Luke 2:45 And when they failed to find Him, they went back to Jerusalem, looking for Him [up and down] all the way.

Pastor Ken Hemphill recounts the following: Have you ever lost one of your children, even for a split second? You are shopping in a crowded mall. Your little boy slips his hand out of yours and runs to the toy store window. The crowd suddenly swells and in that moment you lose sight of your son. He’s gone. Lost! Do you remember that   empty, sick feeling in the pit of your stomach? Adrenaline began to flow; you scurried into action, frantically searching to find your lost child. Can you remember the relief, the sheer joy, when you found him? Your plans to scold him for leaving your side were washed away with the joyous tears that unashamedly flowed.

This account of losing a child is nothing in comparison with being entrusted by God to take care of His Son and you lose Him. Now that has got to be terror times ten million times – times ten million times. How do you lose Jesus, the Son of God? Dr. Michael Egnor, Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics, and author of The Immortal Mind recounts the following “haunting” he had as an atheist: When my son was a few months old, my wife and I noticed that he wasn’t smiling or making eye contact with us. He would look at objects with interest, but not at people. We started to face the possibility that he might be autistic. This terrified me – I had always dreaded autism. I knew it would be the worst agony to have a child you love who doesn’t know you or love you back. We took the child to an autism specialist, but he said it was too soon to be sure…At nearly six months of age, he was still not responding to us. I found it harder each day to go about my daily tasks because I thought about him all the time. One night it all came to a head. I was called to see a patient at a Catholic hospital in another town. As I was leaving the hospital, I passed the chapel. I thought, “I don’t believe in God, but I’ll do anything now. I just want my son to know me.” I went into the chapel and knelt before the altar. “God,” I said, “I don’t know if you exist, but I need help. I am terrified that my son is autistic. It’s agony to have a child who will never know or love me.” Then I heard a voice – it was the only time in my life I’d ever heard a voice in my head that was not mine – and the voice said, “But that’s what you’re doing to Me.” ...When I recovered, I prayed, “Lord, I will stop doing it to you. I’m sorry. I won’t be autistic to You any longer. Please heal my son, and heal me.”

Miller’s Corollary states: Objects are lost because people look where they are not instead of where they are. Jesus’ parents assumed they knew where Jesus was – where they were not. It wasn’t until they returned to Jerusalem – the City of Peace – that they found the Prince of Peace. We often lose Jesus at the last place we had peace. Now they saw where they were. It’s only in being with Jesus that we know where we are. Now the question is, Have you been autistic toward Jesus?