A Remarkable Child

Luke 2: 40- 52. This is the account we are looking at today. Here the family go to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. It seems that it was the usual thing for many families to travel together and naturally the children would have spent much of the time together. You would have thought that Mary and Joseph would have checked that Jesus was with them before leaving for home, but no they travelled for a whole day before looking for him. They then went back to Jerusalem and it took three days before they found him. They found Jesus in the temple courts talking to the teachers and asking them questions. Mary worried but no doubt relieved, but also astonished says,”Son why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” He answers ,”Why were you searching for me ? Didn’t you knowI had to be in my Father’s house?” These are not the petulant words of a near teenager but a gentle rebuke to rather negligent parents who should have known that He would be in His true Father’s house, the temple. They did not understand what He meant. However He went back to Nazareth and was obedient to them. Mary remembered all these things even though she didn’t understand them. She treasured them in her heart, going over them in her mind again and again. Maybe she told them to Luke later on when he was writing his gospel.
So what would Jesus have been discussing with the teachers? Undoubtedly the law and the prophets, what we call the Old Testament. He was totally absorbed in this discussion.
For our next look at Jesus and Mary we will read John 2: 1-11.