This Sunday we celebrate the mystery of the Holy Family.
What was it like for Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to live together?
Each is a very remarkable person! Put all three together and . . . wow.
Today we have reality shows about interesting and extraordinary families, but they didn't have reality shows back then.
Fortunately, we are given a glimpse into the domestic life of the Holy Family.
And it's a glimpse provided by the Virgin Mary herself . . .
Missing Child!
This episode in the life of the Holy Family begins on a holiday: specifically, the feast of Passover.
Luke records that the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem each year for the feast of Passover, apparently in a company of "their kinsfolk and acquaintances," and when Jesus was twelve, he stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Joseph and Mary did not realize this until they had already gone "a day's journey" back to Nazareth, at which point they realized he was not with the company.
They thus began to experience the agony and anxiety of parents who discover their child is missing.
And note the foreshadowing: Was there ever another time in Jesus life, at Passover, in Jerusalem, when Mary would be deprived of Jesus?
"On the Third Day"
Joseph and Mary thus return to Jerusalem and "after three days" find him.
The three days, in this case, are apparently:
- the first day spent journeying from Jerusalem,
- a second day spend journeying back to Jerusalem,
- and the third day (or part of a third day) searching for him in Jerusalem.
Again, note the foreshadowing: The three days echo the three days (or, more precisely, parts of three days) that Jesus spent in the tomb, during which Mary and the disciples were deprived of Jesus' presence but then found him again "on the third day" (cf. Lk. 9:22).
Why Weren't They Monitoring Jesus More Closely?
The fact that Joseph and Mary did not realize Jesus was not among them can seem surprising.
A natural question is why Joseph and Mary weren't monitoring Jesus more closely.
Our own age is obsessed with keeping track of children at all times. We've even invented electronic baby monitors and special child-tracking apps for their phones. But in the ancient world, matters were more relaxed.
I can remember, from my own boyhood, going out and playing in the woods or walking miles by myself or in the company of other children, before the invention of the "play date" and before the "children must never be left alone for a single minute" mindset set in.
Also there's this: Jesus probably struck Mary and Joseph as an unusually mature and responsible boy who didn't need constant supervision.
Benedict XVI comments:
"Given our perhaps unduly narrow image of the holy family, we find this surprising. But it illustrates very beautifully that in the holy family, freedom and obedience were combined in a healthy manner. The twelve-year-old was free to spend time with friends and children of his own age, and to remain in their company during the journey. Naturally, his parents expected to see him when evening came" (Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives
In His Father's House
When Mary and Joseph found Jesus again, the place was significant. He was "in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers."
Luke records that Joseph and Mary "were astonished," though he does not tell us whether they were astonished at finding him interacting with such learned company or at his having stayed behind. Probably both.
At the moment, Mary says to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."
Jesus responds: "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
Backtalk?
Some have taken Jesus' response as a rebuke, it it need not be read harshly. Jesus may be marveling at their level of concern and confusion.
They had correctly deduced that he was still in Jerusalem. They knew that Jesus had no human father. Mary herself had been told that Jesus is the Son of God (Lk. 1:32, 35). The temple is God's house. How hard should it be to guess where Jesus is likely to be found?
Still, this logic operates at a different level than the thoughts of an anxious parent, and so, although Joseph and Mary knew the basic facts about Jesus, they did not put the pieces together and, at least at the moment, "they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them."
"And Was Obedient to Them"
The text does contain a pointed reminder that Joseph is merely Jesus' foster father, not his ultimate Father.
But this does not mean that Jesus rejects the authority of Joseph, nor does the incident mean that Jesus was a wild or rebellious child.
He was a surprising child, but he was also obedient, as Luke makes sure we know, for "he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them."
How We Know This
Luke concludes the section by saying: "And his mother kept all these things in her heart."
That identifies Mary as the source of the information.
She treasured the experience and, in later years, recounted it to others--perhaps including Luke himself.
Undoubtedly, by that time the foreshadowing of the event--Passover at Jerusalem, being deprived of Jesus, finding him again after three days, his going to his Father--had all become clear.
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I must have read that passage a hundred times and never saw the foreshadowing.
Glad to be of service! :-)
Wow! Thanks for sharing.
Greetings Jimmy,
I think there is even more to the story. One of the great sages from the beginning of rabbinic Judaism, Hillel the Elder, lived from 110 BC to 10 AD. Hillel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder) was the founder of the school of Hillel, the interpretation of Judaism which survived into the modern era. He formulated a version of the Golden rule which is a negative form of Jesus’ formulation. The time of his death is relatively close to the time of Jesus’ adventure in the temple. How wonderful if one of the “teachers” Jesus was listening and discussing with was Hillel? Another interesting connection here is that the Gamaliel of Acts was likely Hillel’s grandson. It makes one wonder whether there were connections between early Christianity and Bet Hillel which may have been blotted out in the later formulation of the Mishnah and Talmud.
3 days in Jeruselem. Being from a TRIBAL CULTURE it is not hard do grasp what the story says. when we, O’odham, make pilgrimage to Magdalena for the Feast, we used to travel in FAMILY groups. all the brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts uncles, grands… all traveld together and all parents were caretakers of all the children. Jolseph and Mary ASSUMED Yeshua was with all the other children.
Of course one reason for losing Jesus ‘in the crowd’ was ... Never mind; won’t fly on this site. :-)
Notice that Jehovah picked the foster father carefully. It was required that ‘every male worship Jehovah at the Temple on the three annual Festivals’. It’s clear that Joseph made sure his whole family had that spiritual association; not easy for a poor carpenter. (And with no other sons to help him, some say. :-) )
Nice commentary, Jimmy! Thanks for sharing.
TeaPot562
Let not the example of the child Y’Shua disappear from you life and follow in HIS pathm when He said:Come little children, come Unto Me!
I have often reflected on this difficult 5th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary. I wonder what Jesus’ plan was in remaining behind. Was he discerning whether it was time to start his ministry at the age of 12, and obedience to his parents was how he discerned that this time had NOT yet come? (Aside: And when he said “my hour has not yet come” at the wedding feast in Cana, was he giving the courtesy of asking Mary for her blessing, like a man asking the parents of the bride-to-be for permission to court their daughter?) Surely he would know that Joseph and Mary would realize he was missing, and worry about him, and come looking for him, wouldn’t he? And yet he did not tell them before they left. Was this all something he did for Mary? Something for her to remember and help her get through those three days between his death and resurrection? Was it to show Joseph that he would not be following in his footsteps as a carpenter? Was it so Mary and Joseph could be examples for us, showing us that sometimes we must patiently accept what God does even though we don’t understand? What was Jesus’ purpose(s)?
The foreshadowing of what is to come is certainly there. The fact that Jesus was a 12 year old boy speaks louder to me. Remember when you were that age, all of us did a lot of things that worried our parents. I can still remember when my son was about 4, we were in a small town and I swear he was right beside me. I looked down and he was gone, just gone! My heart sank. I looked all over for him. He just appeared about a half a block away. When I found him I wanted to yell at him and hug him at the same time. The family that Jesus came from had to feel the same. Jesus probably was just a 12 year old kid and did not think of the consequences. His parents did for 3 days! Things happened to kids even then but instant communications had not been invented yet. The thought for me is that Jesus was like us in all things except sin. I am sure that Joseph was not smiling at the finding. I am also sure that there was a bit more discussion in the human mix. The search; the longing to find at all cost, with every fiber of a parents being; and well the victory in finding their son safe. May we all find him soon!
I am just a little puzzled at your version of Jesus’ reply to his parents. You have it that he said “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”. I have always understood his reply to be “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”
I cannot print the Greek but the gist of it says:-
“0uk edeite, hoti en tois too patros mou dei einai me”
and the translation of Jerome into Latin reads:-
“nesciebatis quia in his quae Patris me sunt, opportet me esse”
Did you not know that in these things which pertain to my Father, it is necessary for me to be (about).
All of which do NOT say that he should be in his Father’s house!
I understand that Jesus was to do His Father’s will; that was his errand in the world; his food and sustenance,and finish his work: and yet his parents did not understand what he meant, v. 50. They did not understand what business he had to do then in the temple for his Father. They believed him to be the Messiah, who should have the throne of his father David; but they thought that would bring him to the royal palace not to the temple. They did not understand his spiritual calling.
Jesus knew that while on earth he was subject to his parents. But to show that he was more than a man, he withdrew himself from his parents, to attend his heavenly Father’s business, yet he did not, declare his mission at that time, nor for many years after. Jesus held himself subject to them, observed their order, and went and came as they directed.
Here Jesus is an example to children to be dutiful and obedient to their parents in the Lord. Being made of a woman, he was made under the law of the fifth commandment. Though his parents were poor and mean, though his father was only his supposed father, he was subject to them; though he was strong in spirit, and filled with wisdom as the Son of God,he was still subject to his parents.
His mother, though she did not perfectly understand her son’s sayings, kept them in her heart, expecting that they would be explained to her at some point and she should fully understand and know how to make use of them.
Mary and Joesph were not expecting Jesus to rescue Israel from within the temple, but from the royal palace with an army of men to over throw Rome. For that to happen Jesus needed to be much older than 12 yrs old.
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