Source: Chapter 5: The Youth of Christ, J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ.

Key verses: Luke 2: 42-51; emphasis on Luke 2: 52: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

Key idea: At the age of 12, a Jewish boy crossed the boundary between childhood and youth.  Becoming then a “son of the Law,” Jesus assumed for Himself the religious responsibilities that had at first rested on His parents.  Now He must observe the ceremonial law and attend the prescribed annual festivals at Jerusalem.  It was when He attained this critical age that Jesus, with His parents and friends, made His first journey to observe the Passover feast in .Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Journey. The road to Jerusalem was haunted by wild beasts and bandits.  For defence they kept together and as they journeyed they sang their songs, Psalm 120-134 (also called the Songs of Ascent or the Songs of Degrees). To the village lad, the gleaming white rock of the temple fell on His eyes, the shining spires, the throngs of people, the officiating priests, the altars, the incense, all this must have been an exciting yet sobering experience.

Without doubt this visit to Jerusalem was an important watershed in His life.  He would revel in instruction given by the learned doctors of the law, who came out from the Sanhedrin and taught the people colloquially in the Temple courts.

The Distressing Discovery. The festival over, the crowds began their journey home.  Since it was customary for the youth of the party to travel and sleep together, Joseph and Mary were not concerned at Jesus’ absence from their side.  But unconcern gave way to acute anxiety when at night they failed to find Him along His companions.  Never before had He caused them a moment’s anxiety and such was their confidence in Him that his absence aroused no concern. The distress of Joseph and Mary as the time passed without locating Him is not difficult to imagine.

The cryptic answer. “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Jesus gently but decisively relegated Mary back within the limits beyond which she tended to advance.  He also tacitly but tactfully disowned any human relationship with Joseph.  The very way He said “my Father” indicated the clear conviction that God was uniquely His Father.

Changes in the boy Jesus:

1. Seven days of the Passover feast had been too short for His eager soul and inquiring mind.
2. The zeal of His Father’s house was already consuming Him.
3. His actions were a response to the call that had been growing louder in His inmost spirit.  He elected to remain behind to learn more knowledge.
4. He felt a compelling filial duty to obey the call of the Spirit within even at the risk of being misunderstood by those whom He dearly loved and to whom he had always rendered unquestioning obedience.
5. So unusual was His wisdom, to remarkable His artless statements, so penetrating His questions that all who heard Him were astonished.
6. His was not mere precocity, or a mind that was far advanced beyond His age.  He had a mind filled with heavenly wisdom, yet all unassuming and only eager to learn.

Jesus’ submission. Jesus developed from boyhood to manhood demonstrating filial obedience to His human parents and His divine Father.  This marks the beginning of eighteen years of hidden discipline and training during which “He was in all points tempted…yet without sin.”  At home, He learned the habit of self-surrender and implicit obedience that characterized His attitude to His Father, and culminated in death on the cross.

Jesus’ pattern. Thus Son of Man provided a pattern for Christian young people in their relationship with their parents.Children have to obey their parents in the Lord.  And we parents, we have the obligation to bring up our children according to the nurture (pag-aaruga) and admonition (pangaral) of the Lord  (ng Panginoon) and not our own.