Jesus Christ’s adolescence.

(Luke 2:40-52).

Before His emergence into society to serve the human race, Lord Jesus Christ remained in anonymity. During this period, Evangelist Luke produces one event from His life. As he wrote his Gospel “having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first,” presumably, there were no outstanding happenings in the earlier period of the Lord’s life. Saint Luke describes the general characteristics of this period in the following words: “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” This is understandable, as the boy Jesus was not only a God, but also human, and as such was subject to the laws of human development. His human wisdom — in line with its normal development - reflected or rather contained the depth and fullness of Divine guidance, which boy Jesus possessed being the Son of God.

Consequently, when boy Jesus turned 12, this Divine wisdom revealed itself clearly for the first time. According to the law of Moses (Lev. 16:16), all male Jews were obliged to appear in Jerusalem on the feast days of Pascha, Pentecost and Festival of Tabernacle; the only exception being sick children. When an adolescent turned 12, he became “child of the law”: from this point on, he had to learn all the demands of the law, fulfil its instructions and in particular, go to Jerusalem on feast days. Saint Luke states that Jesus’ “parents” came to Jerusalem every year. The mystery of God-infant’s birth remained a secret: Blessed Virgin Mary and “starets” Joseph did not find it necessary or beneficial to reveal it; and in the eyes of the citizens of Nazareth, Joseph was Mar’s husband and father of Jesus. The Evangelist uses this expression as being applicable to societal opinion. In another section (3:23), he directly states that Joseph was only regarded as the father of Jesus, and consequently, in reality, was not so.

The celebration of Pascha continued for 8 days, after which the faithful returned to their homes, normally in groups. Joseph and Mary didn’t notice how the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, surmising that he is nearby with another group, either with relatives or friends. Realising after a lengthy passage of time that He has not joined them, they began to look for Him. Not finding Him, they frantically returned to Jerusalem. It was after three days of anxious searching (presumably from the day they left Jerusalem) did they find Him, seated in the midst of teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. In this discourse, boy Jesus already displayed His Divine wisdom — that’s why everybody was listening and marvelling at His answers and His powers of reasoning. His Mother, expressing their anxiety over Him, refers to Joseph as father of Jesus, as She could not call him anything else because in everyone’s eyes, he was the father. Initially, the boy Jesus responds to His Mother’s words by revealing His appointment — to serve the will of He that had sent Him, and then corrects His Mother by pointing out that not Joseph but God is His father: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” However, neither Blessed Mary nor Joseph understood His words, as the full mystery of Christ’s work on earth had not been fully revealed to them. Nonetheless, “His Mother kept all these things in Her heart.” — this was an especially memorable day for Her, as this was the first time Her Son had made known His high preordination. Because the time had not arrived for His earthly ministry, Jesus obediently went with them to Nazareth, and as the Evangelist notes, “and was subject to them” probably sharing the labours of His so-called father Joseph, who was a carpenter. As Christ grew, prevailing in wisdom, it became clearer to the attentive eye the especial love God had toward Christ, which in turn attracted people’s love toward Him.