2. The Boy Jesus at the Temple
From the idea that Jesus fulfills Old Testament prefigurations, let’s go to an example of how the evangelists (Luke, in this case) report events in Jesus’ life that are in themselves prefigurations of his true mission.
Luke 2.41-51: 41 Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43 After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
At the age of twelve, Jesus impresses the teachers of the temple by his religious knowledge. He understands Scripture, he knows what God expects from man, he is conscious of his own duties toward his Father. (Today, if parents lost track of their twelve-year-old child, it isn’t likely they would find him in a church!) Jesus’ wisdom (Luke 2.52) consists specifically of that: he is not just a naturally talented child prodigy. The wisdom he shows here is a sign of the role he will fulfill later in his life: teacher, prophet, revealer of God’s purpose. This role falls to him by right because of his understanding of God’s will, gleaned from Scripture.
Jesus’ behavior toward his parents in this incident might seem strange to us, even insolent. Maybe that is why Luke takes care at the end of the story (Luke 2.51) to report that Jesus was an obedient child, submitted to his parents’ authority.
The key to this episode is to be found in the mysterious statement in Luke 2.49, the first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospels. This saying is Jesus’ answer to a rebuke from his mother and takes the form of a question which is a counter-rebuke. To Mary’s “We have been anxiously searching for you”, Jesus replies, “Why were you searching for me?” A second question explains the rebuke. Mary and Joseph would have not searched for him had they known what they should have known. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 1.49.) That implies that they should have known. But how could they have known?
The answer is no doubt to be found in the verb dei, “must”, which expresses an obligation originating from God’s will: this “must” happen because God has decreed it so. In the Gospels, Jesus sees his whole life and work in light of the will of God expressed as a divine necessity (dei, 18 occurrences in Luke alone). This divine necessity is most clearly visible in the passion of Christ: the purpose of God, revealed in the Old Testament, must, necessarily, be fulfilled (Luke 9.22; 17.25; 22.37; 24.7, 26, 44). Jesus speaks of a duty towards his Father, a duty which takes precedence over his obligations toward his parents: the accomplishment, in his life, of the divine plan written in Scripture.
Jesus’ parents could have known and should have known, for what happened could not have not happened: it was written in Scripture. “Did you not know?” is the equivalent the more explicit formula often used by Jesus, “Have you never read in the Scriptures?” Instead of asking their relatives and friends, instead of running around searching the streets and inns, Mary and Joseph should have taken time to reflect on the teachings of Scripture.
The words of Jesus about his duty towards his Father are not understood by his parents. No more than his words warning about the mystery of his passion will be understood by his disciples. Even after the events, they will still not understand. To open their minds, Jesus will have to go over with them and explain the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24.25-27, 45-46). If the apostles had grasped the meaning of the Scriptures better, they would not have been caught unawares (scandalized) by these events.
The symbolic meaning of the temple incident and of the enigmatic statement made by the boy Jesus on this occasion seems to emerge from a comparison between our text and the last chapter of Luke, between the incident that marks Jesus’ first Passover visit to Jerusalem and the events that take place during his last Passover in Jerusalem. In light of the links between these two accounts, Jesus’ visit to the temple in Luke 2 appears as a prefiguration, a sign that “pre-enacts” the Passover of his passion, resurrection and ascension.
In fact, the points of contact between the recovery of Jesus in Luke 2 and the events of Luke 24 are numerous. The attitude of Jesus’ parents who cannot “find” the missing child and who begin to “search” frantically for him is not without parallel to the attitude of the women at the tomb, who search for Jesus but cannot find him. Same thing for the rebuke: “Why were you searching for me?” (Luke 2.49.) and the angels’ rebuke in “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24.5.) The fearful anxiety of the parents (Luke 2.48) can be compared to the emotional turmoil of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and in the upper room. The necessity expressed by dei in Luke 2.49 recurs over and over in Luke 24 (24.7, 21, 46). Another parallel: the duration of Jesus’ disappearance, which corresponds to the length of time he spent hidden in the grave before his resurrection: three days (Luke 2.46; 24.7, 21, 46).
Quite obviously, the obligation for Jesus to “be in my Father’s house” (Luke 2.49) does not require that he stay non-stop in the Temple of Jerusalem. From that, we can infer the Easter fulfillment of this prefiguration: the divine glory into which Jesus will enter by his death, resurrection and ascension (Luke 24.26). His real place is at his Father’s right hand (John 20.17), the house to which he is going in order to prepare a place for his people (John 14.2-3): heaven. God does not mean for Jesus to stay and rule as an earthly king in Jerusalem, surrounded by his followers. He is rather to return to the Father and rule from a heavenly throne.
At the time, Jesus’ parents do not understand the meaning of his words, but all will become clear after the resurrection, once Jesus has explained the meaning of the Scriptures. This is an early example of the pattern reproduced over and over throughout the gospel. Certain sayings or actions of Jesus are difficult to understand because they concern the future. Their meaning will become clear only when, once the event has taken place, its conformity to the oracles of Scripture is recognized. Luke’s remark about Mary’s attitude (Luke 2.51) also illustrates this process.
For those familiar with the language of the Bible, the expression “kept all these things in her heart” has almost a technical meaning. The things that one keeps in his heart always refer to revelations about future events, revelations that are often obscure and whose meaning will only be revealed once the events are fulfilled. “To keep in one’s heart” is the attitude of one who is waiting for the fulfillment of a prophecy, the accomplishment of a sign or an omen. The revelation that has just been received makes him attentive to what will follow.
Origen correctly understood Luke’s remark about Mary: “She knew that a time would come when that which was hidden would become manifest.” In the meantime, she treasures the memory of what which had been entrusted to her in an obscure way. She meditates on these things, no doubt seeking how they will be fulfilled and comparing them to the prophecies of Scripture.
By the time Luke wrote his gospel, the time had come; God’s purpose had been completely fulfilled on Easter day. It was then that what had been obscure became clear. It was then that the disciples began to understand the prophetic prefiguration of Jesus’ being lost and being found again “after three days” in his Father’s house.
Prayer. Lord, please grant that we profit from your light with obedience, that we admire your wisdom with fruit and that, if we ever have the misfortune of losing you, we also have the joy of finding you again forever. May our eyes remain continually on you in order to carry out your will at your first word. Amen.