Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
Raising the Messiah, the Son of God, was never going to be exactly like raising any other child. There were going to be times when he sought first the Kingdom, even over and above his treasured family bonds. His life was primarily about the accomplishment of his heavenly Father's will. His earthly parents clearly did their best to raise him without full knowledge of that divine plan. But their goodness and their wisdom was not enough to always know exactly what would be required of Jesus by his heavenly Father. They wanted to raise Jesus to give precedence to God above all things. But sometimes when he actually did this it still took them by surprise. They were unable to predict what would happen at Passover when Jesus was twelve on the basis of the previous eleven years.
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
They were anxious because they knew that Jesus was a sign that would be opposed (see Luke 2:34) but they didn't know the details of how this opposition would take place. They expected that if there was nothing wrong Jesus would have been with the caravan. They might have expected he would not stay behind without least mentioning it to them. But that he said nothing had to be intentional. It was not the result of a lack of love or respect for his parents much less an oversight of a still developing moral character. He stayed behind without telling them because it had to be that way. It was part of his Father's will. But what was, specifically? Not only that he must be in his Father's house. That was a part of it. But the way his parents experienced this unexpectedly after a separation of three days was probably meant to convey something as well. It was likely a preparation for them so that they (or at least Mary if Joseph was not alive by then) would be ready for the much more traumatic separation from Jesus at his death. He did not tell his parents what he was about this time because at his Passion nothing he could merely say would prepare them. Certainly he did try to warn his disciples about the impending Passion. But none of them really understood until they experienced it. But this difficult moment early in the life of Jesus helped to prepare Mary to be present at the cross, her station to keep.
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
They didn't immediately understand the meaning of the prophetic gesture Jesus had done. But they didn't become so offended as to reject it. Instead we read that Mary "kept all these things in her heart". She did not immediately understand. But she allowed that in the course of time and of God's will she might one day understand.
Living as Christians is never going to be an entirely predictable phenomenon. If it has gone the same for eleven years there might be something radically unpredictable in the twelfth. It is not going to be a process that in which events make perfect sense right when they happen. Often it will take a heart like that of Mary that is willing to keep and treasure even the difficult and unpredictable memories in our hearts so that God may one day reveal to us how he made even these things work together for our good (see Romans 8:28).
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
And so we are.
We are not destined to remain as creatures entirely determined by the material order of creation. We are being molded into children of our heavenly Father. We too will sometimes be called to place the Father's business before that of the world. The world doesn't tend to appreciate this since it can't plan for or predict it. But the world needs more from us than another year that was exactly like the last. It needs the Father's will, just as the teachers in the temple who heard the answers of Jesus were "astounded at his understanding and his answers". The world in which we live is in deep need of some astounding understanding and answers. And if we learn to follow Jesus dynamically, as he first taught his own mother and father to follow him, we too will have something to contribute.
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