It must be a boy thing – disappearing for a while without telling parents where they are going. I have two sons and they both did it. I found one on a playground near the school. He wanted to play with a friend. He was 6 years old. I found the other one about three blocks away at a friend’s house. He was 7 years old. During that half hour of not knowing where they were, I was terrified at the possibilities of what could have happened to them.
At the age of 12, Jesus disappeared on his parents as well. But they were a day’s journey away before they knew he was missing. That can happen when you’re traveling in a larger group of people and your 12-year-old likes to hang out with friends. But Mary and Joseph had three whole days to be terrified as they retraced their steps to see if they could find him. Can you imagine explaining to God that you lost his Son whom he had entrusted into your care? I’m sure God had his angels surrounding Jesus at all times. But it doesn’t appear that the angels sat down with Mary every night to go over the next day of caring for Jesus. Mary and Joseph were real people with real responses to situations and in this situation, I believe they were pretty anxious.
“After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’ ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked, ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” Luke 2:46-50
It took Mary and Joseph three days to think about looking at the temple courts. Didn’t they know they were raising God’s Son and he needed to teach rabbis and teachers of the law? Yes, it says he was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Luke 2:46 But then it says, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Luke 2:47 So apparently, he was doing more than listening and asking questions. He likely was asking the kind of questions that made them dig deeper for answers and got them to thinking about things from a different angle. In fact, they were so into this discussion that they were probably not aware three days had gone by. Jesus may have been saying, “Hey guys, I have to go. My parents will be wondering where I am.” And they would be saying, “Just one more question,” because they wanted so badly to hear what he would say.
I wonder why Mary and Joseph were ‘astonished’ to find him in the temple talking with the rabbis and teachers of the law. While we are not told this in Scripture, Jesus must have been in Hebrew School from the time he was about 6 years old. He would have memorized the Torah and would already be in the practice of asking questions so the rabbis could teach. Surely his local rabbi would have told Mary and Joseph how amazing he was as a student. So why would they have been astonished to find him in the temple and why would it have taken them three days to think to look there?
I’m thinking maybe Jesus was a pretty normal child and glad to get out of school and go play with his friends. Maybe up to that point Jesus had not spoken up so much but observed a lot, getting to know how the people thought and what they believed. Maybe even as he was storing tons of knowledge and information inside through those years, he had not appeared to be a precocious child. And maybe God needed Jesus to have three days to teach the teachers! They may have been much more open to learning from a 12-year-old child than they were 20 years later when he was trying to teach them new ways to look at things. I wonder how many of these rabbis and teachers of the law were around when Jesus went into the temple and threw over the money changers’ tables or challenged their practices and if they remembered their discussions with him during those three days.
“But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:51-52 Once her heart slowed down, Mary treasured the knowledge that her Son was in his “Father’s House”. Luke 2:49 It was another confirmation for her that he was indeed the Son of God. What other 12-year-old boy would have hung out at the temple questioning and answering rabbis for three whole days, amazing them with his understanding?
Listed in Ecclesiastes 3 with the time for everything is “…a time to search and a time to give up…” and “…a time to be silent and a time to speak…” Mary and Joseph had their time to search and Jesus had his time to speak. I’m so grateful that Luke recorded this little piece of biography on Jesus as a child. Because little is said in Scripture about his growing up years, we tend to think he was born and then he was 30. We forget that Mary and Joseph had those same somewhat anxious years of every parent when we are protective, we care for physical needs, and we teach our children. We try to keep them out of trouble and keep them safe. And Mary ponders and treasures these moments.
They searched until they found him. And today, people still search for him – not because he is lost, but because they left him behind when they went on their detour in life. And when they find him, they are astonished that he was there all the time!
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