In the Gospel of Luke, The Bible details a story of Jesus that often goes underappreciated by many contemporary members of the faith community. Joseph and Mary, earthly parents of Jesus Christ , are found leaving the Festival of the Passover. The text tells us that as they are headed back home after the festival, after traveling a day’s journey, they discover that they have left Jesus Christ behind. The Word of God does not suggest to us that Mary & Joseph are harboring any resentment towards Jesus, nor does it propose that them leaving Jesus was intentional. Rather, the impression that is given is that somehow in the middle of them trying to get where they wanted to be, they had simply forgotten to ensure that Jesus was with them. Upon searching for him in their caravan and realizing that He was not among them, Joseph and Mary, despite having traveled so far, turn around to retrieve Jesus. Reaching their destination becomes nowhere near as important as who is with them once they arrive.
I think about this story in relation to our current situation as African Americans in the 21st Century. Where from slavery, through Jim Crow, around racial discrimination, and to a place of affluence and achievement greater now than at any other point in history, though we certainly have not arrived, we have undoubtedly gone “a day’s journey”. Yet, in spite of this we still see distrust and violence amongst our people. We still see struggle to breakthrough to the next level of prosperity and empowerment through our lack of willingness to unify. Our families still remain divided, broken, and unable to productively develop. We still see brothers and sisters sadly choose to live out the stereotypes perpetuated to them by the society we live in.
How did we get here? How can a society that has come so far still struggle with so much? I would suggest though we have come a mighty long way, we, just as Joseph and Mary did, have forgotten to ensure that God was with us. And if we are ever be the people that He wants us to become, we have to make a collective commitment to reclaim the Spirit of the Living God that we lost somewhere along the way. It is His love that will provoke men and women to begin to look at each other as brothers and sisters. It is His strength that will keep the binds of marriage knotted tightly together. It is His peace that will calm us when the obstacles that we face seem both impossible and insurmountable. And, though we have forsaken Him, it is His protection and providence alone that has brought our people this far. Regardless of how far we have come, in order for our culture to move forward, we must be willing to take necessary steps back to reclaim what we’ve lost. We cannot allow ourselves to drown under the current of a contemporary culture that tells us that we can do it on our own. Our greatness comes from a source greater than ourselves. Any steps that we make toward our destiny must first begin with steps toward God. The Living God that we accidently left behind as we were working to get where we wanted to be.
We have spent entirely too much time in our current circumstance. So much, that many of our people believe that reality can’t be any better for them than what they are living right now. We, as a people, must be careful not to confuse our location with our destination. God is calling our people out of this defeated darkness into a place of abundant life. But, in order for us to get there, we must go back and retrieve what we left behind; the God of our ancestors. In order to save our nation, our communities, our children, our families, and ourselves, we must be willing to backtrack to the space where we left God. And when we do, just as in the biblical text, we will find Christ right where we left Him & waiting for us. We must be willing to go back and reclaim what we’ve lost.