LENT

His Final Steps Led to His Father’s House

Was a bounce in our Savior’s steps as he “traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival” with his parents, Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:41)? It was a five-day journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Did Jesus’ muscles ache a bit and his step slow as he and his family made their way up the steep grade that stretched for miles leading to the walls of the city of Jerusalem? And once the boy Jesus saw the temple mount and the great temple rebuilt by Herod, did our Savior’s heart skip a beat? Did he think, “I’m home at last”? He certainly acted as if he were home, didn’t he? For when Passover was finished and his parents left on the return trip to Nazareth, it took them a day before they realized their son wasn’t with them! After a frantic three-day search, “they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us this way? See, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be taking care of my Father’s business?’ ” (Luke 2:46-49).

Then, as an adult, he started to preach. He started to teach. John informs us that the Passover was drawing near, and so Jesus “went up to Jerusalem” (John 2:13). He went to the temple, where he “found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables” (John 2:14). Our Savior single-handedly drove out all the sheep, all the cattle, all the merchants, and all the money changers while he shouted, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!” (John 2:16). Given this history, it shouldn’t surprise us that in the last week of his life, Jesus went back home.

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