In My Father's House

In My Father’s House

Luke 2:41-52

I am sure many of us have wondered about Jesus’ early life and upbringing. Matthew leaves the child Jesus after his parents returned to Nazareth and picks Him back up more than 25 years later. Mark doesn’t pick up the story until Jesus came to John for Baptism. John gives no historical details in His prologue other than the “Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Many speculative accounts arose in the centuries that followed to try to fill this gap in the record. But these are far removed from the time of Jesus and of little historical value. There are accounts of Jesus striking a bully dead, and Mary had to intervene to bring the dead boy back to life. There are accounts of Jesus making clay pigeons and making them come to life. There are accounts of the infant Jesus directing Mary and Joseph on their way to Egypt, and other like accounts. Luke’s account here is of vital importance as it is the only contemporary account of a part of Jesus’ childhood. Despite numerous challenges, Luke has proven to be a very accurate writer. Let us take a deeper look into the passage.

The passage begins with the family making their yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover which was commanded by Yahweh for all Israelites to attend. The book of Deuteronomy said they were to gather at the place where He had chosen. This proved to be the city of Jerusalem. As Jesus had to be obedient to the entire Law, it was to be expected that He would be there. Mary and Joseph were faithful to come to the feast.

The text goes on to say that Jesus was 12 years old at the time. This is the time of Bar-Mitzvah in which young boys transitioned from childhood to adulthood. We don’t know for sure how far back the custom of Bar-Mitzvah goes, but it seems to be the context of what we see here. This is a ceremony where the lad was examined by the Rabbis and elders in the community to see if he was sufficiently instructed in the Torah. This is a similar practice to confirmation in the church. Today, this examination is done in the local synagogue, but it might have been done in Jerusalem if the parents were able to get there. Whether formally or informally, we can see that Jesus was found in the Temple dialoging with the teachers there.

What is out of the ordinary here is that Jesus was seated in the midst of the teachers, and the other teachers were standing around listening to Him. Instead of being questioned, he was asking them questions. One would have expected the young Jesus to have stood, and the teachers sitting and questioning Him. Whether or not it started this way, we do not know. If so, Jesus proved Himself to be far above them in learning to the point they were willing to take a seat and receive instruction for Jesus. They were absolutely amazed at His learning. The older Jesus would be accused of being the opposite, but at least here, they were willing to listen.

While this was happening, Mary and Joseph had started back with the group of relatives and acquaintances and had assumed Jesus was in the group. As travel could be dangerous to individuals due to highway robbers, they travelled in groups for safety and also for companionship. So at the end of the day when they thought Jesus would return to them for the night, and He did not come, they started looking in the group for Him. An increasingly frantic search resulted in the horror that He was not there. Mary and Joseph undertook the dangerous journey alone back to Jerusalem in the hopes of finding Him. What a shock, and also a great relief, it was when they found Him in the Temple.

After being glad to have found Him, they seemed to then show some annoyance at Him. Mary scolds Him and says “Don’t you know we have been searching for you?” Here thy act as any parent would. From their point of view, Jesus had been foolish and disobedient. He had put Himself and His mother and Father in jeopardy. But Jesus gives them a cryptic answer which they could not understand. “Why were you searching for me? Why didn’t you know that I must be in My Father’s house?” In other words, they did not need to spend three days looking for Him. They should have come directly to the Temple.

The word “must,” “dei” in Greek. It is a strong word, often used as a Divine imperative. So Jesus had been especially called by the Father to come to the Temple and do what He was doing. It was part of the mission He had been sent to do. Here we come to the great mystery of the two natures of Christ, the human and the Divine. The question is “What did Jesus know, and when did He know it?” As God, He would have to know everything from the beginning. As human, he had to grow in his knowledge. As the text says that Jesus grew in knowledge and maturity. The mystery is not how a human does these things, but why would God need to learn anything. How aware was the young Jesus of His divine nature? Was this time the time He became aware of who His Father was? It is interesting that Luke shows Jesus after His baptism and entry into public ministry as being led or driven by the Holy Spirit. Why didn’t Jesus who is God, the Son, do miracles in His own power. Needless to say, this has been a source of contention in the church. It is best to paint the divine portrait of Jesus and the human one side by side and say both are true, even though we can’t put them together due to limitations in human thinking. John in His Gospel shows more of the Divine portrait while affirming His humanity, and the other writes the human portrait while affirming His Deity.