Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
His parents went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover feast in obedience to the law for Israel. When Jesus was twelve they took Him with them, for at that age a Hebrew boy became a son of the law and was to share in the sacred feasts and receive religious instruction. On that visit He beheld the temple, its priests and paschal rites for the first time, and as He pondered them day by day their meaning opened to Him until the mystery of His own mission for the children of Abraham began to dawn upon His mind. When the feast ended He remained behind and presented Himself among the learned doctors as a humble learner asking of the Messiah, astonishing them with His questions and wisdom while rebuking sin by His purity and meekness. His parents lost Him for a day through engrossment in visiting and vain talk and needed three sorrowful days to find Him again, warning that Christ's presence is lost by careless neglect and regained only by anxious search, while that three-day separation foreshadowed His death for sin when He would be lost and then found again.
The Yearly Passover Journey
Joseph and Mary, as devout Israelites, went up to Jerusalem every year to keep the Passover feast in obedience to Jewish law. When Jesus was twelve they brought Him with them on the annual journey. At that customary age a Hebrew boy became a son of the law and was expected to take part in the sacred feasts and receive special religious instruction. The yearly visit thus became the occasion for His questions and teaching in the temple.
The journey took several days in spring, near the end of March or the beginning of April. Families traveled together, and worshipers came from across Palestine and from Jewish communities in other countries. As they traveled they remembered God's past acts for Israel and sang psalms.
The feast recalled God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and His miracles, mercy, and loving-kindness. Remembering these works was meant to turn the people from worldly concerns, deepen love and reverence for God, and lead them to trust Him in trials rather than turn to other gods. It was meant to carry solemn significance and prompt reflection on the prophecies concerning Jesus' birth and youth. It was meant to call attention to Christ as the coming Saviour, to point to redemption through Christ, and its ceremonies revealed the meaning of His mission. By Jesus' time many observed it as a mere formality, pastime, or ceremony without its solemn significance.
The verse places the events in the setting of the yearly journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. It belongs to the account of Christ's early life spent in the humble home at Nazareth with the instruction given in Hebrew homes.
Christ at Twelve in Temple
On this Passover visit He for the first time in His childhood looked upon the temple, the white-robed priests in their solemn ministry, prayer, incense, and the impressive rites of the paschal service with its sacrificial victim. As He silently and absorbedly considered them day by day their meaning became clearer, every act seen as bound up with His own life, and new impulses awakening within Him as He studied out the great problem before Him. There the mystery of His mission began to open to Him, and the work He was to do for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the appointed heirs of the covenant promises, began to dawn upon His mind. Its ceremonies revealed to Him the meaning of His mission, for the Passover recalled Israel's deliverance from Egypt and pointed to redemption through Christ.
When the Passover services ended He lingered in the temple courts and remained there when the worshipers left Jerusalem. There He presented Himself before the learned rabbis and doctors of the law in the attitude of a humble learner, plying them with questions regarding the coming of the Messiah. They were astonished at His questions and could not always answer Him, for though not taught by the rabbis He was more learned than they and revealed perfection of character. By every question He poured light into their darkened minds as a teacher without letting them suspect He was teaching them, and by purity, humility, and meekness He rebuked sin while leaving nothing for which to blame Him.
His three-day separation from His parents foreshadowed His death for the sins of the world, when He would be lost to them for three days and then reveal Himself and be found. That sorrowful three-day search prepared them for His suffering and death and pointed to their faith in Him as Redeemer and advocate with the Father. His stay in Jerusalem also reminded His parents of their duty and of the special favor of having the Son of God entrusted to their care.
Losing and Finding Jesus
On the return from Jerusalem a day's journey was made with minds engrossed by talking and visiting, supposing Jesus to be with the company, until after halting to rest Joseph and Mary discovered He was missing. Inquiry and search among acquaintances and relatives found no trace, and they searched sorrowfully with no success. They endured three days of anguish and hastened back to Jerusalem heavy, sad, and fearful.
The loss came through absorption in conversation and visiting, vain talking, jesting, joking, and evil speaking, and even through neglect of prayer, the confusion of much talk leading them to forget for an entire day Him whom they should not have forgotten for a moment. For one day of neglect they lost Jesus from their company and needed three days of anxious sorrowful search to find Him again and regain peace of mind and the consolation of His grace. Their lapse warns that careless attention and vain conversation can cause loss of the sense of Christ's presence, and that recovering it may take much longer than the neglect that caused it. Such feasting amid festivities, reunions, hilarity, recreation, and indulgence of appetite leads to frivolity and puts religious, thoughtful conversation aside for another time. No one can be loose and lax in banqueting enjoyment where there is danger of losing the company of Jesus Christ for even a single hour, though recreation and innocent enjoyments carefully guarded are no sin.
The setting is of Jesus growing up under God's care and a pious mother's guidance. He lived from infancy to manhood without committing sin because the God of salvation protected Him and worked with all faithfulness in everything He did, and He drew other children to Himself by singing songs of heaven with a pleasant voice, giving parents an example to lay aside harsh ruling with an iron rod and to seek salvation every day with pleasant speech. Because Christ was once a little child, children are to be honored and dealt with gently as a sacred charge belonging to God and loved by Him. They are not to be indulged, petted, and idolized but to be taught to live a pure, noble life and form perfect characters, with mothers cooperating with Him.
He made His home among the people of Nazareth for thirty years, living there unhonored and unknown in a town proverbial for wickedness and considered the worst in Palestine. He commenced His great work to uplift and regenerate the whole soul there amid moral darkness by becoming a citizen of that place, setting His own feet upon the paths the poor and neglected must tread, and pouring contempt upon human pride of place, station, honor, and fame. By dwelling among those far down in popularity and morality He demonstrated that any place, however hard and lowly, if it is the post of duty, can be made honorable by fidelity, lest followers compelled to live in lowly places should frame an excuse for their sins and for rough, hard, uncourteous characters. As He was at work even then and continued working until He had no home, those established, rooted, and grounded in truth should enter worldly colleges as students in the same way He went before the rabbis, respecting all rules, living principle, keeping the Sabbath, and telling Bible doctrine in simple language when questioned, so the leaven works and light shines forth to save souls.
His parents went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover feast in obedience to the law for Israel. When Jesus was twelve they took Him with them, for at that age a Hebrew boy became a son of the law and was to share in the sacred feasts and receive religious instruction. On that visit He beheld the temple, its priests and paschal rites for the first time, and as He pondered them day by day their meaning opened to Him until the mystery of His own mission for the children of Abraham began to dawn upon His mind. When the feast ended He remained behind and presented Himself among the learned doctors as a humble learner asking of the Messiah, astonishing them with His questions and wisdom while rebuking sin by His purity and meekness. His parents lost Him for a day through engrossment in visiting and vain talk and needed three sorrowful days to find Him again, warning that Christ's presence is lost by careless neglect and regained only by anxious search, while that three-day separation foreshadowed His death for sin when He would be lost and then found again.
The Yearly Passover Journey
Joseph and Mary, as devout Israelites, went up to Jerusalem every year to keep the Passover feast in obedience to Jewish law. When Jesus was twelve they brought Him with them on the annual journey. At that customary age a Hebrew boy became a son of the law and was expected to take part in the sacred feasts and receive special religious instruction. The yearly visit thus became the occasion for His questions and teaching in the temple.
The journey took several days in spring, near the end of March or the beginning of April. Families traveled together, and worshipers came from across Palestine and from Jewish communities in other countries. As they traveled they remembered God's past acts for Israel and sang psalms.
The feast recalled God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and His miracles, mercy, and loving-kindness. Remembering these works was meant to turn the people from worldly concerns, deepen love and reverence for God, and lead them to trust Him in trials rather than turn to other gods. It was meant to carry solemn significance and prompt reflection on the prophecies concerning Jesus' birth and youth. It was meant to call attention to Christ as the coming Saviour, to point to redemption through Christ, and its ceremonies revealed the meaning of His mission. By Jesus' time many observed it as a mere formality, pastime, or ceremony without its solemn significance.
The verse places the events in the setting of the yearly journey to Jerusalem for the Passover. It belongs to the account of Christ's early life spent in the humble home at Nazareth with the instruction given in Hebrew homes.
Christ at Twelve in Temple
On this Passover visit He for the first time in His childhood looked upon the temple, the white-robed priests in their solemn ministry, prayer, incense, and the impressive rites of the paschal service with its sacrificial victim. As He silently and absorbedly considered them day by day their meaning became clearer, every act seen as bound up with His own life, and new impulses awakening within Him as He studied out the great problem before Him. There the mystery of His mission began to open to Him, and the work He was to do for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the appointed heirs of the covenant promises, began to dawn upon His mind. Its ceremonies revealed to Him the meaning of His mission, for the Passover recalled Israel's deliverance from Egypt and pointed to redemption through Christ.
When the Passover services ended He lingered in the temple courts and remained there when the worshipers left Jerusalem. There He presented Himself before the learned rabbis and doctors of the law in the attitude of a humble learner, plying them with questions regarding the coming of the Messiah. They were astonished at His questions and could not always answer Him, for though not taught by the rabbis He was more learned than they and revealed perfection of character. By every question He poured light into their darkened minds as a teacher without letting them suspect He was teaching them, and by purity, humility, and meekness He rebuked sin while leaving nothing for which to blame Him.
His three-day separation from His parents foreshadowed His death for the sins of the world, when He would be lost to them for three days and then reveal Himself and be found. That sorrowful three-day search prepared them for His suffering and death and pointed to their faith in Him as Redeemer and advocate with the Father. His stay in Jerusalem also reminded His parents of their duty and of the special favor of having the Son of God entrusted to their care.
Losing and Finding Jesus
On the return from Jerusalem a day's journey was made with minds engrossed by talking and visiting, supposing Jesus to be with the company, until after halting to rest Joseph and Mary discovered He was missing. Inquiry and search among acquaintances and relatives found no trace, and they searched sorrowfully with no success. They endured three days of anguish and hastened back to Jerusalem heavy, sad, and fearful.
The loss came through absorption in conversation and visiting, vain talking, jesting, joking, and evil speaking, and even through neglect of prayer, the confusion of much talk leading them to forget for an entire day Him whom they should not have forgotten for a moment. For one day of neglect they lost Jesus from their company and needed three days of anxious sorrowful search to find Him again and regain peace of mind and the consolation of His grace. Their lapse warns that careless attention and vain conversation can cause loss of the sense of Christ's presence, and that recovering it may take much longer than the neglect that caused it. Such feasting amid festivities, reunions, hilarity, recreation, and indulgence of appetite leads to frivolity and puts religious, thoughtful conversation aside for another time. No one can be loose and lax in banqueting enjoyment where there is danger of losing the company of Jesus Christ for even a single hour, though recreation and innocent enjoyments carefully guarded are no sin.
The setting is of Jesus growing up under God's care and a pious mother's guidance. He lived from infancy to manhood without committing sin because the God of salvation protected Him and worked with all faithfulness in everything He did, and He drew other children to Himself by singing songs of heaven with a pleasant voice, giving parents an example to lay aside harsh ruling with an iron rod and to seek salvation every day with pleasant speech. Because Christ was once a little child, children are to be honored and dealt with gently as a sacred charge belonging to God and loved by Him. They are not to be indulged, petted, and idolized but to be taught to live a pure, noble life and form perfect characters, with mothers cooperating with Him.
He made His home among the people of Nazareth for thirty years, living there unhonored and unknown in a town proverbial for wickedness and considered the worst in Palestine. He commenced His great work to uplift and regenerate the whole soul there amid moral darkness by becoming a citizen of that place, setting His own feet upon the paths the poor and neglected must tread, and pouring contempt upon human pride of place, station, honor, and fame. By dwelling among those far down in popularity and morality He demonstrated that any place, however hard and lowly, if it is the post of duty, can be made honorable by fidelity, lest followers compelled to live in lowly places should frame an excuse for their sins and for rough, hard, uncourteous characters. As He was at work even then and continued working until He had no home, those established, rooted, and grounded in truth should enter worldly colleges as students in the same way He went before the rabbis, respecting all rules, living principle, keeping the Sabbath, and telling Bible doctrine in simple language when questioned, so the leaven works and light shines forth to save souls.