The season of Christmas is winding down, and every year we read again about the story of our Lord journeying to Jerusalem with His family. It is a rare glimpse into Jesus’ life as a child. Outside the stories of His miraculous birth, His presentation at the Temple, and His flight into Egypt, Scripture is silent about the rest of His life until He arrives to be baptized by John in the Jordan. In fact, we will be focusing on that text next Sunday. But today, we get the only Biblical account of His time in between. Some Gnostic writers told fanciful stories about Him as a boy, claiming, among other things, that He restored a man’s foot after it was injured by an axe, carried water in His cloak after His jug broke, expanded a piece of wood to help His carpenter father, jumped off a rooftop without being hurt, and so on. But this is the only text in the Word of God, and, interestingly, it does not focus on any miracle but on His teaching the Word to others.

As I was thinking about this strange text, I was struck by how the stories of Jesus’ birth regularly point us to the work He is going to do. In other words, it is not just about what happened, but why it happened. Joseph is commanded to call His name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins; for the name Jesus means, “Yahweh saves.” Then, the angel declares to the shepherds, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This child is the long-awaited Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophecy that God is with us, God has come to save. When Simeon takes Him up in his arms, he declares that he has seen the salvation of God. It is as if from His earliest moments the shadow of the cross is already looming. In fact, many of our Christmas hymns pick up on this as well. In the great hymn, “What Child is This,” right in the middle of the second stanza, as we are picturing the little child sleeping in Mary’s lap, we sing, “Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The Cross be borne for me, for you.”

So, this story, the account of His trip to Jerusalem as a twelve-year-old boy, also points us forward, points us to the saving work of our Lord, points us to the sacrifice and victory that He secures for sinners like us. Obviously, Christmas is about more than the decorations and gifts, more than the gathering of family and friends. It is about the one who would suffer, die, and rise again for the salvation of mankind. And it jumps out to us in this childhood story of Jesus with that little phrase, “After three days…”

But let us not get ahead of ourselves. We are told, “Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon Him,” and how every year His parents went up to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover. This defining festival, which recalled God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt, was part of the faithful’s regular pilgrimages, and Mary and Joseph are just that. We are told Jesus was twelve years old, which is significant, as it would have marked His transition from childhood to manhood, at least in terms of the faith.

After the festival, the family begins their journey back to Nazareth. No doubt there would have been a mass caravan of pilgrims returning home, and the journey would have taken at least four days. Luke tells us Jesus stayed behind, but His parents thought He was somewhere in the group. They make it a day’s journey when they realize they have not seen Him and begin to search among their relatives and friends. Now, if you have ever lost a child, even for a few moments at a store or a park or something like that, you know the sickening feeling where all your greatest fears begin to materialize in your mind. The panic sets in, and you start retracing your steps. When did you see them last? Where could they have gone?

As part of the search, Mary and Joseph head back to Jerusalem. We are told that after three days they find Jesus in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him are amazed. They must have thought He was some child prodigy. The eloquence and depth of knowledge fascinated these learned men. Mary, who was, no doubt, relieved to find her boy, and acts as any parent would; the fear of losing a child turns to anger when they are found. “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And Jesus says to them, “Why? Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”

After three days, Jesus is found in His Father’s house. After three days, He is doing what He must do, what He has promised to do. And this is the reality in which we live, this is the contour of our faith here and now. Your faith is formed in the promises of Christ after three days. After His baptism in the Jordan, after His temptation in the wilderness, after His perfect obedience to the Law, after His sinless life, after His trial, agony, and death on the cross, after that victorious resurrection from the dead, after three days. He has done what must be done, and He continues to do what must be done for you, for your salvation, for your hope and assurance.

Of course, you may want to find the Savior in the works you perform; in the keeping of the Law to some lesser or greater degree. Do this thing and or do not do that one, and you will find the assurance and presence of Christ in your life. You may hope to search for Him in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. After all, if He is the source of truth and light, what better way to get hold of Him than to increase your wisdom? Or perhaps you want to find Jesus in the experiences you have, in those mountaintop moments which shake your understanding of the divine. Everyone has their preferred place to search. Whole churches tend to offer one road map or another to promise that you, too, will find your Lord.

But after three days, Jesus is where He has promised to be. He is found in His Word and Sacraments. He is found in the proclamation that your sins are forgiven by what He has done. He is found in the washing of holy baptism, where the sinner is drowned, and a new life is created. He is found in the Sacrament of the Altar, where He gives Himself, His very body and blood for the forgiveness of all your sins. Here, He is for you, after His three days, just as He promised.