The Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding In The Temple

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.  His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.  After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  And when his parents saw him, they were astonished.  And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”  And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.  And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature (Luke 2: 41-52).

If you ever needed any evidence that the Holy Family was like other families in their day-to-day lives, you have it here.  They all go up to the Big City for the annual pilgrimage, an extremely important occasion as it is for Passover.  Like most country and small-town groups, they make a holiday of it and everyone goes together in family parties.  And we can see that the grown-ups stick together and the kids run around in gangs, and since it’s a festival time, things are more relaxed.  So when the boy Jesus isn’t with Mom and Dad, they naturally assume He’s taking advantage of being away from home to have fun with the other kids, and if He’s not here, He must be with Cousin Cleopas or Cousin Alphaeus or Cousin Salome and He’s okay, they’ll feed Him and give Him a bed for the night, He’s a big kid now, you can’t keep Him tied to your apron strings.

Then they find out that He’s nowhere to be found, and after what you can imagine must have been an unmerciful bout of “I thought He was with you!” running around and hair-pulling, they head back for Jerusalem in what must have been a fairly desperate hope that He was there and safe (a twelve year old boy on his own in the big city for three days?  Even back then, bad things happened in just those circumstances).  I’m not a parent myself, but I’ve heard plenty of stories about people coming back from the shops, unpacking and putting away the groceries, and having a vague notion they’re forgetting something – until they realise they’ve left the baby strapped in the carseat outside.  Consternation!

And then they find Him in the temple, and they must have gone weak at the knees with relief and, hard on the heels of that, must have been ready to kill Him themselves.  Mary is very temperate in what she says (my friend Dante uses this as the first exemplar of mildness rather than wrath in Canto XV, the Terrace of the Wrathful, in the “Purgatorio”), but she naturally asks “Didn’t you know your father and I would be upset?  How could you be so thoughtless?”

And what answer does He make her?  In the older translations I am familiar with, He phrases it “Do you not know I must be about my father’s business?”

Yeah, when I was twelve, if I’d made that answer to my mother after putting the heart crossways in her with worry, I would not have been sitting down for the rest of the day.

We get here, I think, a very deliberate contrast between the two fathers – between Joseph, His father in the eyes of the world (“your father and I have been searching for you in great distress”) and His Heavenly Father, in whose name He will begin and end His preaching ministry and who will acknowledge Him at the baptism in the River Jordan and in the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.  Now, you can say that this is a deliberate interpolation by later writers to bolster their case for the divinity of Jesus or to attribute a deity as His father in common with the other culture heroes, and we’ve already gone all through this, so there’s no point rehashing it again.  But there is a legitimate question about “Was Jesus always aware of His mission or when did this awareness come to Him?” and though I’m not going to attempt to answer that, I think we see the seeds present here.  He must be about His Father’s business, in His Father’s house, and that business would seem to involve the teachers of the Law and the Prophets.  What is the Father’s business?  Do we see here the foreshadowing of what will come later in His public ministry?

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes (Matthew 7: 28-29).

And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching.  And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.  And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are — the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this?  A new teaching with authority!  He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”  And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.” Mark 1: 22-27

Although there does not seem to have been the tradition of the Bar Mitzvah in this time, still the age of twelve (or thirteen) years is significant in this context.  To quote the Wikipedia article on the topic:

 Whoever becomes Bar or Bat Mitzvah has the responsibilities of an adult Jew under Jewish law.  These include

• Moral responsibility for own actions
• Eligibility to be called to read from the Torah and participate in a Minyan
• May possess personal property
• May be legally married according to Jewish law
• Must follow the 613 laws of the Torah and keep the Halakha

Below the age of Bar Mitzvah, children are considered exempt from Jewish law, although they must undertake mitzvahs gradually, under the parent’s tutelage, as training and preparation for their coming of age.

In Christianity, we have the Sacrament of Confirmation around this age (can be earlier, can be later) and, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

1285 Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the “sacraments of Christian initiation,” whose unity must be safeguarded.  It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace.  For “by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit.  Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.

1294 Anointing with oil has all these meanings in the sacramental life. the pre-baptismal anointing with the oil of catechumens signifies cleansing and strengthening; the anointing of the sick expresses healing and comfort. the post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation and ordination is the sign of consecration.  By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, share more completely in the mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so that their lives may give off “the aroma of Christ.”

1299 In the Roman Rite the bishop extends his hands over the whole group of the confirmands.  Since the time of the apostles this gesture has signified the gift of the Spirit.  The bishop invokes the outpouring of the Spirit in these words:

All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

by water and the Holy Spirit

you freed your sons and daughters from sin

and gave them new life.

Send your Holy Spirit upon them

to be their helper and guide.

Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of right judgment and courage,

the spirit of knowledge and reverence.

Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

1300 The essential rite of the sacrament follows.  In the Latin rite, “the sacrament of Confirmation is conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the hand, and through the words: ‘Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti’ [Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.]

For those of us of a certain generation, we also remember the idea of the “slap on the cheek” by the bishop signaling our willingness to suffer and undergo persecution: “In this connection, the touch on the cheek that the bishop gave while saying ‘Pax tecum’ (Peace be with you) to the person he had just confirmed was interpreted in the Roman Pontifical as a slap, a reminder to be brave in spreading and defending the faith: “Deinde leviter eum in maxilla caedit, dicens: Pax tecum” (Then he strikes him lightly on the cheek, saying: Peace be with you).  When, in application of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the confirmation rite was revised in 1971, mention of this gesture was omitted.”  Yes, by the time I was confirmed, we didn’t get slapped any more.

The sacrament of Confirmation makes us full and perfect Christians; we are called by our confirmation name, anointed, and the bishop invokes the Holy Spirit by the laying-on of hands.  From now on, we are supposed to develop a mature faith.

So the young Christ was in the position of a Bar Mitzvah or Confirmation candidate; from that time on, He was an adult of His faith.  And having declared His mission from His Father in Heaven, He then returns to His earthly home, dwells with His parents and doubtless learns His foster-father’s business in St. Joseph’s carpenter shop, until it is time for Him to set out on His public ministry.  Having left Mary and Joseph for His Father’s work, He does not abandon them, but returns to them.  As we are called to do the work of our Father, but also not to abandon those close to us?

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature.”