We find Jesus’ first recorded words here. A couple of big ideas arise from his two simple questions. Note how Mary (again, not Joseph) asked Jesus two questions after finding him in the temple (verse 48). She asked Jesus two questions. Jesus asked two questions in reply.

Jesus asked first, “Why were you searching for me?” This is a powerful question. This is a question worth pondering. Why do people search for Jesus? 

Why do you? 

Why do I?

Fast forward a few years and we find two of John the Baptizer’s followers following Jesus. John 1:38 tells us, “When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, ‘What are you looking for?’”

Jesus asked a lot of open-ended questions. We learn so much about the people he connects with through his questions and their answers. Here is a simple truth worth learning: Good questions get people talking. Non-threatening, open-ended questions deliver much more insight than direct statements or orders ever do. 

When Jesus asked Mary and Joseph, “Why were you searching for me?”, he was not answering like a smart-aleck teenager. He knew who he was. He knew who they were. He was an obedient child (See verse 51). Questions we might ask ourselves from time to time and to others upon occasion are, Why do you search for Jesus? What do you want from him? What do you need? 

Just a thought: It is always right and good to seek Jesus. 

Another thought worth thinking: He is more interested in being found than you or I are in finding him. 

Another big idea leaps from this text if we listen well to what Jesus says. His second question is, “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?”

Jesus’ famous last words of commission are well known and often repeated, as they should be. We do not hear as much emphasis on these first words. Jesus knew who he was, as noted above. Jesus understood his unique, one-of-a-kind relationship with God the Father. “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in _my Father’s_ house?”

Years later, Jesus would teach his followers how to pray. He would offer them the greatest of gifts. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins his instruction about prayer with what not to do. (See Matthew 6:5-8.) Then he tells us what to do. In verse 9 he says, “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, . . .”

Jesus the boy becoming a man said, “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus the man and the Messiah says to pray “Our Father in heaven.” Jesus includes us in his relationship with God the Father. 

Because of who he is, because of what he did for us on the cross, because of his resurrection and ascension and intercession for us, we can be included in our Father’s family. 

“But they did not understand what he said to them.” Joseph and Mary did not fully comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ two questions. But Mary “kept all these things in her heart,” (verse 51). Every question from Jesus magnified her awe and wonder. 

Jesus knew who he was. He knew where he needed to be. He did what he should do. Wise men, women, teenagers, and children still seek him. All who seek, find. All who find are welcome into his family and his eternal home. 

To you, who is Jesus? Do you seek him? He is ready to be found by every searching heart.

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