“Jesus returneth with his parents to Nazareth” (Luke 2:51–52) by William Hole (1846–1917). G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection.
Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?
Luke 2:49.
The Jews’ Passover feast was one of the highlights of the year. Every pious Jew who was able to went to Jerusalem for the feast. For their journeys they travelled with their relatives and friends in groups. When Jesus Christ was twelve years old, He went on this trip that lasted several days for the first time from Galilee to Jerusalem on foot. At the end of the feast they returned home. Joseph and Mary also set off, thinking that the boy Jesus was somewhere among the travellers. In the evening they tried to find him among their relatives and acquaintances, but in vain. In their anxiety they returned to Jerusalem, a whole day’s journey, and found Him on the third day.
Jesus was sitting in the temple among the rabbis, listening to them. And when He asked them a question, as was the custom there, they were astonished, as they were, too, at the answers He gave. It was more than they expected of a twelve-year-old! They had no idea who He really was: the Son of God who had become Man.
Mary asked Him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously.” Whoever has sought a missing child can well understand her question. However, His answer made them take notice: “Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” They knew very well that Joseph was not Jesus’ real father. By faith they had both accepted the miracle that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost. Jesus was the Son of God; therefore He had stayed behind in the temple, His Father’s house.
Image: By Hole, William, 1846-1917 – Library of CongressCatalog: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/matpc/item/mpc2010000493/PPOriginal url: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/matpc.23115, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67161067