Young Jesus Visits the Teachers, Luke 2:40-52, Luke 1:80
Luke 2:40 The Child continued to grow1 and become strong, [a]increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 41 Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover2. 42 And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; 43 and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days3, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, 44 but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. 46 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were amazed4 at His understanding and His answers. 48 When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother5 said to Him, “[b]Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father6 and I [c]have been anxiously looking for You.” 49 And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s6,7 [d]house?” 50 But they did not understand8 the statement which He [e]had made to them. 51 And He went down with them and came to Nazareth9, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother5 treasured all these [f]things in her heart10. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and [g]stature1, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 1:80 And the child continued to grow1 and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Footnotes
a. Luke 2:40 Lit becoming full of
b. Luke 2:48 Or Child
c. Luke 2:48 Lit are looking
d. Luke 2:49 Or affairs; lit in the things of My Father
e. Luke 2:50 Lit had spoken
f. Luke 2:51 Lit words
g. Luke 2:52 Or age
Commentary
The next chronological event is Jesus as a young boy getting separated from His parents. I also included a verse about John the Baptist because there are parallel timelines here, with the growth of both Jesus and John the Baptist (who was about 6 months older than Jesus). These are the only accounts of Jesus or John’s boyhood, and they are both found in Luke. Gospel writers did not appear to be concerned with the environmental factors of Jesus’ upbringing, but Luke’s mention of this single event allowed him to “illustrate Jesus’ first contact with the Temple teachers” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Vol 3, pg. 527). His allusion to the growth and boyhood of both Jesus and John may also contribute, in my opinion, to the elevation and relevance of children and women in Luke’s gospel.
Along with the parental responsibility to demonstrate and explain the purpose of Passover to their children (Ex 12:26, 13:8), Jewish men were required to appear in the temple three times each year. As far as I can tell, this is the last time Joseph is mentioned alive, so this Passover is the last legacy we see him leaving for Jesus. At twelve years old, Jesus had just become a man, according to the Jewish culture. While Joseph had been going to Jerusalem regularly, this was probably Jesus’ first time appearing in the temple for the ritual (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1268). He therefore determined to go to the temple to learn all He could from the scholars there (Word in Life Study Bible pg. 1770). Despite the fact that He appears to have known He was the Son of God, this passage shows us that He still had to go through the process of learning and growth, just like any child. Verse 52 details the four ways He matured as He grew: “ (1) mentally, i.e., ‘in wisdom’; (2) physically, i.e., in ‘stature’; (3) spiritually, i.e., ‘in favor with God’; and (4) socially, i.e., in favor with ‘man’ (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1268). However, His aptitude for the subject of the law and prophets astounded everyone who heard Him. In the passage, we see that Mary is specifically called out again as considering these things in her heart. It is possible that the banality of everyday life had allowed Jesus’ parents’ awe to stagnate somewhat. This may have been the first reminder in some while of their son’s divine origins (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1268). There is additional evidence to suggest the rest of Jesus’ formative years were relatively unremarkable to those living in His city of Nazareth, “for they were astonished when His ministry was in progress” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 3 pg. 528).
The one part of this passage that has always intrigued me is the fact that Jesus stayed behind without telling His parents, and when His mother scolded Him for having given them such a scare, He says He assumed they had known. As a parent, I read this through the lens of someone who has heard many excuses, dripping with feigned ignorance of the rules and consequences. However, as Jesus lived a sinless life, it is possible that His parents had never before had an opportunity to explain the house rules against disappearing without telling them, and that His statement truly was guileless. My view is so jaded by the world and my experiences, and I attribute so much wisdom to Him, even as a young child, that it is a real challenge to imagine such genuine innocence in a twelve-year-old. Perhaps that is why Luke tells us, twice, that Jesus was continuing to mature. He didn’t begin life understanding everything. Not only was it a different culture, but Jesus Himself was so different from the other children that He must have learned things in different ways at different times. He may have also demonstrated an insatiable appetite for scriptural teaching whenever it was available to Him, so this being His first trip to the temple, He may have honestly assumed that His parents would realize that He was doing the same thing He always did when He had the chance to learn more about Biblical teaching. What is important to the idea of His sinless nature is that He learned from this experience and continued to live in subjection to His parents afterward, when they returned to Nazareth together.
Since this study takes place during the Passover celebration, I spent some time reflecting on that tradition, as well. In studying the Passover, there are a lot of parallels to absorb, with regard to Jesus’ life. One I would like to call out specifically is that Jesus was missing for 3 days after Passover as a youth. Later in his life, the Last Supper was taken as people gathered for Passover, after which Jesus was crucified and buried for 3 days before rising from the dead. Of course, there is also the sacrificial male lamb without blemish and the fact that God used the original Passover event to liberate His people from slavery. There are so many more, plenty I’m sure I missed, and as I was reading about the Passover in the Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, I saw the myriad scripture citations of the mention of Passover in the Old Testament, from Exodus to Nehemiah to Psalms. I was suddenly overcome with a sense of humility, gratitude, unity, and purpose as I watched the theme pervade the entire Bible. I imagined the warmth of the Jewish families sharing this time with their children and helping them to understand and remember what God had done for them. It was a truly beautiful and moving picture.
The New Testament is also full of references to Passover, many of which we will explore as we move forward with the study of the gospels, and John especially highlights many of the Passovers during Jesus’ ministry in the fourth gospel, a primary theme of which is “that the Messiah is the true bread of life” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Vol. 4, pg. 608). As this year’s Passover and Resurrection celebrations near, I plan to give some more thought to the ways God commanded the Israelites to celebrate with various feasts and the relevance of those directives to today’s Gentile Christians. Certainly, I’ll have more opportunity to share my findings as we progress through the gospel accounts of the Passover feasts Jesus celebrated during his life and ministry.
See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2019/03/07/introduction-of-john-the-baptist/
Scripture References
2Ex 12:11 Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.
2Ex 23:15 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed.
2Dt 16:1 “Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. 3 You shall not eat leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), so that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the Lord your God is giving you; 6 but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt.
3Ex 12:15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
4Mt 7:28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
4Mt 13:54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?
4Mt 22:33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
4Mk 1:22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
4Mk 6:2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?
4Mk 11:18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
4Lk 4:32 and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.
4Jn 7:15 The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”
5Mt 12:46 While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.
6Lk 3:23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli,
6Lk 4:22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
7Jn 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
7Jn 5:36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
8Mk 9:32 But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
8Lk 9:45 But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.
8Lk 18:34 But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said.
9Lk 2:39 When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth.
10Lk 2:19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
Num 9:12 They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it. 13 But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet [a]neglects to observe the Passover, that [b]person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin. 14 If an alien sojourns among you and [c]observes the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.’”
Ex 12:26 And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’
Ex 13:8 You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
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