, perhaps assumed that he was with some other members of family group, but upon the set up of tents just outside Jerusalem, fining that he was not with the group, returned to find him. Luke says they searched for Jesus for three days at that point. Imagine the anxiety. It gives more understanding to Mary’s annoyance in verse 47, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Your Father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus didn’t seem to understand their distress and assumed they would know where he would be. In the end, Luke says he returned with them to Nazareth and “was obedient to them.”
Today when I set out on a trip, I pack my bag and make sure I have the essentials for the time I’ll be away from home. But I also am aware that, should I forget something, there is generally a Walmart Supercenter or a Walgreen’s pharmacy within a few miles of anywhere I’d be so, not to worry, I can always pick up what I need along the way. And now, with the convenience of cell phone apps, notebook computers, and wifi, even access to Bible study tools and reading material is so compact and convenient, there’s less need for bags of “stuff” for travel.
Paul writes in Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Pack light. Travel unencumbered, especially for the lifelong journey of faith ahead, toward our home.. And make sure Jesus is with me. One translation I read called Jesus “the trailblazer and the guide.” I want to follow him. Sometimes he calls me to stop along the way and rest a while. Sometimes I travel on, at the end of the day, discover that I have to go back and find out where we got separated.