Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 104, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1914 — THE LOSING Of THE CHRIST [ARTICLE]

THE LOSING Of THE CHRIST

By Rev. Wm. E. Barton, D. D.

Text: And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.—-Luke 2: 43-44.

They supposed He was in the company. They did not look so as to be sure. They were having so much else that needed attention; they were having so good a time with old friends; they took for granted the presence of the Christ child. And He was noit there. They woke to the bitter discovery that He was missing. They had other things to attend to. They had come a long journey and were about returning. They had to say many farewells, make several purchases, perform several neglected social obligations, and do all the last things that must be done before such a departure. But they overlooked the one supremely important interest. The Christ who had come to abide with them twelve years before was their one most glorious responsibility. And Him they forgot. Not for very long, but long enough to lose Him. Men do the same still. They have so many interests, and many of them good and Important. They cannot be thinking of religion every minute. Before they know it they have lost it among the baggage. It has come to be one of many miscellaneous interests, as important as many others but not more so. Then in some fatal moment they let their faith get mislaid, and in the hour of need rt is not there. v

They do not mean to lose their religion. Not by any means. But the cares of the world come in. The pleasures of life usurp the foremost place. What with the buying and sailing, the cooking and baking, the salutations and farewells, their lives are filled with other interests, and they lose the Christ. Have you not seen it happen? Have you not felt the temptation to let it happen to you? There is another Condition which we cannot hejp noticing. Joseph and Mary had let the presence of Jesus in their home become commonplace. They loved Him, of course. They had shown their devotion to Him. For his sake they had fled to Egypt; for his sake they had endured and given much, It would be cruel to charge them with indifference. But they had come to take his presence in the home as something that needed no special attention. It was something that gave them satisfaction, of course; not for the world would they have lost Him out of their lives; but they no longer felt that strange thrill of wonder and of holy solicitude which had been constantly in their thought tweilve years before. How many men have looked into the coffin and have been smitten to the heart, not because they did not realize the pricelessness of that which they loved. This is the bitterest drop in the cup of grief—the fact that the loss had already occurred before death came, and that it might have been .prevented.

Why are you working so hard, busband? To clothe your wife in silk later? Stop it, and buy her a ■ new dress now, such -as you can as-1 ford. Go out together/and enjoy each other. Why are you working i yourselves to death, father and mother? To save for'the children? Work less hard and enjoy life with the children now. One day you will lose that for which you are .working, and this will be the incurable malady in your grief, that yod might have had joy in the years before the loss occurred, but you let love become commonplace. Let the warning come straight home to your heart, for you need It. All men and all women need, it. Take heed lest that which is most precious to you on earth become commonplace to you. Take heed lest that which must be the best of all things in heaven is held cheap in your neglect. They realized their loss. Thank God for that. Some people do not realize. They traveled a whole day without Him. Mary kissed Him in the morning and hurried to her packing and her leave-taking, and the caravan started. She was busy chatting and wondering if she had forgotten anything and she did not miss Him. Joseph, too, was employed. Hie had bought a new saw in Jerusalem and his neighbor, the potter, had learned a new way of tempering clay and they had to talk about it, each about his own interest, and each about the other’s. And the day wore on till they camped for the night. “Where is Jesus?”

“I don’t know; I thought He was with you. When did you see Him last?”

Ah, what an anxious night that was in camp! How much they had to reproach themselves with; What if they should never find him? They dared not think of anything so terrible. What now mattered the new saw? How insignificant now seemed the interests which had occupied their thoughts all day! How their loss suddenly restored things to their right proportions! But one thing in life was supremely worth while and that was to find Jesus.

We could wish everyone were as much concerned. The saddest fact is that sometimes there seems no sense of loss. On goes the procession, and there is much to think about. We have forgotten salt for the soup and one of the donkeys has cast a shoe! These are the vast concerns we measure against the loss of Christ and we forget Him. They found Him! Breathless they hurried back the day’s journey to Jerusalem, and they hunted the city over. He was not in the home where they had lodged; not in the streets or shops. They found Him in the House of God. It was the right place to seek Him. Let us seek Him there, and in the home and the heart. Let us love better that which already we love best. Let us never hold love cheap while that which we love is with us. For in so doing many a home has been wrecked, and many a man has lost his most precious faith; and some have never found either again.