Family Connection – Jesus at the Temple

Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple, just as it was commanded in the Law, to present him to the Lord. They traveled far to go the temple to learn from the teachers there. Could you imagine traveling by foot to go to church? Imagine if you as family had to travel far to worship. What would you bring? Would you be excited to go?

Take a moment and reflect on your Sunday mornings. What do you do to get ready for your travel to church? What exciting things do (or can) you do as a family as part of your tradition of traveling to the “temple” (church) for worship?

At home...

Read Luke 2:21-51

When Jesus went to the temple, he grew in wisdom and favor with man. He went to the temple as a child and grew up going to the temple. When he was around 12, Jesus’ family made the trek to the temple. But when Mary and Joseph left, Jesus stayed behind, unbeknownst to them. They looked for almost 3 DAYS for him, only to find him chatting with the teachers, who were amazed at his understanding.

Jesus was in his Father’s house. Discuss a time when you arrived at church and felt at home. What was happening that day? How do you make church feel comfortable?

Around the table...

Jesus didn’t travel with his tribe. Jesus stayed behind to get deeper in the Word with the teachers. He had questions and he had answers. At the age of 12 he was already studying the Word of the Lord.

As a family, discuss your good habits of digging deeper in the Bible. Talk about how you can help each other, gather together, and ask questions about the Bible. It’s a NEW year and sometimes we make resolutions to get better at things. Make a point as a family to do small things to study the Bible. Make them easy so you succeed, such as reading a verse together around the dinner table, saying it together for a couple weeks, then doing another one.

Go DEEPER: Discuss the last time you had a big question that needed an answer. How did you ask the question? What did you do to find that answer?