It’s easy to celebrate someone when receiving good gifts. My kids were ecstatic to be on vacation in Florida, and as a dad I enjoy giving them good gifts. Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” When we are home, however, my children tend to spend less time working by my side and more time going about their own business. In New Testament times it was often the case that families would go about trades and businesses together. Children running under foot, while fathers and other boys of working age would teach and learn the trade of the household. Families were about the father’s business not merely for reward but for survival and togetherness. It was the norm.

Here we will be looking at the story found in Luke 2:41-52 where Jesus stays behind in the temple when his family was on a trip to Jerusalem. They began their return trip to Nazareth yet Jesus fails to follow them. Three days later when he is found he exclaims, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business? And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.” I don’t think that this is a case of merely being disinterested in the work of his earthly father, Joseph the carpenter, but then what does Jesus mean when he said this? It wasn’t because Joseph didn’t deserve one of those “#1 Dad” Oscar trophies, like my kids joked about, so then what was it about?