The Childhood of Jesus - Luke 2:40-52

 Mary, Joseph, and Jesus stayed in Egypt until an angel came to Joseph saying, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.” I’m beginning to understand Joseph as an incredible spiritual giant the more I see how the Lord worked through him, directed him, and how he protected Jesus and Mary. JTC comments that “their stay in the foreign land was probably brief, for Herod did not long survive the babes he had slain in Bethlehem.” I bet that was an awkward meeting, when Herod got to the spirit world, I wonder if the spirits of all the babies he killed were waiting to me him. That would be pretty terrible for him, I would imagine.

I’m pretty confused on where Joseph intended to take Jesus and Mary to establish themselves from here on out, because the Bible says simply that Joseph took them into Israel and went into Galilee instead of Judaea because “he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod,” and ‘he was afraid to go thither.” Matthew make it sound like Joseph was disobeying the angel saying, “notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee.” Maybe I read the verse with the wrong emphasis, I need a map. The way that I initially read the verse was basically that Joseph went into Israel from Egypt and was instructed to go to Judaea but was afraid so went into Galilee despite being “warned of God in a dream.” Or basically I thought that the angel had told Joseph to go to Judaea, but Joseph was scared so he went into Galilee, despite being commanded to go somewhere else. Now that I think about it, what the verse probably means is that Joseph was afraid to go back to Israel at all but went anyway because he was commanded to go in the dream and was therefore obedient. It seems that he wasn’t commanded where exactly to go, and this is probably one of those examples of when God lets us make our own decisions, it looks like he let Joseph decide where he wanted to raise his family, and that, I think, speaks volumes for Joseph’s spirituality, obedience, and favor with God.

The little family settles in Nazareth and Luke tells us that “the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” Interestingly, the Joseph Smith Translation version of Matthew 2:23 brings a lot more insight into the childhood of Jesus, saying, “And it came to pass that Jesus grew up with his brethren, and waxed strong, and waited upon the Lord for the time of his ministry to come. And he served under his father, and he spake not as other men, neither could he be taught; for he needed not that any many should teach him. And after many years, the hour of his ministry grew nigh.” The IM comments, “the phrase ‘for he needed not that any man should teach him’ indicates that Jesus was taught, but not by man. The Savior explained that He was taught by His Father in Heaven.” This changes the perspective on where Jesus got his ideas and teachings from, because they were pretty revolutionary at the time. I think it’s important to note here that Jesus didn’t come to this mortality remembering anything from the pre-existence, he had the veil drawn over his mind just like the rest of us did. I had always thought that the veil didn’t apply to Jesus, that he got to come here and remember everything, which I didn’t think was fair, but here I was wrong. D&C 93:13 says, “And he received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness. And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at first.” The Savior was born as a helpless baby, just like the rest of us, he had to learn just like the rest of us, and like him, the rest of us can be taught by the Spirit if we give it a chance. So much of our time is spent distracted these days, we don’t really have a chance for the Holy Ghost to speak to us. He was taught and tutored by the Spirit and the scriptures and became incredibly learned and wise.

When Jesus was 12 years old, Joseph and Mary took their family to Jerusalem for the Passover, and after it was over, the group started heading back to Nazareth, but “the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.” Now it might seem unusual for Mary and Joseph to not know that Jesus was missing from their group, but I’ve actually heard from somewhere that thousands of Jews went to Jerusalem for the Passover so it would make sense that a huge majority of the people of Nazareth would make the journey and it would also make sense that they would travel together for safety. A Christian source says that at the time of Christ there were probably about 400 people, but even if only 100 of them went to Jerusalem, that’s still a very large party, so it’s not crazy that it took them a day to realize that Jesus was missing. They went back to Jerusalem and “after three days they found him in the temple.” It is of note that Jesus was found in the temple and not at his friend’s house or something like that. The IM points out “at an early age Jesus Christ was found in the temple, and throughout His ministry He continued to be at the temple. The temple was a source of inspiration and strength for Him. President James E. Faust of the First Presidency explained that the account of Joseph and Mary discovering Jesus at the temple is part of a larger pattern that reveals the significance of the temple throughout the Savior’s mortal life.” Luke continues that he was “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” When I was a kid, I thought that this meant that Jesus was in the temple learning from the Jewish elders, but then I heard that it was that he was teaching in the temple, but listening and asking questions indicated learning from not teaching to someone. I read something that explained my misunderstanding by pointing out that when the Savior taught during his ministry he often asked questions of the listeners to demonstrate points and to get them thinking about with a different perspective. That made sense to me. In fact, the JST for Luke 2:46 says that Jesus was “sitting in the midst of the doctors, and they were hearing him and asking him question.” The IM quotes the Prophet Joseph Smith as teaching, “when still a boy He had all the intelligence necessary to enable Him to rule and govern the kingdom of the Jews, and could reason with the wisest and most profound doctors of law and divinity, and make their theories and practice to appear like folly compared with the wisdom He possessed.”

Finally, when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple, “they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” Again, here’s an indication that Jesus’s biological paternity was not an active discussion in their household. I read somewhere, and for the life of me I can’t find it, that Jesus couldn’t have had a proper or meaningful relationship with either Mary or Joseph if they had it open within their family. Jesus answers them, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” This might sound like a harsh reply to his mother, but JTC says, “Let us now say that there was unkind rebuke or unfilial reproof in the answer of this most dutiful of sons to His mother. His reply was to Mary a reminder of what she seems to have forgotten for the moment- the facts in the matter of her Son’s paternity. She had used the words ‘thy father and I’; and her Son’s response had brought anew to her mind the truth that Joseph was not the Boy’s father. She appears to have been astonished that One so young should so thoroughly understand His position in respect to herself. He had made plain to her the inadvertent inaccuracy of her words; His Father had not been seeking Him; for was He now even at that moment in His Father’s house, and particularly engaged in His Father’s business, the very work to which His Father had appointed Him?” It was always interesting to me that Jesus stayed at the Jerusalem in the temple and it seems like it didn’t even occur to him to go with his parents back home. He must have known that they were leaving the next day, he must have stayed in the tent with them the night before, helped them pack up even, but when they left he went to the temple. It’s just a really interesting perspective that he thought ‘my place is in the temple.’ Just interesting, and looking at the situation from a parent’s point of view, they couldn’t have just left him there alone at the temple, regardless of who his real father is. They had to take him with them, and when they told him to come on, he went with them, and he was obedient. JTC says, “Interested as were the doctors in this remarkable Boy, much as He had given them to ponder over through His searching questions and wise answers, they could not detain Him, for the very law the professed to uphold enjoined strict obedience to parental authority.” The IM quotes Elder Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. as teaching, “you must remember that your duty to God is very clearly linked to your duties to your own family members, particularly your parents. It is not only in being properly subject or submissive to God, but also to parents and priesthood leaders, that we can truly fulfill our duty to God.”

Lessons from this topic:

1. The temple is an important spiritual place where we can learn and commune with God.
2. We can learn and understand rapidly from the Holy Ghost and gain much wisdom, but we have to let the Holy Ghost teach us by being worthy and spiritually attentive.
3. Obedience to those who have stewardship over us, specifically Mary and Joseph over Jesus. He did what he was told to do, even if he thought that he should be doing something else more important.