In Luke’s Gospel, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to Jerusalem yearly to celebrate the Passover. They are travelling with many others, friends, and family. Of course, at that time, they walked for miles. So the children would be together with friends and family.
They left to go home, probably a two to three-day walk and a day in, and they couldn’t find Jesus. They went all the way back to Jerusalem and looked everywhere for Him.
Luke 2:46-47
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Imagine a 12-year-old spending three full days impressing the teachers of the law. Those who spent their entire lives studying it. Wow!
(Interesting aside: Passover, three days, etc.)
Mary scolds Him: ‘Where have you been? We have been looking everywhere for you.’
Jesus replies Luke 2:49
Luke 2:49
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
Jesus says He had to be in My Father’s house! His Father’s House.
Mary and Joseph had been so busy raising Him and his siblings and doing life that they forgot whose Son He was.
Jesus longed to be with His Father and revelled in the opportunity to be in His Father’s house. And He delighted in knowing, learning, and engaging in God’s word.
Jesus, God’s Son.
