THE DAY THE PUPIL STUMPED
miss him at first, 44because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends.
45When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there.
46Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
48His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.”
49“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[*]50But they didn’t understand what he meant.
51Then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And his mother stored all these things in her heart.
52Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.
[2:49] Or “Didn’t you realize that I should be involved with my Father’s affairs?”
In preparation for writing a book on parenting, I was curious to learn about the childhood of the great biblical figures. I wanted to see how their earliest experiences may have influenced their relationship with the Lord and
perhaps guided their adult decisions. So, I began my study in Genesis and searched the pages of the Old and New Testaments looking for helpful information. To my amazement, I didn’t find much.
Cain and Abel were born, and the next thing you know, Cain is killing his brother Abel. We first encounter Noah as an adult who “found favor in the eyes of the LORD” (Gen. 6:8). Abraham was old enough to be a
grandfather by the time we meet him. Esau and Jacob were born as twins;
we are told that Esau loved to hunt while Jacob preferred the comforts of home, but their story begins as young adults. We meet Joseph at seventeen.
We are given a few vignettes from the lives of Moses, Samuel, and David.
Not much more for Samson, Elijah, Elisha, Ruth, Esther, Solomon, Job, Daniel, Jonah, and all the other prophets.
In the New Testament, we find a single sentence on the entire childhood of John the Baptizer, who apparently spent most of his childhood in the desert. Barnabas: nothing. Silas: nada. We learn that Timothy had a godly mother and grandmother, but nothing about his father or his journey to
manhood is shared. Even the early years of Saul of Tarsus remain a mystery.
We know zilch about his days in Tarsus as a little Jewish boy or the details of his education under Gamaliel.
I soon realized that much of what I thought I knew about these people didn’t come from Scripture but from my own imagination.
While the Gospels don’t tell us all we would like to know about the childhood of Jesus, we actually have more information about His early years than any other person in the Bible. And what we learn from Him as a child is priceless.
As Luke continues his account of Christ’s early years, he speeds past several significant episodes. If Luke knew about the visit of the magi, Herod’s desperate attempt to destroy the legitimate King of the Jews, their sojourn in Egypt, and their subsequent return to Nazareth (Matt. 2:1-23), then he deliberately left out these details because they didn’t advance his primary purpose in writing. He left these to Matthew, who omitted the birth account in order to focus on Jesus’ strained relationship with the national leaders of Israel. (Note Matthew’s transition from 1:25 to 2:1.) Luke chose, instead, to focus on the ordinariness of the Lord’s childhood, while showing Him to have been an extraordinary child.
The regions ruled by Herod the Great were divided between his sons when he died in 4 BC.
— 2:39-40 —
The events of Matthew 2:1-23 fall between Luke 2:38 and 2:39. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus remained in Egypt until the death of Herod the Great in 4
BC and may have planned to then live in Judea permanently. But, upon their return, they discovered that the cruelty of Herod’s son Archelaus eclipsed that of his father. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, he “began his reign with the murder of three thousand citizens; as if he had a mind to offer so many bloody sacrifices to God for his government.”[27] So, they
returned to their original home in Nazareth of Galilee, ruled by the slightly less insane Antipas (Matt. 2:22-23). The town’s isolation from mainstream Jewish politics provided the family relatively good protection from the whims of Antipas. (See comments on 1:26-27.)[28]
— 2:41-45 —
According to Jewish law, only men were required to make the journey to Jerusalem for the three great feasts (Deut. 16:16): Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Nevertheless, particularly devout families made the journey together, and for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, that would have required a three- or four-day journey from Galilee. Traveling in large caravans protected the pilgrims from robbery during their journey and added to the joy of the celebration.
In this particular year, Jesus was twelve years of age, one birthday shy of manhood according to Jewish custom. At thirteen, young men were considered full-fledged “sons of the covenant,” complete with all the rights and responsibilities of adulthood, and were fully responsible to know and follow the Law of Moses.[29] Today, Jews initiate young boys into
manhood through the rite of bar mitzvah. The Mishnah is a document
compiled between AD 70 and 220 to preserve the oral teaching and practical traditions of the rabbis. It describes a rudimentary form of this rite to be performed on special occasions, such as betrothal and marriage. In such cases, the priests examined a young man or woman’s comprehension of the
Law before holding them legally accountable for their decisions.[30] This suggests that first-century Jews may have performed some form of this rite as well, but no one can say for certain.
As the week of Passover concluded and the families began their caravan home to Galilee, Jesus asserted His independence. He remained behind in Jerusalem to spend time with the priests in the temple. Meanwhile, Joseph and Mary journeyed north to Galilee along with hundreds of other pilgrims, including dozens of friends and extended relatives, only to discover en route that Jesus had not joined extended family in another part of the caravan. Immediately, Joseph and Mary returned to Jerusalem and after three days of searching, found Jesus in the temple, sitting among the nation’s foremost experts in Jewish law.
— 2:46-47 —
Luke describes the religious leaders as “amazed” (existēmi [1839]), which literally means “‘to remove oneself,’ figuratively ‘to lose one’s wits,’ ‘go out of one’s mind,’ ‘be terrified out of one’s wits.’”[31] We would say,
“They were beside themselves.” This term is common in the Septuagint when describing a person’s response to a manifestation or act of God. Luke uses this term in Luke—Acts almost exclusively for supernatural activity (such as resurrection [8:56; 24:22]; activities of the Holy Spirit [Acts 2:7, 12; 10:45]; and the work of Simon the magician [Acts 8:9, 11, 13]). The NASB translates no fewer than four other Greek terms as “amazed.” Luke could have chosen any one of those, but he selected the most theologically loaded term available.
So, “amazed” barely does justice to the utter astonishment and
excitement Israel’s most gifted teachers experienced upon meeting Jesus.
They reacted as we might if we were to hear a five-year-old give a lecture on quantum gravity and string theory and then banter with today’s leading minds in particle physics. The priests and leading teachers had encountered a child-savant. The boy theologian was making logical connections to arrive at insights that should have been far beyond any twelve-year-old mind.
— 2:48-50 —
When Joseph and Mary found Jesus in the temple, they understandably spoke to Him like any parent would after searching for three days. Their voices undoubtedly expressed both relief and exasperation. Luke renders Mary’s address to Jesus with the Greek word teknon [5043] (rendered
“Son” in English), which was typically used by a superior to address a subordinate, such as in a teacher-student, master-slave, or parent-child relationship. This form of address was entirely appropriate. Mary forgot whom she was addressing, however, and overstepped herself in two other respects. First, speaking for the couple, she asked a question that mildly suggested insensitivity or even selfishness on the part of Jesus. Second, she referred to Joseph as the father of Jesus.
At first blush, the response given by Jesus might appear disrespectful, but if we could have heard His inflection, undoubtedly we would have heard genuine confusion in His voice. If Joseph and Mary had remembered the message of the angel and the prophecy of Simeon, they should have known exactly where to find the Son of God. Furthermore, His mild rebuke marks a significant turning point in His life by establishing two important facts. He clarified for Mary, Joseph, and the gathered theological experts, first, that His Father was none other than God, and second, that His life was not His own—a divine destiny marked the path before Him and he “had” to follow it obediently (cf. John 4:34; 5:30, 36; 6:38; 17:4; 19:28, 30).
The phrase “in My Father’s house” can also be translated “about My Father’s business” (NKJV) because the Greek expression does not include the word “house” but rather a pronominal use of the article “the,” to be understood in light of the immediate context. “In the [house] of My Father”
makes good sense because of where they were standing. “In the [things] of My Father” also makes sense because of what Jesus was doing. In other words, Joseph and Mary should have been able to predict the most likely place to find Jesus if they fully considered His divine identity and divine purpose on earth.
Unfortunately, Joseph and Mary didn’t get it: “They did not understand the statement which He had made to them.”
— 2:51-52 —
While Joseph and Mary—as firsthand witnesses to angelic announcements, worship by shepherds and magi, and prophetic oracles—did not see Jesus’
divine purpose unfolding before them, Jesus did. He, perhaps for the first time, completely understood what He had come to earth to do. Even so, He would have to wait, for He was not yet recognized as a man in Jewish society.[32] Therefore, despite Jesus’ realization of His identity, He submitted to the authority of Joseph and Mary without complaint.
The phrase “treasured all these things in her heart” recalls 2:19 and portrays Mary gathering memories into a mental scrapbook. This statement serves to conclude this section of the Lord’s biography.
Luke’s summary statement in 2:52 describes the years between age twelve and thirty (3:23), the age at which a priest may begin service in the temple (Num. 4:46-47) and the traditional age of full manhood. It also bookends this particular episode with Luke 2:40: “The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”
These two verses (2:40, 52) both describe Christ’s growth using the imperfect tense, which emphasizes ongoing, continual progression. The different verbs in the two verses, however, create for us a “before-and-after”
picture, as it were, with a progression implied in 2:41-51. Luke
communicates that Jesus came out of this experience very different from how He entered it.
The Greek term rendered “continued to grow” (2:40) emphasizes physical growth. Roughly translated, Luke says He “got bigger.” The expressions for “become strong” and “increasing in wisdom” are passive verbs. In other words, Jesus didn’t have much to do with getting bigger and becoming strong or wise. Biology was doing the work. In 2:52, however, Luke’s choice of verb means “to advance,” “to make headway,” or “to forge
ahead.”[33] After this event in Jesus’ childhood, Luke portrays Him as actively participating in His own maturation. After His time with the professors in the temple, Jesus emerged fully aware of His identity and purpose.
In between the passive “getting bigger” and the active “forging ahead,”
Luke’s vocabulary reveals a progression in maturity. The word for “child”
in 2:40 is paidion [3813], which can denote an infant, a toddler, or even a young boy or girl, but not a teenager. Jesus is then referred to as a pais [3816], the general term for a youthful person who has not yet reached puberty (2:43). In 2:48, His mother addresses Him as teknon, which was used of someone’s progeny or of a disciple. It’s a term of rank. And then finally, in 2:52, Luke calls Jesus by His proper name, just as he turns the narrative toward the public ministry of the adult Messiah.
I don’t think this is a coincidence. As I trace the name Jesus through chapter 2, I find:
2:21: The newborn child receives the name Jesus.
2:27: “The child (paidion) Jesus” is brought to the temple.
2:43: “The boy (pais) Jesus” remained behind in the temple.
2:52: “Jesus” (no qualifier) kept maturing.
When the Son came to earth to become a flesh-and-bone human, He voluntarily laid aside the use of His divine power. He exchanged
omnipresence for finitude; He existed fully in one place within a finite human body. He exchanged omnipotence for frailty; He suffered the pain, weakness, hunger, and fatigue that is common to all people. He exchanged omniscience for incomprehension; He “grew in wisdom.” (Omniscience cannot grow!)
Like all little boys, He gained weight. He learned manners. He was taught to read. He received instruction in the synagogue and at home. And somewhere in the process of maturity, He became fully aware of His
identity as the Son of God and completely conscious of His mission as the Savior of the world.
Luke’s description of this event in Jesus’ childhood strongly suggests that this may have been the day it all came together.