We know quite a lot about the birth of Jesus from the Gospels, but very little about His childhood. His first recorded words in Scripture come in Luke 2:41-52, when His family went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, and ended up returning without Him… only to find Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening and asking questions. As His mother asked Him why He had done this, He replied, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”
It is clear from this passage that Jesus, aged 12 (the age at which Jewish boys were preparing for their Bar-Mitzvah, the transition from childhood to maturity), had an assurance of His identity (He was not just in the temple; He was in ‘my Father’s house.’) That identity led Him to prioritise spiritual learning above earthly responsibilities (though He went back with His parents and was obedient to them, demonstrating a humility and respect which are a part of growing up.) He had a focus on God which would give Him the authority and assurance which astounded people even at this point of His life and which would be a characteristic of His teaching.
Part of our responsibility as parents and grandparents is to pass on spiritual truths, to pass on the baton of faith. It can be challenging to recognise that our ‘little ones’ grow and mature into adults and to give them the space to do so, but Mary continued to treasure these things as she grew in an understanding of who her son really was.
This passage reminds us that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. He displays an authority in His words at an early age but also allows Himself to sit under the authority of His parents and to learn from other teachers. He spent the first years of His life learning His identity, just as we all do. The fact that it takes another 18 years before His ministry begins reminds us that there is no such thing as instant maturity.
