Do your kids love church? Do they jump out of bed on Sunday mornings eager to have breakfast and get dressed? Do they hop in the car on time without complaints? Do they walk by your side into the church lobby and ask which songs you’ll be singing that day, or instead are they more worried about which snacks they can or cannot have in church?
Jesus and his parents went to church. It looked like this: “Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom” (Luke 2:41-42). Jesus’ family makes the 75-mile trip from Nazareth to the temple at Jerusalem, like they always do. It’s a healthy habit for them. “Every year.”
We don’t have any details about how the trip to Jerusalem went down, but based on the fact that later Jesus didn’t want to leave, it seems this pre-teen didn’t resist his parents when they said, “Time for church, Jesus!” Every parent’s dream!
But how do you deal with your kid who isn’t as interested in church as Jesus? Maybe they say it’s boring, the sermon is too long, too many old people, or they’d rather sleep in. Here’s some worthwhile advice on a blog about the topic.
“For kids who have their hearts in the right place with Jesus, but would rather do other things, there is likely a schedule issue. If they would rather sleep, have you overscheduled them to the point that they desperately need rejuvenation? If they would rather see friends, have you allowed for enough social time during the week? The list could go on, but the key point is that everyone needs time to breathe. If your list of required activities during the week leaves your kids feeling like the only optional activity they can clear to make time for themselves is on Sunday morning, their schedule may need to be revisited. This doesn’t mean they will be willing to cut activities themselves, but it does mean you may have to work with them on it” (http://christianmomthoughts.com/8-reasons-why-kids-dont-want-to-go-to-church/).
In short, kids disinterested in church isn’t a kid problem, it’s a family problem. And it’s not a Sunday morning problem, it’s a Saturday night problem and a Tuesday afternoon problem. Better than this wise advice, Jesus has a solution to this family problem. Himself.
This 12-year-old Jesus, in this one trip to church, saved all 12-year-olds who skipped church when they shouldn’t have, and 18-year-olds, and their parents, and all of us. Jesus is the perfect attender, not purely based on his attendance record either, because God looks at the heart.
Jesus’ heart loved church. He knew he’d hear his Father’s voice there in the Scriptures, presented in a way he wouldn’t think of on his own at home. He’d join other believers there, and take his concerns to his Father in prayers with everyone else together. “I just have to be there,” he’d later explain with a pure and eager heart.
All of it meeting the perfect expectations of his Father for all people, all slackers, all sinners, all church skippers, all who barely sneak in two minutes before the service thinking they made it but their hearts weren’t in it, and pastors who think they’re godly just because they get to preach. All of us.
You have perfect church attendance (both quantity and quality) before God because of this 12-year-old Jesus. Because of his perfect, sinless choices that choose to live sacrificially for you and because of his perfect, sinless life lived not just to survive but to save. You.
PRAYER: Jesus, I know you love me and that you also love church. Can you help me go to church with as much joy as you did while on earth? Can you help kids be as eager and excited for church as you were when you were young? Bless my church family, and my love for them and for worship. Amen.
DIG DEEPER: Think about this. Jesus, 12 years old, at the temple for the Passover festival, commemorating that 10th plague in Egypt when God commanded the Israelites to slit the throats of the Passover lambs, splashing their blood on the door frames of their homes to alert the angel of death that they trusted in God’s plan to deliver them his way. His miraculous way without their help.
All of it was not just a saving act that delivered the Israelites from slavery but a sign for years to come that the perfect, sacrificial Lamb would come and give his life as a substitute payment for all sinners.
Now, 12-year-old Jesus is at the temple with the lambs and blood during the Passover festival and he knows from his eternal conversations with his heavenly Father and his toddler story times with his mother Mary that he is the real Passover lamb.
He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is his blood dripping from the throats of the sacrificial animals. Death will be his destiny, to make sinners like his family, and his followers, and anyone who believes in him perfect before God, perfectly forgiven, perfectly freed to love and obey God more today than you did yesterday, perfectly qualified to worship with new joy and expression.
Flash forward to today and every Sunday morning. This Jesus meets you at church in ways he doesn’t meet you on the back patio sipping coffee, or on the golf course, or the soccer field.
Jesus wants to teach your kids at church in ways he does not do when kids sleep in, play video games, or go to work on Sundays.
At Holy Communion, Jesus wants his blood to miraculously become your salvation, and that doesn’t happen at the best brunch in town.
The question is, will you be in church, where Jesus gives these blessings? The 12-year-old Jesus who is also your eternal God and Savior can’t wait to see you, every Sunday.
He forgives the past and looks forward to each Sunday with powerful promises waiting and ready to be working.
