“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
“The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship…” [1]
Why did Jesus go with His parents to the temple in Jerusalem? Jesus and his relatives travelled to the temple to make the Passover pilgrimage. “Only males aged twelve and upwards were required to make this journey.” [2] A deeper meaning behind it was “Because God commanded that all the male Israelites should appear, three times a year on certain festivals, and offer sacrifice to Him in the temple; Jesus fulfilled this commandment to set us an example that we, according to the will of the holy Catholic Church, should willingly and devoutly be present at the services of the Church on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Neither the distance from the church nor the difficulties of the way should prevent our attendance, since Jesus did not shun a three days’ journey to the temple. [3] What are the difficulties or obstacles for the modern family to attend Mass? Should these difficulties and obstacles really keep us from our obligation and opportunity to attend Mass? What can be done to remove these obstacles?
Why does the Gospel say “according to the custom of the feast”? “That we may understand, that like Mary and Joseph, we should be punctual in observing the ecclesiastical festivals and holy usages, and like true Catholics, should observe them. Parents should require their children at an early age to take part in prayer, attend church and school, and see that they conduct themselves quietly and reverently while there. Mary and Joseph took the holy Child Jesus with them to the temple.” [4]
Why did Jesus remain in Jerusalem? “Because of His love of prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, and to show, even then, some rays of His divinity, by which to make known that He had come for the glory of His Father, and to procure our salvation. The glory of God and the salvation of our souls should be our chief object in life.” [5]
How could Mary and Joseph lose Jesus? “On pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Jews used to go in two groups – one of men, the other of women. Children could go with either group. This explains how they could go a day’s journey before they discovered the Child was missing when the families regrouped to camp.” [6]
Why did Mary and Joseph search so hard for Jesus? “Because they were fearful lest they should lose Him Whom they loved so exceedingly. We should learn from this, how careful we should be not to lose Jesus by sin, or having lost Him, how anxiously we should seek by penance to find Him. The parents of Jesus, by their diligent search and inquiries for the divine Infant, teach and rebuke those parents who care less for the Christian education of their children than for their temporal advantages, who pay no attention to the persons with whom their children associate, nor to the places which they frequent, whether they learn things that are useful to them, and who for the sake of some temporal advantage permit their children sinful intimacy with evil-minded persons. From these parents God will one day demand the souls of their children with severest justice.” [7]
Why was the child Jesus found in the temple in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking questions? Jesus teaches us to seek the knowledge necessary for our salvation, and attend carefully to sermons’ instructions on Christian doctrine. We should by no means be ashamed to ask questions of our pastors when we are in doubt, and should listen to their answers. Was Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, ashamed to ask questions and to answer? Why should we ignorant people hesitate? It regretful that a person who has many important things concerning their spiritual welfare on his or her mind, through pride and false shame, would rather go to perdition than to ask advice, solely for fear of showing ignorance. [8]
Why does Mary ask, “Son, why have you done this to us?” While Mary knew Jesus was the Son of God, as one commentary says, “there was no reason why it should include detailed knowledge of all the sacrifices God would ask of her, nor of how Christ would go about his mission of redemption: that was something she would discover as time went by, contemplating her Sons’ life.” [9] Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen explains Mary’s question upon finding Jesus by comparing it to the Wedding at Cana. When Jesus was found in the temple at age 12, it’s clear that both Mary and Joseph “did not understand” that Jesus was doing the Father’s will. Comparatively, later, at the wedding at Cana, when Jesus was 30, Mary has grown so much in understanding of the mission of her Jesus and His desire to do the will of the Father, that she ushers in Our Lord’s first miracle when she says, “Do whatever he tells you.” [10] When Mary says to Jesus, “They have no wine”, Jesus said to her, “Woman how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” It is at the Wedding at Cana that the concern of Mary is united with the concern of Christ. We are concerned with many things, but are we concerned with what Christ is concerned with? It is as if Jesus “hour” came, when His mother was ready, almost as if He was waiting for her yes and cooperation to begin His public ministry. Jesus desires us to cooperate with His saving mission—to make His concerns our own concerns. We must heed the words of Our Lady and “do whatever He tells us”, likewise helping others to listen and obey.
How could Jesus “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man,” when He is God? It is because Jesus while Divine was also fully human with a rational, human soul. [11] “This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time.” [12]
[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church 534
[2] Navarre Bible Commentaries, St. Luke, pg. 60
[3] Goffine, The Church’s Year, pg. 71
[4] Ibid
[5] Goffine, The Church’s Year, pg. 71
[6] Navarre Bible Commentaries, St. Luke, pg. 59
[7] Goffine, The Church’s Year, pg. 71
[8] Ibid
[9] Navarre Commentary, St. Luke, pg. 61
[10] John 2:5
[11] Catechism of the Catholic Church 471)
[12] Catechism of the Catholic Church 472)