January 15 / Luke 2:41-52

Luke 2:41-52

“Notice what you notice.” So, a number of items today! The first jumped out at me in the first verse, an item we’ve read over many, many times: Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. “…every year…” Immediately I imagined Mary and Joseph on their trip to Bethlehem. More than likely this was a trip they had made many times before (to Jerusalem), so the road was familiar. However, at nearly full-term, it would have been much less pleasant for Mary than in her younger years! So that was #1, pretty simple…

#2 was verse 46, After three days they found him in the temple… The Study Bible notes helped me here. The journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem was likely a 2-3 day journey. It probably would have taken only one day in Jerusalem to find Jesus, and the temple was a good place to start. So my Study Bible had Mary and Joseph going one day out, one day back, and one day looking. So why a full day out?

Last summer Carol and I were visiting Turkey when we learned about caravanserai.

1. My Internet search yielded two definitions. The first was labeled historical: “an inn with a central courtyard for travelers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa”. The second was simply “a group of people traveling together; a caravan”. As to the first, Carol and I visited a caravanserai in Turkey. Along this one particular road, caravanserai were located approximately every 30 miles (50 km), the distance a camel could travel in one day or a ten-hour trip for humans walking three mph. With robbers aplenty back in those days, these caravanserai were “safe havens” for travelers. We have a great photo of Carol relaxing in true traveler fashion. Hopefully she will add that to her own post.

So, one day out for Mary and Joseph makes sense. They were traveling in a group and possibly did not start looking for Jesus until they reached the caravan stopping point. They certainly would not have wanted to return to Jerusalem alone and not unless they were certain they could make it back before dark. At a reasonable “caravan” stopping point they would probably meet other travelers headed to Jerusalem. Traveling in a group was always safer. So they could reasonably continue traveling north that first day until the entire caravan stopped, then reverse directions the next day. I know, not a big revelation, but it’s nice to connect our own personal experiences with Bible history.

Finally, verse 51: And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. Here we see one of Luke’s primary sources – Jesus’ mother! We don’t know much about Luke, only what he personally revealed in his introductions and what we read of him in Acts. We don’t know if he was an early disciple (but not an apostle) or if he came to faith later. But I can easily imagine that Mary lived many years after Jesus’ Ascension and that she had many face-to-face conversations with Luke. It just gives me more confidence when I read Luke’s Gospel. I surmise that he is reporting first-person, factual accounts of Jesus’ early and later life. Glory!!

Blessings!