Luke 2:21-52

I was born “under the church pew;” not literally, but that was the saying for someone whose family was always at church every time the doors were opened. (Literally.) In looking back I am thankful for that heritage but I must admit that much of the time growing up I didn’t like it. My kids (we’ve had three) grew up under very similar circumstances. It seems they did like it but going to church had changed quite a bit before they came along.

This entire section concerns Jesus and His “Father’s House.” He was circumcised on the eighth day with some pretty amazing prophesies spoken over Him. That was quite a start. Later, when He was accidentally left behind in Jerusalem His parents found Him in the Temple. The first words Luke records Him saying are, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

The psalmist echos this very sentiment. (Ps. 84):
 How lovely is your dwelling place,
      O LORD Almighty!
     My soul yearns, even faints,
      for the courts of the LORD;
      my heart and my flesh cry out
      for the living God...
 Better is one day in your courts
      than a thousand elsewhere;
      I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
      than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

And again David declares, “I rejoiced with those who said to me,
      ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” (Ps. 122)

We are living in a culture where many think that they don’t need the “House of the Lord.” Granted, we don’t need a brick and mortar structure but the Temple of the New Covenant is the Body of Christ, the Saints. (Plural.) David loved it. Jesus loved it. I have grown to love it and with no reservations I say, “So should all believers.”