Jesus said to them “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)

Four days ago we celebrated the Nativity of Our Lord. The birth of the baby Jesus, to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. This Sunday our gospel reading moves us quickly on to when Jesus is visiting Jerusalem with his parents for the Feast of the Passover. We are not told anything about the intervening years. That is left to our imagination.  We are however specifically told that Jesus is now twelve years old. This is extremely important for our understanding of this narrative.

It was laid down by the law that every adult male Jew who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem must attend that Passover.  A Jewish boy became a man when he was twelve years of age. 

When his parents returned Jesus lingered behind. It was not through carelessness that they did not miss him. Usually women in a caravan started out much earlier than the men for they travelled more slowly. The men started later and travelled faster. The two sections would not meet until the encampment was reached. No doubt Joseph thought he was with Mary and Mary thought that he was with Joseph. 

Imagine what it must have been like for them. They returned to Jerusalem in haste to begin searching for him.

For the Passover season, it was the custom for the Sanhedrin to meet in public in the Temple court to discuss - in the presence of all who wished to listen - religious and theological questions. I expect that Jesus was listening to the discussions, asking questions and searching for knowledge and understanding. 

What follows next is fundamental in the life of Jesus. “Your father and I” said Mary, “have been looking for you anxiously”. “Did you not know” said Jesus “that I must be in my Father’s house?” What is striking is how very gently but very definitely Jesus takes the name of “Father” from Joseph and gives it to God. At some time Jesus must have discovered his own unique relationship to God. It is most unlikely that he would have known this when he was a child in the manager or a baby at his mother’s side. 

As the years rolled on we can only surmise that Jesus began to have such thoughts. At this his first Passover with manhood dawning there came a blaze of realisation that he was in some unique and mysterious way the Son of God. 

But let us not forget our other readings today which can easily be overlooked. 

In Colossians we are told to “clothe” ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and above all with love, which “binds everything together in perfect harmony”.

There is another young man in our Old Testament reading, Samuel. All we are told is that he was ministering before the Lord and that his mother used to make him a little robe and take it to him each year when she and her husband went up to offer the yearly sacrifice – not unlike that which Jesus and his family did. The thought of Hannah, his mother, year by year, remembering how big her son had been last year, making a robe a bit bigger and allowing room for another year’s growth, is so touching.  It speaks of love, tenderness and longing.  She has sacrificed this first son, Samuel, so that she can have others, but he is still her son. 

Now what does this remind us of?