The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

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Teelynn

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This mystery for some reason has always bothered me. I find it a hard one. Jesus, being spotlessly sinless, worries his poor mother and foster father to death by disappearing to the Temple. Mary and Joseph are then rebuked by Jesus for worrying about his disappearance.:confused: This one is by far the hardest mystery for me to wrap my head around. I understand the significance of searching for him for 3 days, but I guess it’s the anguish that Mary and Joseph had to endure that bothers me. Someone has to help me out on this one. It has bothered me for long enough. Thanks in advance for the replies!!
 
I wonder which part bothers you the most? I’m sure others with a much deeper understanding will respond, but let me add a little. For one, the way I read it Jesus was more or less left behind. I think it stems from the way that people made their way. They were traveling in a caravan. So, it seems that they just assumed he was with them just somewhere else in the crowd. Also, I don’t think that they searched for him for three days. The way I read it, they traveled for three days and then realized that he wasn’t in the group. Now, I’m sure as good parents, they must have searching around for him.

I may be reading between the lines, but it seems you’re bothered by Jesus perhaps being a badly behaved child. I can’t really comment. I perceive the same thing, but it doesn’t bother me. I react more to the angiush his parents must have felt. If my child is outside my field of vision in a store for more than a second, I freak. I will be interested to see how the more learned respond.

finally, why do you say they were rebuked? Are you referring to Jesus’ response. I never saw it as a rebuke. Rather, Jesus seems incredulous. Like, duh! Where else would I be? Reminds me of my preteen. Anyway, I hope you find your answer and come to peace. BTW, I don’t think it’s bad to have these sorts of questions and worries about the meaning of scripture. It’s like the Holy Spirit putting a rock in your shoe. You stop to remove it and notice the beauty of a rose.
 
Teelynn said:
This mystery for some reason has always bothered me. I find it a hard one. Jesus, being spotlessly sinless, worries his poor mother and foster father to death by disappearing to the Temple. Mary and Joseph are then rebuked by Jesus for worrying about his disappearance.:confused: This one is by far the hardest mystery for me to wrap my head around. I understand the significance of searching for him for 3 days, but I guess it’s the anguish that Mary and Joseph had to endure that bothers me. Someone has to help me out on this one. It has bothered me for long enough. Thanks in advance for the replies!!
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I understand what you mean, and I don’t know how to answer other than tell you how I meditate upon it when praying the Rosary. I meditate that they looked for and missed him for three days. I “link” that in my mind with how the Apostles didn’t understand the Resurrection and Jesus was in the Tomb for three days-doing his Father’s work. Again, that’s just what I try to meditate on:thumbsup:
 
My opinion: Jesus did it in order to have a special anecdote for the New Testament.

Even now, there are people who claim that Jesus did not know that as a child He was Divine.

Some folks claim that Jesus didn’t understand His true identity until he was much older. Perhaps when He began His public ministry.

But “incidents” such as The Finding of Jesus in the Temple" and “The Visitation” when John leapt in his mother’s womb when Mary arrived carrying Jesus in her womb … all serve to remind us that Jesus was Divine from the moment of His conception inside Mary and that He knew it and by these incidents Jesus let everyone else know who He really was then and is now.

Consider also, The Marriage Feast at Cana, where Mary sort of rebuked Jesus in public with her “Jewish Mother” act. She did not tell Jesus to fix the problem with the wine having run out. After He rebuked Her [Woman, my time is not yet come] She bypassed Jesus and simply told the waiters, “Do what he tells you”.

I can imagine that scene appearing in a movie about the life of Jesus.
 
I have contemplated this mystery, and here’s my take for what it’s worth:

When I was a kid, our parents took the six of us to vacation in Washington. We went to the Smithsonian, and somehow my little sister got separated from us and became lost. We wandered around for some time looking for her, and then were paged and a guard delivered her while she was blubbering, “I lost my mommy.” In large crowds, kids can get lost, and as I see the pilgrimage it was like that. Perhaps Joseph, walking with the men, thought Jesus was with Mary and conversely Mary thought him with Joseph. I think we can understand how this happens. Somewhere down the road, perhaps to rest, eat or turn in for the night, all the pieces come together and they realize he is not with them.

What to do? They can only head back to the city and look for him. Had they walked a day before noticing? Did they take a day returning? And a day searching? I mean we are talking Jerusalem, not some small village in the sticks (Nazareth). Now I think that is what they did, and after some search, maybe as a last resort, they thought to go to the temple. To pray? To ask for advice? In desperation? And what under the circumstances could Jesus do. Jesus, knowing his parents, concludes that he will go somewhere they will surely go to look for him. And there he was, not only there, but spending the time discussing God. I could see them all very emotionally reuniting, and Jesus explaining in the way of a twelve year old, “Where on earth else did you think I’d be?”

Finally, in meditating on it, I considered it very possible Mary herself was the source of this Gospel account, since she would know these details of Our Lord’s life and who else? And then I began to think of Mary as the fountain from which the Gospels spring. At least that’s my meditation on it.
 
Jesus was a normal kid, who like our kids, sometimes did things for good reasons of his own, but which his parents did not understand, things which sounded crazy to his parents but made sense to him. These were not sinful because there was never any deliberate intent to disobey, but rather an inclination to obey God’s will. He was at that age perhaps lacking in good sense, also normal, since the gospel goes on to say he grew in wisdom and grace, and developed common sense at about the same rate as a normal teen (which is never fast enough for the parents). The three days presaged the 3 days of mourning before the resurrection, another indication especially for Mary of the sorrows she would face. They learned through this experience that they could expect their son from now on to always seek to do God’s will–a happy circumstance for any parent.
 
Jesus had the Beatific Vision of God, and so His human nature continually beheld His own Divine Nature. He also was always conscious of His Messianic mission. He was not only entirely sinless, but also entirely perfect in all His words and deeds. For though He took upon Himself a human nature, He remained always one Divine Person. God does not err, not even in His human nature.

Jesus stayed in Jerusalem because it was the will of God. He grieved His mother and step-father, but He did so without sin or fault. Sometimes it is the will of God that good persons suffer. In this case, the event whereby Jesus was lost for three days to His parents, and then found on the third day in the Temple, was a foreshadowing of His Crucifixion and Resurrection, when He would be found in the Temple of His body on the third day.
 
‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’

I think Jesus here is chiding them for perhaps not ‘getting it’ sufficiently - ‘it’ being the fact that, being God, EVERYTHING Jesus did, EVERYTHING that happened to Him, was for good reason. In this case, He stayed in the Temple, as is indicated, to teach the teachers there, and not on purpose to annoy or grieve Mary and Joseph.

Perhaps He was also chiding them for not sufficiently trusting that God wouldn’t give them the precious gift of His own son and not ‘take care’ of Him, even if they themselves sometimes didn’t or couldn’t. Seeing everything that had happened - such as the flight to Egypt - they certainly should’ve been willing to trust.

I think these lessons would’ve stood Mary in good stead at the Crucifixion.
 
Very good answers above. I would like to add that there is significance in the fact that this finding in the Temple occurred when Jesus was twelve years old. In Biblical times, a Jewish child was held responsible for his actions from the age of twelve onwards. It was also expected that he would begin apprenticing for his future career at that age. Jesus’s “career” was to be principally that of a teacher, therefore He expected Joseph and Mary, who represent all of the Catholic faithful, to know that He would be about [His] Father’s business, that is, teaching in the Temple, today the Church.

Also, we see that Mary and Joseph, again representing the Catholic faithful, *sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. * Luke 2:44) This is a warning to us to always seek Jesus in the teachings of Holy Mother Church, and not out “in the world,” by asking the opinions of our friends and relatives.

drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm
 
So sorry it took me so long to respond.(life does happen with being kind of crazy busy at times:p) I appreciate all responses, they are very insightful and have helped me understand more fully this mystery. I have said to myself over and over again that “this is why they call it a mystery” but being a mom and grandma, I could not even imagine loosing one of them for 3 days:eek: nor would I want to even imagine it.

All replies really have given excellent insight into this mystery, that has been as Big Ro has put it a “rock in my shoe put there by the Holy Spirit” only to discover the beauty of a rose.

Blessings a Grace Filled Lent to all!
 
Teelynn said:
This mystery for some reason has always bothered me. I find it a hard one. Jesus, being spotlessly sinless, worries his poor mother and foster father to death by disappearing to the Temple. Mary and Joseph are then rebuked by Jesus for worrying about his disappearance.:confused: This one is by far the hardest mystery for me to wrap my head around. I understand the significance of searching for him for 3 days, but I guess it’s the anguish that Mary and Joseph had to endure that bothers me. Someone has to help me out on this one. It has bothered me for long enough. Thanks in advance for the replies!!
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Jesus was not only sinless, but was also perfectly obedient to his heavenly Father, and always did the will of his father in heaven. “I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” (John 5:30). Why did Jesus linger on in Jerusalem while his parents went on ahead in the caravans? Because God the Father willed him to do so, and to go to the Temple of Jerusalem to answer the questions of the Rabbis. Jesus, being perfectly obedient to his heavenly Father, immediately obeyed. Jesus must have trusted his heavenly Father to make known his whereabouts to Joseph and Mary.

When Joseph and Mary found Jesus three days later, Mary, who was herself also obedient to God’s will in all things, simply asked Jesus, "“Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold, in sorrow thy father and I have been seeking thee.” Jesus in all simplicity and innocence replied, “why were you looking for me? Did you not know I had to be in my Father’s house?”. Jesus always honored his parents, He was never rude to them or rebuked them.

Why did God permit Joseph and Mary to suffer anguish for three days while they were looking for Jesus? One reason could be to give us an example of obedience to God’s will, even when we do not understand it ourselves. We are called to emulate the great faith of Mary and Joseph, as well as holy perseverance in times of trial. It is in times of the greatest sorrow and trial when our faith, hope and love is tested by God, for His greater glory, and for the edification of the faithful.
 
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