His Father's Son: Jesus in the Temple

by Stephen Chambers

It’s clear that the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel are unique; that’s the place where we hear many of the stories that fill the Advent and Christmas seasons. What we sometimes overlook though is the special light that the last of these well-loved stories, at the very end of Luke chapter 2, sheds on Jesus’ entire life and ministry. The journey Jesus made with His parents to the Temple in Jerusalem when He was twelve years old was a critical turning-point between childhood and adulthood. More importantly, it also pointed ahead to the equally important transition that took place after His resurrection, between His earthly ministry and His reign of glory.

The story is found in Luke 2:41-52. Like many of the stories Luke tells, it is beautifully crafted. It starts with the holy family “going up” to Jerusalem and ends with them “going down” again to Nazareth (vv. 41-42, 51). Between those two bookends, one of the first things we’re told is that Jesus’ disappearance was not noticed (v. 43). One of the last details we hear is that his explanation for that absence was not understood (v. 50). Nestled between these events, Jesus’ parents unsuccessfully look for Him, in the sort of frantic desperation any parent can relate to (vv. 44-45). Then, after finding Him, they anxiously rebuke Him, again with an easily understandable mixture of anger and relief (v. 48).

Child Jesus in the Temple. Jan Steen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The centre of the story, though, does not focus on those interactions between Jesus and His earthly parents. Joseph is identified three times in this story as one of Jesus’ parents (vv. 42, 43, 48), but the thing this story wants us to understand is that it was there in the Temple that Jesus was dealing with His true Father (v. 49). The grammatical mid-point of the whole account is Jesus “sitting in the Temple, in the middle of the teachers, listening to them and questioning them” (v. 46). In fact, the middle word of the whole story—the 85th word out of 170 Greek words— is literally the word “middle.” The whole account pivots around that centre: Jesus, in the middle of His Father’s house, in the middle of those who were focusing their attention on His Father’s Word.

It’s helpful to consider this pattern visually. Literature specialists call it a chiasm or a ring structure. It builds in a symmetrical fashion first toward, then away from, the focal-point in the middle.

A. Mary, Joseph, Jesus go up to Jerusalem (vv.41-42)

B. Jesus stays in Jerusalem, which is not noticed (v.43)

C. his parents seek and find him (vv.44-46a)

X. Jesus among the teachers (vv.46b-47)

C’. his parents, perplexed, reproach him (v.48)

B’. Jesus’ response, which is not understood (vv.49-50)

A’. Jesus, Mary, Joseph go down to Nazareth (v.51a) keeping with “the custom” (vv. 41, 42).

Why would Luke devote so much effort to telling this story so carefully? Two reasons. It shows us, in several ways, that Jesus was always God’s special Son, from His earliest years onward. He did not merely “become” God’s Son as an adult; He had always been exactly who the angel Gabriel told His mother He would be: “the holy one, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). In addition, Luke also wants us to realize that Jesus Himself had always understood that this was who He was. It did not suddenly dawn on Him later on that God was His Father; He had been very well aware of this all the way along (cf. John 12:27-30).

It’s clear in three ways in this story that already here in His youth, Jesus was God’s perfect Son. One of the first details Luke shares is that Jesus was twelve years old when these events unfolded (v. 42). He was not yet obligated to observe the Torah as an adult Israelite; Luke stresses that he was still just a “boy” and a “child” (vv. 43, 48). But even so, Jesus was fully devoted to worshipping His Father. He and His parents made the lengthy journey to the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem “every year,” in keeping with “the custom” (vv. 41, 42). At the end of the story, Luke stresses that Jesus was obedient to His earthly parents too (v. 51). Clearly, there was nothing missing, incomplete, or deficient as far as faithfulness to His heavenly Father was concerned—not even as a pre-teen. Jesus was also wise beyond all normal expectation. Isaiah had foretold that the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon the coming Messiah—“a Spirit of wisdom and understanding” (Isaiah 11:2). That’s what the centre of this story shows us: Jesus, God’s anointed, demonstrating wisdom and understanding beyond His years as He engaged in spirited (Spirited?) conversation with Israel’s teachers (v. 46). As Jesus listened to them and asked them questions, His understanding was so apparent that everyone who heard Him was amazed (v. 47). Again, the structure of the story as a whole sets us up to expect this. Just before it begins, Luke tells us that Jesus “grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him” (v. 40). The episode closes with a similar summary: “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and people” (v. 52). Wisdom at both ends, and wisdom in the middle. What else would we expect from God’s own Son? The third element that emphasizes Jesus’ divine Sonship is His clear self-understanding as the Son of God. Yes, He was exceptionally pious; yes, He was astonishingly wise. But Jesus was also penetratingly aware that His true Father was in heaven. The conversation He has with Mary, after she and Joseph find Him, reveals this crystalline self-understanding. “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you,” Mary tells Him (v. 48). In Greek, she places extra stress on those opening words: “your father and I.” But Jesus pushes back: “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (v. 49) There’s room in the Greek to understand the last part of Jesus’ answer in several different ways. The usual interpretation is “in my Father’s house,” but the expression can also mean “involved in my Father’s affairs” or “among my Father’s people.” In every case, though, Jesus is creating a contrast between Mary’s casual reference to Joseph as His father, and His own awareness that God is His Father. A similar distinction surfaces many years later when a crowd tells Jesus, “Your mother and brothers want to see you,” and Jesus replies, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it” (Luke 8:20-21). That clarity was already present here, when Jesus was twelve. From boyhood onward, He knew very well who, and whose, He was. It should not surprise us, then, that Luke’s account of the end of Jesus’s ministry returns to many of these themes that first surfaced here in this story from His youth. At both ends of this Gospel, Jesus’ unique identity as God’s Son is revealed in Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover (Luke 2:41, 22:7, 24:18). Those who are close to Him search for Him, but it is only after three days that they find Him (Luke 2:44-46, 24:21-23). As a youth, they find Him in His Father’s house, focusing on the Scriptures; after His resurrection, He shares His Father’s glory, in accordance with the Scriptures (Luke 2:46, 49; 24:26, 27, 44). After the first of these incidents, He returns to live with His family for a few more years; after His Ascension, He sends His Spirit to dwell with His Church forever (Luke 2:51; 24:49; Acts 2:32-33). How delightful it is that this story of Jesus in the Temple is appointed to be read every year on the Second Sunday of Christmas. Although it’s not as well-known as the Christmas Gospel that focuses on His birth, it shows us with a different sort of powerful clarity who He is: the Son of God, our Saviour.

Rev. Dr. Stephen Chambers is pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church (Parksville, B.C.).