NOTES for Luk 2:41-52
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. |
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. |
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. |
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. |
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. |
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. |
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. |
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. |
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? |
50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. |
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. |
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. |
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The life of Jesus between the Nativity and His going out to preach is closed to us, but the story of the journey to Jerusalem gives us the only glimmer in the fog. Why, then, did the evangelist include only this episode from the Savior's childhood in his narrative? Hardly only because no other information had survived by the time the text was composed; rather, it was because this particular episode is important for understanding later events. For before us is a testimony that already in childhood Jesus was conscious of His mission.
Jesus must have been sociable as a child; otherwise it is hard to explain why Mary and Joseph, at first thinking that He was traveling with relatives and neighbors, showed no concern about His absence. We, for our part, may conclude that already in childhood He knew how to communicate with very different people, and that His conversation in the temple anticipated His coming work as Teacher. And that the temple is His Father's house is witnessed not only by His words, but also by how naturally He behaved in the temple. As for His three-day absence from those close to Him, many interpreters advise seeing it as a foreshadowing of His absence from the earth after Golgotha...
Readings for 18 February 2026
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