This Should Pique All Our Curiosity, Picture this Scene, Ask Yourself that Question: “Why Did Young Jesus Stay Behind in the Temple?” Luke 2:46-50

Luke 2:46-50 Amplified Bible

⁴⁶ Three days later they found Him in the [court of the] temple, sitting among the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ All who heard Him were amazed by His intelligence and His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When they saw Him, they were overwhelmed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us like this? Listen, Your ^[a]father and I have been [greatly distressed and] anxiously looking for You.” ⁴⁹ And He answered, “Why did you have to look for Me? Did you not know that I had to be ^[b]in My Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what He had said to them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Ponder their thoughts, picture the aged faces of the religious Doctors in the Jeru­sa­lem temple courtyard for those three days. They reveal to us a wide eyed mixture of astonishment, bewilderment, curiosity, true mystery and delight.

Some even show the beginning shades of alarm. These men are used to having all the answers, teaching all the answers, and giving all the answers, daily to be impressing others with their knowledge, and finding special ­fellowship with one another as members of the elite teaching class. But now listen to all those questions a 12-year-old boy, pushing them into places where no one else goes.

Eventually these experts start asking Jesus questions. At first their questions are fairly simple, aiming to gauge the depth of the boy’s knowledge. But then the questions get harder, intending to humble the boy and put him in his place.

At some point the answers he gives and the budding authority with which he speaks lead them to voice questions they themselves have wondered about.

A whole day of scholarly discussion flies by, and then another, and another.

Eventually the boy’s mother and father show up. The anxious parents hardly dare enter the circle of experts, but after three days of looking for Jesus, Mary can’t keep still. She demands to know: “Son, why have you treated us like this?”

Jesus’ answer likely surprises the religious Doctors even more, as it stirs up something deep inside Mary’s wondering heart hearing: “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Clearly, this boy is someone worth watching!

Jesus doesn’t tell Anyone: “I am staying behind in the Temple!”

A disquieting situation is it not? Was 12 years old Jesus being willful, simply distracted, or purposeful when He stayed behind in the Temple at a young age?

What was going through His mind at the time? Was there something greater working within His young heart that motivated Him to linger in Jerusalem?

Let’s examine the backstory and some clues we see in Scripture.

1. Jesus Chose to Cultivate His Understanding

Why did Jesus stay behind in the Temple? 

He chose to remain there because He was a good Jewish boy who desired to cultivate His understanding of the Scriptures.

Every year, Jewish believers are covenanted to celebrate the Passover.

Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth was about 80 miles from the Temple.

The narrative in Luke 2:41-52 likely did not describe Jesus’ first Passover trip to Jerusalem; but at the inquisitive age of 12, He was finally old enough to take His own place as a young law-keeping adult male in the thriving religious Temple community. Jesus would become a bar mitzvah, or “son of the commandment.”

At the Temple, Jesus would see the priests sacrificing innocent lambs to cover the sins of God’s people. We don’t know whether Jesus understood that these Temple sacrifices pointed to a future sacrifice as described by Isaiah. But Jesus’ parents and teachers likely taught Him about the promised “seed of a woman” that would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15). 

Whether or not the Synagogue and Sabbath school at Nazareth were fully constructed when Jesus was a child, He likely had ample religious training in His hometown.

Raised as an ordinary Jewish boy, He would learn about the Jewish feast days and the stories, commands, and God’s promises written in the Old Testament. 

Knowing their son’s unique birth and calling, Joseph and Mary probably did all they could to promote His spiritual growth; but Jesus appears to have taken the initiative, without His parent’s awareness, to independently learn on His own. 

2. Jesus is Acutely Aware of, committed to his Father’s Business

Why did Jesus stay behind in the Temple? 

He was committed to tending to the Father’s business wherever it would lead.

When His parents asked why He caused them so much pain in looking for Him, Jesus asked them, “Why did you seek Me? why did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).

In The Message version, this verse reads,

“Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?”

Wondering; Why didn’t they automatically know He absolutely had to be there?

Didn’t they know all the habits, and ways of their son?

In His response, Jesus did not downplay His parents’ feelings or the time they had spent rigorously, vigorously, searching for Him. He was not disrespectful.

Rather, something profound was at work in His life. He wanted Joseph and Mary to know that He didn’t want to miss a moment of doing His Father’s business.

By this time, Jesus knew about His real Father: He called God “my Father” (verse 49).]

Perhaps Jesus learned about God’s plan for His life from His parents.

Maybe the Holy Spirit directly spoke to Him about His calling.

Jesus may have understood that His Father in heaven was preparing Him for a great and wondrous task, and even as a twelve-year-old, he was stirred enough to get busy, desired to increase His own understanding of His Father God’s will.

The young Messiah would grow in knowledge to follow God’s calling, even if no one understood, and even if it brought Him and those He loved personal pain.

Joseph and Mary were very baffled by Jesus’ response to them, yet there was no mention of their taking him aside and scolding Him.

Mary had pondered long and hard of many things, she knew well her son was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35) and God had a specific purpose in sending Him.

Perhaps, like most Jews, Mary pondered everything but did not understand the Messiah’s two advents; but she fully rejoiced in God as Savior and for honoring her in God’s blessing her to be the birth mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:46-55).

From Simeon’s announcement (Luke 2:35), Mary also knew God’s purpose for Jesus would eventually, deeply wound her soul. She likely did not completely understand Jesus’ mission, He had come to sacrifice everything, die as the Lamb of God, but she knew He would someday rule over an everlasting kingdom. 

3. Forewarning: Jesus’ intent to Confound the Religious Leaders

Why did Jesus Stay Behind in the Temple? 

He had some questions. But He volunteered some answers to the religious leaders’ and teachers’ questions too. His responses deeply confounded them.

Jesus was probably a good student of the Scriptures in His childhood, listening carefully to His teachers. He learned to read, recite, memorize portions of the Tanakh.

Perhaps Mary and Joseph had created other ingenious ways to encourage His natural curiosity. 

In the Luke 2 account, Jesus sat with the teachers in the Temple and absorbed their teachings.

His questions likely were highly thought-provoking.

And as if that were not enough, Jesus answered their probing questions.

Imagine the elders scratching their collective heads or stroking their beards as He spoke. They were confounded and amazed, Luke says, by Jesus’ wisdom and authority and understanding. That doesn’t mean they approved of His words.

In “The Son of God at 12 Years Old,” John Piper noted that Jesus knew and loved the law from an early age.

Piper also wrote, “Maybe the teachers of the law did not care for the implication of Jesus’ answers; but then a 12 year old is no threat. They can pat him on the head and say, ‘Smart kid,’ and return to their hair splitting and their hypocrisy.”

At this most crucial time in His young Jewish life, Jesus demonstrated that the far reaching scope of His bar mitzvah was indescribably far from ordinary. 

Fully God and fully man, Jesus still continues to confound our finite thinking.

How, for example, can someone who is fully God, who already knows it all, “increase in wisdom” and “in favor with God” as Jesus did (Luke 2:52)?

Young Jesus’ insight into the Scriptures, His relationship with Father God were unique and telling. Sadly, although the elders marveled at His wisdom at age twelve, only two decades later the religious leaders despised and crucified Him.

4. Jesus Displayed Godly Character

Why did Jesus stay behind in the Temple? 

In the will of God, to display not only His wisdom but also His humility and obedience. 

In His childhood, Jesus observed how Joseph and Mary loved and obeyed the law of God, and His parents likely taught Jesus and His earthly siblings how to be godly, faith-filled, humble and obedient to the Commandments of God.. 

When Joseph and Mary believed that Jesus was missing after one day of their journey home, they searched for Him.

We know from verse 44 that they assumed Jesus was safe with relatives or friends in their traveling group, or perhaps with some playmates.

But when Jesus didn’t show up in their search they were rightly upset, worried Jesus was lost or even hurt. They immediately searched, returned to Jerusalem to look. Now, imagine how panicked they rushed to Jesus’ side in the Temple. 

Jesus could have become argumentative, emphasizing that He was now an “adult.” Instead, He respectfully illustrated His submissive spirit and godly character as He obeyed Joseph and Mary in returning home with them.

Perhaps the religious leaders watched this scene, observing that Jesus obeyed the commandment of Exodus 20:12 to honor His parents. The whole experience would be yet another situation for Mary to treasure and ponder.

Jesus seemed mature for His age, but He still had to grow in the knowledge of the Scriptures. He would yet have many opportunities to practice the Word, will, and ways of His Father before He would be fully prepared for ministry.

Unlike young Samuel, who grew up in the Temple, Jesus returned to Nazareth.

In God’s plan, Jesus rubbed shoulders with the common people and observed their struggles with temptation and sin’s curse. The Bible says He was tempted in all ways like all humans, yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

His character was impeccable.

Jesus developed physically after the Temple experience, but He continued to grow in other ways as well (Luke 2:52): mentally (with wisdom), socially (in favor with people), and spiritually (in favor with God).

Jesus’ encounter with the Temple elders was the last time we read about Him until His storyline jumps to His baptism by his cousin John (Matt. 3:13-17). 

From His temple experience, the young Jesus teaches us many things — things Christians are instructed to do in the New Testament.

We are to choose (take the initiative) to learn more about God and His purposes in Scripture; to commit to obey the Father’s will in our calling from Him; to ask questions to grow in the grace and knowledge of God—even though our so many questions may confound or even surprise our spiritual leaders; and to shine with a growing, and maturing godly character inside an ever closely watching world.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Psalm 19 Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.
² 
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
³ 
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.
⁴ 
Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,
⁵ 
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
⁶ 
The sun’s rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷ 
The law of the Lord is perfect (flawless), restoring and refreshing the soul;
The statutes of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy, making wise the simple.
⁸ 
The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
⁹ 
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.
¹⁰ 
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹ 
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed];
In keeping them there is great reward.
¹² 
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.
¹³ 
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
¹⁴ 
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/