Luke 2:41-52 It’s the first words out of Jesus’ mouth that we get from his early life and already I have a challenge with what he says. I guess it’s mostly because I’m a parent. Not a parent of teenagers, but a parent nonetheless. Let’s set the stage. Jesus is 12 and he goes to Jerusalem with his parents for the annual passover. The Feast is over and his parents leave to go back. They assume Jesus is with them amongst a crowd they must have been traveling with for a whole day. He’s not. They go back to Jerusalem and search for Him for three days. Lots of nooks and crannies in Jerusalem apparently. Finally they find Him in the temple courts asking the teachers questions. Of course, his parents react like any other would, “What are you doing? We’ve been looking all over for you!” They’re a little exasperated to be sure because, after all, they thought they had lost God. I’ve never done that but I’m sure it would be nerve-wracking.
Anyway, this is where I would expect some sort of apology. At the very least something like, “I’m so sorry mom. You got away from me and I didn’t know the way back home, so I just went back to the temple courts because I figured you’d look there first because you know how much I like to study all of that religious stuff. Anyway, I’m really, really sorry.” Come on. Isn’t that what you expect? I know He’s a teenager but He is Jesus. He’s at least going to be polite, right?
Perhaps something is lost in translation but I think anyone who has been around teenagers has a vision of what Jesus’ tone sounds like when he responds, “Why were searching for me? Duh… didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Emphasis and “duh” are my additions) Can’t you just hear the disrespectful tone? Can’t you just see the rolling eyes and shaking of the head? Maybe it’s just me but that’s what I envision. That’s hard for me to take. It just doesn’t seem right. I have a difficult time thinking Jesus would be that way.
It says that His parents didn’t understand what He was saying. Well, I think I could have a an idea of what He’s saying. At twelve years old, Jewish boys began getting ready to get established into the religious community. That happens when they are 13. So, Jesus in essence could have been saying, “Look, we make this trip to Jerusalem once a year. I don’t want to celebrate the Passover and then just leave. This is my big chance to get some serious study time in with all these leaders before next year. I told you I wanted to hang out here but you wouldn’t listen!” A few problems with that theory though. First, He still comes off as rude to me. Sorry. Second, he obviously doesn’t need the study time because He’s amazing everyone with His questions, answers, and understanding. Third, that just makes a little too much sense, but the text says his parents didn’t understand what he was talking about. Back to the drawing board.
Let’s attack the rudeness thing because that feels like a big sticking point to me. It’s hard for me to actually think that Jesus was rude. I think there may be a clue in the text that Jesus may not, after all, have been back-talking His mama. How about this? It says in verse 51 that Jesus’ mother “…treasured all these things in her heart.” Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d exactly be treasuring the experience if it went down as I described. Maybe I could laugh about it later, but I wouldn’t be treasuring the memory. So, maybe Jesus had one those looks on his faces when His eyes met his mom’s that was completely innocent. Like He really believed he had done nothing wrong. A look like that from your child when caught red-handed (if you’ve ever experienced this) can be kind of disarming and almost endearing. Plus, it appears they did not confront Him when they saw Him right away because it says they saw Him listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Given that everyone was amazed by Jesus, this may have actually been a proud moment for Mary and Joseph. I can just see Joseph elbowing some other guy in the crowd saying, “See how He just nailed that circumcision question? Yep, that’s my boy.”
So when they finally come to their senses or perhaps just waited for an opportune time to interrupt, they confront Jesus and tell Him they’ve been searching for Him for days, Jesus just unplugs all the emotion out of the situation. He didn’t feel lost. He knew where He was the whole time. He was confident that His heavenly Father was watching over Him and protecting Him and that His parents would be along eventually. Remember, He was 12 years old and should have been preparing to take His place in the religious community. That’s what He was doing. He wasn’t teaching yet. He was simply asking really good questions and providing insightful answers when asked.
So when Jesus responds to His parents, I can envision a different tone. It’s kind of a “Oh, you’re worked up over nothing tone” said with smile on His face. He was OK. He was fine. This was just the beginning of Jesus having to honor His heavenly Father independent of His earthly parents. I can imagine Jesus saying, “There will be more times when events like this occur, but for now, I’ll submit to your authority. Let’s go back to Nazareth.” His parents may have been scratching their heads, but Jesus had so much warmth toward them and such an obedient spirit that they weren’t mad anymore. They were just cherishing the time before they knew they’d have to fully release Him.
What do you think?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i like this story from Jesus’ life. it strikes me as an interesting mix of the fairly common, human quality of Him combined with a hint of the supernatural. i suspect that the questions Jesus asked in the temple (on this occasion and others) were unlike any had asked before; and – if we had access to them – would point to the unparalleled teaching that was to come.
this passage really is a glimpse into Jesus’ “yoke” as it is formed; the light and easy yoke (teaching) that everyone could embrace.
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I wish there was more in the Bible about Jesus as a child. It’s hard for me to picture him in childhood. In my mind there is a gap from “Jesus is born” and “Jesus turns water into wine”. As a mom of 4 little ones myself, I can’t quite picture a sinless child:). What was it like for Mary to raise Jesus while knowing He was God’s son? I can see how Mary and Joseph moved on after this incident with a glimpse of Jesus’ ministry in their hearts–a foreshadowing of the future. I know when I see the way God has gifted my own children how I feel. I am humbled and awed and honored all at the same time to be entrusted with such an amazing responsibility.
Also, I am reminded that Jesus was fully man and fully God. I love it that Jesus was obedient to his earthly parents, treating them with honor and respect. Part of me wants to say “Jesus already had all the answers. Why would he be listening to other teachers?” Or, was he teaching them? Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
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It’s always been difficult for me to get my head around Jesus as a toddler, a kid growing up, or a teenager. There are so many stages when my kids test the boundaries and struggle through establishing their identities. The difference, I guess, between Jesus and my kids is that Jesus wasn’t born wearing the stain of original sin the way that my kids were. He was without sin always–and that is hard to imagine. But I’m grateful. Because of that truth, my kids can now be washed clean of the stain of sin and stand innocent and blameless before God.
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I don’t get this one, Todd. What struggle do you have with this particular passage?
As for Stacie’s comment about what it was like for Mary and Joseph to know that Jesus God’s son…I lost my wife to cancer over three years ago. She had many treatments but ultimately came home to die. The oncologist said that it would be weeks but not months until she was gone. She lived for another 3.5 weeks at home but even with that knowledge it didn’t seem possible that she was going to die. When you have knowledge of something it doesn’t mean you talk or think about it all that much until it jumps out at you.
Mary: Hey Joseph, what are you thinking?
Joseph: Oh, what? Sorry, I was thinking about that table I’m building. You?
Mary: I was thinking about Jesus’ miraculous birth. Do you know whatever happened to the frankincense?
Joseph: Oh yeah, that was quite a night, no room at the inn and all. The frankincense is next to that ugly picture your mother gave us for our 10th anniversary.
Unless Jesus healed sick lambs (circa 1971 Methodist Sunday School) there isn’t any indication that He did anything to show his deity as a youngster or until he was ready to announce his ministry. My guess is that Mary and Joseph knew the circumstances of his birth but life went on and it probably lost its significance in their minds. But then, this happened and it was probably quite a wake-up call for them.
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I do understand and have heard many sarcastic teens and do not picture or “hear” Jesus in that tone. It is possible that he did have the DUH attitude and Mary and Joseph as parents could have trusted Jesus as we trust God in all things. That they were unsure of where he was or why…but knowing that he was where he needed to be at that time. Again, all we are making are assumptions.
There is a lot of context surrounding this story that is not printed. Who are we to determine or finalize our own context in our mind? God trusted Mary and Joseph to raise Jesus as their son and in response to a comment above – I don’t think that could have even been insignificant or forgotten – but again, that is only MY assumption!
Thank you Todd for including us on this journey, your posts make me think much deeper into the bible stories, passages, and scriptures!
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I didn’t say that it was insignificant or forgotten…I said that it “probably lost its significance in their minds”. The Bible is replete with stories about people like Abraham, David, Solomon, etc. that were spoken to either directly by God or through one of his prophets but still doubted what God said or stopped obeying him after a period of time.
I’m only saying that it was a miraculous event but Jesus’ parents weren’t divine, they were only human and probably would have acted like any of us would in the same circumstance.
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Todd I got this a bit differently. Even though I’m a parent too, I felt like Jesus was being very matter of factly like the way he responded to most questions, it reminds me of when the priests tried to corner Jesus about paying taxes, just easily give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, I really like that part of him, no big drawn out explainations just to the point.
I think that was what he was trying to remind his parents of, Who he really was, I’m sure being the son of God didn’t come up much during dinner, maybe it was just time to remind them.
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