How to find Jesus Christ?
By: Jcml Project
Tags: Christmas, Gospel, Bible, Jesus, Faith

In a modern society overwhelmed with information, even the most famous holiday of the Christian world has become far from what it meant before. If you enter the word “Christmas” * into the search engines and look at the pictures, then we will see Christmas trees, Santa Claus, singer Mariah Carey, the movie “Home Alone”, gifts and much more, but we will hardly see pictures about the event that happened more than 2 thousand years ago. By the way, if you enter the word “Christmas”, then Google will return about the same as when requested in English, but Yandex still shows some Christmas pictures, for example, this one.

According to a three-year-old study, American society is gradually losing the connection between Christmas and its Christian roots, for an increasing number of people, it is just a cultural event, an opportunity to relax, spend time with family, friends, give and receive gifts, watch films with a Christmas theme, listen to Christmas tunes … Moreover, even those who profess to be Christians are gradually losing faith in such key facts related to Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary in the manger of Bethlehem, physical death and resurrection, etc. The traditions of visiting the Church are gradually being lost, the boundaries between religious and secular are blurred, and the Lord Jesus himself somehow disappears from the agenda. Where is He at Christmas, how can you find Him and not lose Him later?

Let’s go back to the days when everything was just beginning by reading the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

(Luke 2:8–20, KJV)

The Evangelist Luke describes in detail many of the circumstances associated with the coming of the Messiah — the miraculous birth of the Forerunner, who will prepare the way for Christ, the amazing meeting of John and Jesus when they were still in the womb of their mothers and the amazing Magnificat ** of the Virgin Mary, the move from Nazareth to Bethlehem and much other. It was in Bethlehem, the city of David, that the Savior was to be born according to prophecy. In its vicinity, lambs grazed for sacrifices in the restored Jerusalem Temple. Perhaps the shepherds took care of these animals, and therefore they knew where the manger was and were able to quickly find the Baby, which the Angels told them about.

I must say that the work of a shepherd was not very respected in the religious circles of the Israeli society of those years, as it took up a lot of time and did not provide opportunities for frequent visits to the synagogue and performance of various religious rituals, for example, ablutions. However, both David and Moses were shepherds, and this experience helped them in serving the people of God, and the Lord Himself is often compared to a shepherd (shepherd). In the eyes of God, it is not the external well-being or position in society that is valuable, but who a person is before God. Obviously, these shepherds somehow pleased the Lord, and they were honored to be the first witnesses of the human incarnation of God. Let’s look at one characteristic of their behavior that can be useful to a believer.

The Angel of the Lord speaks to the shepherd with the words: “do not be afraid”. This is an important start, because people who found themselves in the presence of the messengers of heaven tended to fall to the ground in terror when they saw the glory of God. Further, the Angel announces to them about the great joy of the coming of the Messiah *** into the world as a Man, about whom there were many prophecies, including the place of birth, and the line of David, and even the time of coming. Luke, beginning his Gospel with the “great joy” of Christmas, ends with it, — when the Lord Jesus ascends to heaven, His disciples return to Jerusalem with “great joy” ( Luke 24:52). It also coincides that this joy encourages both the shepherds and the disciples to go and do things that glorify God. The Angel prophesies that the shepherds will find the Child in the manger, and immediately after the Angels departed to heaven, they go in search of the Savior, without hesitating a minute, “in haste”.

Let’s see how this word **** is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament, widespread at the time of the coming of Christ) in order to understand its meaning in the Bible. The first time it occurs in an episode of Abraham’s meeting with the angels, as he hurries to prepare for them a treat, these same Angels urged Lot to hurry to leave Sodom and Gomorrah, Rebekah in a hurry watered camels Abraham’s servant, Joseph asked the brothers to hasten and bring his father to Egypt, Moses quickly bows down to God at His appearance, Joshua and the people in a hurry cross the Jordan, messengers hurry to bring information about victories and defeats, Abigail hurries to save his family from an angry David, Joash calls for raising funds to renew the house of the Lord, but the Levites are in no hurry, Solomon teaches us not to rush to utter words before God, Isaiah speaks of the judge on the throne of David, who seeks justice, Jeremiah calls to flee from the disaster from the north finally, the book of Micah (4: 1) speaks of the “mountain of the Lord” to which the nations “flow” (or “haste”).

In the New Testament, Luke uses this word in the story with Zacchaeus, who, at the request of Christ, is in a hurry to provide hospitality, and also talking about Paul, who hurried to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost and then, according to Christ, was in a hurry to leave Him, since they will not accept the testimony of the Messiah ( Acts 20:16, 22:18 ). Also, this word is used in the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter (3:12), where he writes about the striving of believers to “the day of God” when the old world will disappear and the Kingdom of Christ will come in power and glory.

As can be seen from these texts, the rush of the shepherds was justified, they realized that at the moment there was nothing more important than the search for Christ, they went and found the Baby, told what the Angels had announced to them, and then returned to their work, not forgetting praise and praise God. There is a certain harmony in this whole situation, which is often lacking in our life: we can be so carried away by work or worries that we can not find enough time to pray, study Scripture or serve others. But it also happens that justifying ourselves with “spiritual” responsibilities, we neglect our urgent needs — we are lazy, put off for later what could help us in our personal and professional development, what could help those who need help. This is so similar to the situation with people who refused to take care of their parents, saying,” Shut their hearts” to those in need, saying, “I will pray that your problems will be solved.” The Apostle John says: “Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth. “ Often this requires getting up hastily and walking wherever our participation is required.

How can you find Christ at Christmas and then not lose Him?

It is like shepherds to be ready to hear what the Lord wants from us, and then to do His will without delay!

So, Christmas passed, the events of which Mary kept in her heart, then she and her husband went to Jerusalem to fulfill what was laid down according to the law of Moses, they met the righteous Simeon and Anna, who announced the prophecies about the Baby, and then they returned to their Nazareth and life went as usual. Of course, Jesus was not an ordinary child, “the grace of God was upon Him,” but miracles or amazing events did not happen anymore, emotions subsided, everyday life began, which many family people know about. Work, caring for the house, and daily bread, which day after day take away the old joy and bring new and new worries.

It’s one thing when you are 18 years old, your whole life is ahead, the whole world is open, everything is interesting and there is enough energy for everything … But now a decade or two has flown by, you are already over 30 — family, children, loans, relatives, problems at work, problems with the health — and you are like a pony running in a circle without stopping, all that you see is a narrow strip of a treadmill in front of you. It is difficult to say what life was like for the Holy Family, but it is quite logical to assume that over the years Joseph and Mary became somewhat cold about the role of Jesus in the destinies of mankind, because even after birth they were amazed at the prophecies about Him, and even after the beginning of Christ’s ministry, sometimes events took place where they didn’t quite understand Him.

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.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

(Luke 2:41–52)

Like many piety Jews of that time, they came to Jerusalem at Passover “according to custom. “ Here it is worth mentioning right away that the word “custom” does not have a strictly negative connotation, for example, Christ had a “custom” to go to the Mount of Olives to pray. But customs, of course, can also be bad, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes about ( Heb. 10:25 ). However, some of this trip still raises questions.

First, it seems strange that Mary and Joseph did not check before leaving that Jesus disappeared somewhere. Of course, He was no longer a baby, at the age of 12, the boy, according to tradition, became a man and could study the Law, and he could well walk with relatives or friends, but He is the Messiah, and He would have to be treated with great attention. It is unlikely that His parents did this out of carelessness, perhaps God providentially used this situation to remind them of Who He is.

Secondly, what seems to be more important — the parents were in Jerusalem for only two “obligatory” days of the holiday, after which “additional” days began when the Law was studied through discussion of questions with the rabbis. The parents, for some reason, did not want to stay longer than the mandatory minimum, but Jesus, who had the opportunity to ask questions for the first time, used this to the fullest. There are different options for how many days elapsed from the moment Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem until the finding of Jesus. The first option: three days — one day they walked from Jerusalem, one day back, one day they were looking for Him there; second option: five days: if we start counting from the moment the parents returned to Jerusalem, in this case, they would have found Him on the last, 7th day of the holiday.

One way or another, enough time has passed, and His Mother says that she and Joseph were looking for Him “with great sorrow” *****. It is difficult to say what was the cause of pain and suffering, but we see here a very important detail — Mary calls Joseph the father of Jesus, but He immediately corrects that His Father is God, He is in the place where a person is closest at that time was to God — in the Jerusalem Temple. Moreover, only Jesus could say “My Father”, others said, “Our Father”, this is one of the indications of the equality of Jesus with God, which then Mary and Joseph could not realize since it was not yet revealed to them.

Of course, you can understand the state of Mary, anyone who at least once lost children, even for a short time, knows that terrible pictures of what could happen to the child without supervision immediately appear. Moreover, in this case, days have passed, and then the time was much more dangerous than now. In addition, thoughts could appear that God gave such a huge responsibility, but they did not cope with it, and they could face a terrible punishment.

An interesting commentary on this text is given by W. McDonald: “Before judging Joseph and Mary, let us remember that we can easily walk our day’s journey, thinking that Jesus is among us, when in reality we have lost contact with Him …” (Bible Commentary for Christians)

Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria suggests that Joseph and Mary were not afraid that Jesus could get lost somewhere or get lost, they were afraid that Jesus had left them, and the name of Joseph as a father was done so that the Jews around them would not be tempted about Him.

In any case, the following can be drawn from this story — the realization that you have lost Christ causes tremendous pain and suffering. From the story with the shepherds, we see how they immediately went to look for Jesus, Mary and Joseph did the same. But they were at a distance of a day’s journey from Jerusalem, they had no instructions from the Angels where to look and whether they would find Him in general. It was already dark, it was dangerous to return because of the robbers who guarded the roads to the city. Perhaps these three days became a type of even more terrible three days of the condemnation, crucifixion, and death of Jesus on the cross because this also happened on Easter. Tradition and icon painting tradition associates the Mother of God with the myrrh-bearing wives, who are the first to know about the Resurrection of Christ. Sometimes she is included in the number of these women, sometimes it is believed that the Angel announced this good news to her first. One way or another, the loss of Christ and the finding of Him in the Temple played an important role in the life of the Mother of God.

How, having lost Christ, can we find Him again?

Search without stopping, return to where He was lost, cry out to Him and, having received the answer, keep it in your heart, as Mary did both at Christmas and Easter.

So, reading the texts from the Gospel of Luke, we saw people who were looking for Christ and found Him. Sometimes it was a joyful and short-lived search, sometimes this search was accompanied by pain and anguish and took considerable time. But the one who makes efforts in his search does not stop half-way, does not give up, but is diligent in his search, he finds what he is looking for. And after he finds it, he keeps this precious treasure in his heart, even if he does not understand the meaning of everything that happens to him.

As the Lord says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened … ”.

* Christmas (eng.)

** According to the first word of the first verse of Luke 1: 46–55 “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” (lat.) — “My soul magnifies the Lord …”

*** Anointed One (Hebrew) — Christ (gr.)

**** σπεύδω (gr.speUdo) — to hurry, to drive, to speed up, to hurry, to be zealous, to desire hard

***** “tormented, suffering, being seized with pain, grieving”

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