Keep What You Cannot Explain
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
— Luke 2:48-51 (NIV)
Families from the north made the trip to Jerusalem for Passover each spring. They travelled in a large company of relatives and neighbours, which is how a child could go unnoticed. Luke notes they were a full day along the road home before they started looking. The boy was twelve. They did not find him until the third day, sitting among the teachers in the temple courts. Their home town lay well to the north, days of walking from the city. The word Luke uses for what she did afterwards, "treasured", means to guard something and keep it safe. It is not a word about working something out. Luke adds one more line about the years that followed. The boy grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and with people. After that Luke places him in no scene until he begins his work at about thirty. Some of what God does lands long before it makes sense, and you keep it anyway.
Some things never get an explanation you would accept. For one person it is a test result that came back with no reason attached. For another it is someone who went quiet, or money that ran out at the worst moment, or months of days that look the same and leave nothing behind. Usually you force an answer or wave it off; some days you do neither. Jesus once gave His own family an answer they could not follow. Keeping something is not the same as understanding it, and that is allowed.
Ten Minutes and One Sentence
- 1The first time today that nobody needs you, this evening or any other moment, put down what you are doing for ten minutes and say out loud one sentence about something you cannot explain. Do not try to solve it. If someone else is in the room, whisper it or write it in one sentence and read it back silently; what matters is that the whole sentence comes out of you. If ten minutes is not something you will get today, the sentence and the quiet right after it are enough.
- 2If nothing from today comes to mind, go back further and say the one thing from this year you are still carrying.
God, there are things in my life I still do not understand. I am not going to pretend they make sense. Help me carry them without an explanation. Keep me from forcing an answer that is not there. I want to trust You today with the part I cannot see. Amen.
I will say out loud today the one thing I cannot explain, and add nothing to it.
Why did his parents not notice sooner that he was missing?
Families made this journey in a large company of relatives and neighbours, so a twelve-year-old could be anywhere in the group. Luke says they were a full day along the road home before they started looking for him.
How long was he gone, and where did they find him?
They did not find him until the third day. He was in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers. Their home town lay well to the north, days of walking from the city.
What does treasured mean in the last line?
Luke's verb means to guard something carefully and keep it safe over time. It describes holding on to words, not working out what the words mean.