The boy Jesus in the temple

EACH year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

REFLECTION

THE “MUSTS” OF JESUS’ VOCATION. This year’s Gospel presents Jesus as a boy of twelve. Luke bridges the infancy narratives to Jesus’ public ministry, the only story that emerges from Jesus’ “hidden life” in Nazareth. Scholars point out that this story about Jesus’ boyhood is a biographical paradigm, that is, a short story centered around a saying. The interest of Luke is on Jesus’ reply to his mother Mary: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” What does this reply—the very first words coming from Jesus in the Gospel — mean? Is Jesus being insensitive, unmindful of the great anxiety that Joseph and Mary felt when they found out he was missing? Not at all! Jesus is saying here that his presence in the Temple is indicative of where his vocation lies. He is totally given to the service of God who is his Father. His Father’s will is over and above the interest of his natural family. Whatever may be the Lucan source of this story, it is quite clear that the evangelist works from what he knows of Jesus’ total availability to the Father as known in Jesus’ public ministry. The boy Jesus speaks that he “must be” in his Father’s house. A similar sense of obligation shows when Jesus speaks of the role the Father has given him to play. He “must preach” the Good News to other towns also (cf Lk 4:43); he “must suffer” many things (cf Lk 9:22); he “must finish” his course (cf Lk 13:32-33). These “must” statements are very often connected with Jesus’ passion and resurrection. Suffering, death, and resurrection, inasmuch as they are central to his saving work, are part of the “musts” of Jesus’ vocation. This is the vocation that Jesus presents to his mother and to Joseph, at that time still unable to understand. But Luke ends the narrative with Mary keeping “all these things in her heart” (v 51). Mary, like her Son, must also advance in wisdom as she reflects on the destiny of Jesus and hers.