Ep. 7: A child in the Temple
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LUKE 2:41-52
The silence is broken by his first visit to the Temple. Jesus was twelve years of age, not yet a ‘Son of the Commandment’ (Bar mitzvah) and so not yet obliged to attend the feasts in Jerusalem. But it was Passover time and he had tagged along with his parents. The land was at relative peace at that time, even the Zealots were calm. Annas ruled in the Temple as High Priest when they arrived and Jesus glimpsed the Holy Temple for the first time (since he was a baby). It would have been on at least the third day of the festival when we find Jesus sitting among the teachers. The first two days were the compulsory days and Joseph and Mary would have fulfilled their religious obligations by now and would have returned to their temporary residence.
The Talmud tells us that the members of the Sanhedrin, who on ordinary days sat as a Court of Appeal, were inclined to teach on Sabbaths and feast days at ‘the terrace’ of the Temple. This is the most likely scenario where we find the boy Jesus among the audience that surrounded these teachers. He would not be setting a precedent as Jewish tradition gives other instances of precocious and advanced students making a nuisance of themselves (in the view of the Rabbis!). But perhaps a precedent was set by the effect he had upon the teachers as all who heard him ‘were amazed’ at his insight and discerning answers. So, what could they have been talking about? Perhaps they may have been discussing the Passover itself in the light of his future role as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29)? And what of his reaction to his parents, once they had been reunited? It seems that something had now been awakened in him. He realised that he had been in his Father’s House going about his Father’s business.
What happened next was telling. Whatever had been awakened in him was not going to his head but, instead, we see his quiet, immediate, unquestioning return to Nazareth with his parents and his willing submission to them while there.
What about the rest of his childhood and young adulthood? he probably followed his father’s trade as a carpenter. Having a trade was positively encouraged, even considered a religious duty, as long as it didn’t interfere with Torah studies. We know next to nothing about his father and know a bit more about his brothers, James and Jude and his probable cousin Simon (the Zealot), from their actions in later life. Jesus was a diligent studier of the Word. Edersheim observed it thus:
‘He saw much to show the hollowness, self-seeking, pride and literalism which a mere external observance of the Law fostered. The Law of Moses in all its bearings, the utterances of the prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, Malachi – and the hopes and consolations of the Psalms, were all to him literally true and cast their light upon the building which Moses had reared. It was all one, a grand unity, not an aggregation of different parts, but the unfolding of a living organism.’
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)