Precious Cargo

Written by:  Charles S. Head

Photo by:  Nilantha Ilangamuwa

 

As I was returning home from a recent weekend trip through the beautiful Pennsylvania mountains on a sunshiny day, my thoughts took me back to my Lord and savior, Jesus, during his boyhood.

My thoughts were, what if I had to return back to my starting point after driving over three hours, because I left some precious cargo behind. I would be very upset at this, especially since I was closer to my destination than my starting point after driving over three hours.

In Luke 2:39-50, Jesus’ parents had to return for the precious cargo,  which was 12 year old Jesus.  After returning and searching for him a whole day looking among his kinfolks and others they could not find him.  Finally, after three days of searching their search took them all the way back to Jerusalem to the temple where their journey started from.  At 12 years old Jesus was in the temple among the doctors and educators asking them questions and astonishing them all with his wisdom and knowledge.

Jesus was the precious cargo to his parents and this is why his parents turned and looked for him for 3 days until they found him. His parents also knew that Jesus was not just their natural son, but the Savior of the world, even knowing that, when they had found him they had to deal with Him as a lost child who had caused them much worry for three days.
When Jesus answered his mother concerning leaving them without their permission, it may have seemed a little disrespectful in the natural, but nevertheless he was doing God’s will.  Luke 2:48-49 reads “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 was must be about my father’s business?”

Jesus was justified because He was doing His Father’s business, but in the natural His parents did the right thing looking for Him through rugged terrain for three days.  My thoughts on this return trip of mine, were that,  I was driving an automobile that could travel at fast speed on and even paved highway  and my precious cargo would only be temporal, yet it would be inconvenient for me to return three hours. Jesus’ parents had to travel three days to find precious cargo that would last all eternity. What an awesome thought!

The next time we are tempted to complain about our minor inconveniences, we need to be reminded of the sacrifices Jesus’ parents made in order to take care of Him on this long rugged journey back to their home.