The Holy Family Visits Jerusalem—Lectionary Reflection for Christmas 1C (Luke 2)

 

Luke 2:41-52 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” ⁴⁹ He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.

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                Is it possible that when Jesus was growing up he could be a bit mischievous? That seems like a rather sacrilegious question, but kids will be kids, so if Jesus was truly human (even if fully divine as well), is this not a possibility? When last we met the Holy Family, they had made their way to Bethlehem because the emperor ordered a census. While there, Mary had a baby, who was given the name Jesus. For this First Sunday after Christmas, we jump forward in time twelve years. The Gospel reading from Luke 2 takes us to Jerusalem, to where the Holy Family has traveled so they can participate in the Passover festivities. In other words, this time the family travels as pilgrims so they can share in Passover in the shadow of the great Temple in Jerusalem.

                On the First Sunday after Christmas, many congregations forgo sermons and gather to sing carols and maybe observe the Lord’s Supper (at least those traditions that gather at the Table weekly). It’s quite possible that the regular preacher is on vacation. Thus, this story might not be heard by very many people. Nonetheless, it’s a most intriguing passage because it raises interesting questions about what Jesus was like growing up in Nazareth. This is the only canonical statement about him, though there are infancy gospels that offer some rather fanciful tales about Jesus turning clay doves into living ones, and other such tales. The story we have in Luke tells us about a rather mischievous and precocious boy.

                Luke begins this section of the story by telling us that the family journeyed annually to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. This isn’t a requirement, but according to Luke, it was a family tradition. This story takes place when Jesus was twelve years old, the age when a boy like Jesus would go through his bar mitzvah, marking his transition from childhood to early adulthood. Adolescence such as what modern children experience wasn’t something that ancients experienced. Focusing on an experience from when Jesus was twelve serves as a marker that Jesus was a true Israelite. As Fred Craddock notes: “At every significant period of his life he was in continuity with Judaism. Those periods for a firstborn male child were circumcision at eight days; dedication or presentation to God, in this case at six weeks when his mother was purified; bar mitzvah at age twelve; and public life at age thirty” [Luke: Belief, p. 41]. Luke earlier spoke of Jesus’ circumcision and dedication (Luke 2:21-38). Now, we encounter Jesus at the next stage of his life as a Jew.  

                The passage as a whole tells us that the family traveled in a caravan with other families from Nazareth. So, when it came time to return home, Jesus’ parents didn’t check to make sure he was with them. They simply assumed that he was with the group, which watched over each other's children. Modern parents would likely not head home after a trip without making sure their child/children were with them. But that wasn’t the case here. It wasn’t until evening that the parents discovered that Jesus wasn’t with them. That’s because he decided to stay behind in Jerusalem. He didn’t bother to tell his parents. In our day, of course, Jesus’ parents would have been subject to legal problems for child neglect. But that was a different time. When Joseph and Mary did discover Jesus’ absence that evening, they panicked. Where could he be if he wasn’t with the caravan?

                Figuring that Jesus must have stayed back in Jerusalem, they left the caravan and headed back to Jerusalem so they could look for their lost child.  When they got to Jerusalem, they looked high and low for him. It took three days, but finally, they found Jesus in the Temple having a theological conversation with the teachers. Everyone was impressed by his understanding of the faith and the answers he offered the teachers. Not bad for a twelve-year-old boy from the hick town of Nazareth in Galilee. While his parents were amazed by his ability to handle such conversations, they still weren’t happy with him for causing them such grief. So, Mary took him aside and reprimanded him: “Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you” (Luke 2:48 Message). I think most parents can imagine what it might mean to lose a child, even if only for three days.

                While Jesus was precocious, he was also somewhat mischievous because he answered his mother with a bit of attitude. “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?” (Luke 2:49 MSG). Apparently, they didn’t know where he would be hanging out because they didn’t know what he was talking about. What did he mean when he talked about being in his father’s house? Wouldn’t that be their home in Nazareth? All of this suggests that even if Mary and Joseph received angelic visitations, Jesus’ growing up years, at least to this point, were unremarkable. However, it is clear that he was both precocious and a bit mischievous.

                The reading ends with Jesus joining his parents on the journey home to Nazareth, and when they arrived home, he was obedient to them. The final word is revelatory: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor” (Luke 2:52). So, what we know of Jesus in the years that ran from age twelve to around thirty when he began his public ministry, is that he obeyed his parents (he kept the commandment to honor his parents—Deut. 5:16), increased in knowledge and wisdom (he was studious), and achieved favor from God and neighbors. In other words, Jesus was a good observant Jew. Beyond that, we know nothing. We don’t know when his father, may have died or what he did once he achieved adulthood. Did he become a tekton (laborer) like Joseph? Did he get a job in nearby Sepphoris, the growing metropolis that doesn’t get mentioned in the Gospels? The “missing years” open up all kinds of possibilities.

                This story is intriguing because it invites us to consider what kind of child Jesus might have been. Did he view himself as different from others? Did he know things that would be beyond what normal human children would know? It is important to note that Luke spoke of Jesus growing in wisdom and knowledge, which suggests he had to learn things like everyone else. If we accept (by faith) the premise that Jesus was fully human and divine, did he understand himself in that way? The story of his presence in the Temple does suggest that he could have been especially sensitive to spiritual things. Then there is the question of how to parent such a child. It’s important to note here that Luke reports that Mary “treasured these things in her heart.” Is it possible that Luke interviewed Mary? Are these her thoughts? We don’t know when and where she died and whether Luke had contact with her.  

                It’s important that we also remember that Luke doesn’t offer us a full-blown Chalcedonian Christology. In fact, this passage raises as many questions as it answers. What is clear is that according to Luke, when Jesus went to the Temple, he understood himself to be engaged in his “Father’s business.” Jesus wasn’t doing any carpentry in the Temple! He was engaged in teaching, representing God to the professional theologians. But we don’t encounter Jesus again until he arrives at the Jordan, where he receives divine confirmation of his calling: “Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  (Luke 3:21-22). From then on Jesus would be truly engaged in his “Father’s business.”   

Image Attribution: Wesley, Frank, 1923-2002. Boy Jesus in the Temple, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59221 [retrieved December 20, 2024]. Original source: Estate of Frank Wesley, http://www.frankwesleyart.com/main_page.htm.