Becoming a “Son of the Commandment”

9, 10. After returning to Jerusalem, where did Jesus’ parents find him, and what was the import of Jesus’ questioning?

⁹ Some lament that there is only one incident in Jesus’ boyhood that is recorded. Yet many fail to realize the great significance of that event. It is reported for us at Luke 2:46, 47: “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening to them and questioning them. But all those listening to him were in constant amazement at his understanding and his answers.” Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament brings up the idea that in this case the Greek word for “questioning” was not just a boy’s curiosity. The word could refer to questioning used in judicial examination, investigation, counterquestioning, even the “probing and cunning questions of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” such as those mentioned at Mark 10:2 and Mr 12:18-23.

¹⁰ The same dictionary continues: “In [the] face of this usage it may be asked whether . . . [Luke] 2:46 denotes, not so much the questioning curiosity of the boy, but rather His successful disputing. [Lu 2 Verse] 47 would fit in well with the latter view.”a Rotherham’s translation of Lu 2 verse 47 presents it as a dramatic confrontation: “Now all who heard him were beside themselves, because of his understanding and his answers.” Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament says that their constant amazement means that “they stood out of themselves as if their eyes were bulging out.”

11. What was the reaction of Mary and Joseph to what they saw and heard, and what does one theological dictionary suggest?

¹¹ When Jesus’ parents finally came on the scene, “they were astounded.” (Luke 2:48) Robertson says that the Greek word in this expression means “to strike out, drive out by a blow.” He adds that Joseph and Mary “were struck out” by what they saw and heard. In a sense, Jesus already was an astonishing teacher. And in view of this incident in the temple, Kittel’s work makes the claim that “Jesus already commences in His boyhood the conflict in which His opponents will finally have to surrender.”

12. What marked Jesus’ later interchanges with religious leaders?

¹² And surrender they did! Years later, it was by such questioning that Jesus defeated the Pharisees until they did not “dare from that day on to question him any further.” (Matthew 22:41-46) The Sadducees were likewise silenced on the question of the resurrection, and “no longer did they have the courage to ask him a single question.” (Luke 20:27-40) The scribes fared no better. After one of them had had an exchange with Jesus, “nobody had the courage anymore to question him.”​—Mark 12:28-34.

13. What was it that made the episode at the temple significant in Jesus’ life, and what further awareness does it suggest?

¹³ Why was this incident involving Jesus and the teachers at the temple the one singled out from his boyhood for recounting? It was a turning point in the life of Jesus. When he was about 12 years of age, he became what Jews would term a “son of the commandment,” responsible for observing all of its ordinances. When Mary complained to Jesus about the mental distress he had caused her and Joseph, her son’s reply indicated that he likely realized the miraculous nature of his birth and his Messianic future. That is suggested by his noting that in a very direct way, God was his Father: “Why did you have to go looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in the house of my Father?” Incidentally, these are the first words from Jesus that are recorded in the Bible, and they indicate his awareness of Jehovah’s purpose for his being sent to the earth. Thus, this entire episode is one of major significance.​—Luke 2:48, 49.