No pressure. The angels and everyone tells you that you are raising the Messiah. And then you lose him. As in he can’t be found anywhere.
It may seem strange to us in modern times. How can parents lose their son on a trip?
But the times were such that people traveled in groups. All the relatives and neighbors and everyone went to Jerusalem in caravans. It was more fun that way and it also provided safety. Everyone looked out after each other’s kids so there was a sense of village safety.
Except at some point when the headed out Joseph and Mary realized the boy Jesus was not with them. He was 12 years old and still considered a boy. And yet so close to the age of 13, the bar mitzvah, and being called a man.
For three whole days they searched for him. I’m sure the people in the temple looked after him during this time, waiting for his parents to return. But three days of the sheer panic of a parent. Only a parent who has had their child missing for more than a few days can truly understand. They looked everywhere.
Finally they found him. In the temple. Discussing the Scriptures with the teachers. The leaders there had been amazed at him and his understanding.
When Mary asked why he had treated them this way and that they had been searching for him. His reply was a question.
“Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (v. 49).
Mary and Joseph didn’t understand. They did not connect Father to a heavenly Father. They were just beside themselves that he had been missing for 3 days.
But it was one more thing that Mary treasured in her heart. She remembered these things and the things he said.
And as for Jesus, he knew even at 12 years old who he was. He belonged to his Heavenly Father. And the purposes of his heavenly Father took precedence over all.
So why is this in the text? Why here?
It’s just one more event that showed that Jesus truly was the Son of God.
Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.