Mat 12:40, "for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Mk 8:31, "And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

John 2:19, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'"
Mary, after Christ's death some twenty two years later, would recall this event. How clear it must have been to her that while Christ was gone He was about the things of the Father.

At the passover, 30 A.D. Christ would die and His body would lie in the tomb for three days and nights. During that time His soul would be attending to the Father's business, making the great proclamation TETELESTAI to the fallen angels in prison under the earth, 1 Pet 3:19.

It is clear that Luke interviewed Mary or someone close to her in order to learn of this episode in the life of Christ. The information could not have come from any other source.

The days lay out as follows:

Day one: Joseph and Mary stay in the caravan and search for Him as they travel north.

Day two: travel back to Jerusalem.

Day three: search in Jerusalem.

oDay four: find Christ in the temple.

The circumstantial participle KATHEZOMENON shows the circumstances in which they found their Son - sitting EN MESO TO.N DIDASKALO.N 'in the midst of the teachers'. didaskalon denotes a teacher with authority, an expert in the study of the Mosaic Law. This and the following two participles are in the present tense, indicating that all this was going on at the moment that his parents found him.

Two other circumstantial participles spell out what Jesus was doing while he sat.

AKOUONTA AUTO.N - listening to them. The genitive case of auto.n indicates that He listened with humility.

EPERO.TO.NTA AUTOUS - questioning them. EPERO.TO.NTA portrays a very intense questioning. Here not in the sense of aggressiveness, but in the depth and detail of the questions themselves. That the student should interrogate the teachers is a remarkable thing in itself!

In His humanity our Lord still had much to learn. Up to this point he had learned all that he possibly could, but there was more to go with each passing moment. Remember that in the incarnation the deity and thus the omnipresence and omniscience of Christ is completely restricted.

Christ in his humanity was finite and limited in what he could know and apply. The creature is always finite.

Verse 47 reveals the response of the teachers to the knowledge of Christ.

Luke 2:47, "Now everyone who heard him was astonished by his perspicacity and his answers."

This comment seems to be an aside to the drama of Christ being lost and then found by his parents, but in a way it is the real story. This is a mile marker in Christ's young life - it gives us a brief check on his ability to perceive and apply the truth.

First is the response of the hearers: they EXISTANTO - "were astounded."

Usually amazement is short-lived; a surprise hits, the amazement comes, and then it is gone as quickly as it came. Not so here. The imperfect tense of EXISTE.ME shows that the boy's listeners were in a constant state of amazement.

EXISTE.MI means to stand outside of oneself. It shows that you are beside yourself with surprise, amazement, etc. It is even used to show a state of befuddlement or even psychosis. Luke makes a joke here: Christ's listeners are stunned to the point of unthinking about His thinking!

The object of the teachers' amazement is twofold.

The SUNESIS of Christ. This summarizes His perceptive ability with reference to spiritual matters. In essence it reveals the function of Jesus's human spirit. It is definitely a function of the heart - the kind of thinking that immediately precedes application. Naturally this includes belief. This understanding only comes from the grace of God, and not the power of man, Eph. 3:4 and 2 Tim 2:7.

His answers, described by the word APOKRISESIN. Interestingly enough, this word comes from a compound which literally means 'from the source of judgment'.

Of course, the teachers cannot see our Lord's thought processes, but they can listen to His answers. From his answers they deduce His fantastic thought processes.

Verse 48 gets back to the drama.

Luke 2:48, "and seeing him they were thunderstruck and his mother said to him, "Child [TEKNON] why have treated [done] us in this manner? Behold your father and I searched for you in torment."

To begin with, the astonishment of Joseph and Mary is not due to the spiritual discussion which is going on as they arrive. They are amazed that they have found him at all - they were at the point of giving up. If they were amazed in the same manner as the teachers, their response would have been in that category. There is a certain agony in finding that which is lost, even when it is found intact. Joseph and Mary experience just such an emotion.

Mary is the one who speaks. Joseph may have spoken but it is not recorded here. She definitely rebukes her son, but that rebuke is definitely wrong.

She calls him TEKNON - this is not a term of respect - it is the neutral child appellation, but it has no reference to authority. Mary assumes that her child is wrong because of the way that she suffered.

Mary adds an adverb to describe their mental attitude during the search - ODUNO.MENOI. This is the present passive participle of ODUNO.MAO., which functions as an adverb to describe their mental attitude. The search was full of doubt and mental agony. The verb literally describes the agony that comes from burning. They were out of fellowship while they were searching.

Parents: there will be times when you agonize over your children. Your attitude is your responsibility, regardless of what your children do. Whatever your children do, right or wrong, your bad attitude is your fault, and never, ever theirs.

Verse 49 gives Christ's reply to the accusation of his mother.

Luke 2:49, "and he said to them, "Why were you seeking me? Did you not know that it is necessary for me to be about the things of my Father?"

First there is a legitimate question. 'Why were you seeking me?' It is wonderful to notice that he does not judge his parents. He does not use the compound verb for the desperate search, nor does he use the adverbial participle for mental torment. He asks why they searched for him at all, when they should have known all along where he was. Christ uses the objective negative adverb OUK to indicate that there is no doubt that they should have looked at the temple first.

Although they assumed [NOMIZO] him to be in the caravan, they should have assumed him to be in the things of the father.

EN TOIS TOU PATROS MOU should be translated 'about the things of my father.' Not 'in my father's house'. The word OIKOS [house] is not in the text.

The word DEI describes the higher calling of the boy. It shows a moral necessity for him to be about the things of his father. The things of the father have to do with faith perception of the truth - also consistent with verse 40 and its record of Christ's childhood of wisdom.

This is the first indication of Christ's self-awareness of His essence and mission in life. It is likely that He knew it long before this, but this is our indicator of its existence at age 12.

From at least age 12 Christ was aware that he was the son of God. It is also apparent that it was necessary for Him to upgrade his education by speaking with the teachers at the temple.

Joseph and Mary's response to Christ's truthful statement is recorded in verse 50.

Luke 2:50, "and they themselves did not understand the statement which he spoke to them."

The verb SUNIE.MI is used to denote that the statement [RHE.MA] had to be understood on a spiritual level. Joseph and Mary are not using their spiritual frame of reference for this incident.

The negative adverb OUK shows that their misunderstanding was complete - they missed the boat - they didn't even find the dock - in fact, they were not even near the water.

Joseph and Mary are so wrapped up in their own pain that they cannot see that not only did they mistakenly assume that Christ was in the caravan, but also there was absolutely nothing wrong with what the boy did in staying at the temple. Their rationale is irrational: because they suffered, they assumed him wrong.

It is not that they did not understand Christ's statement in an academic sense; it is just that they are so out of fellowship with God that they will not accept the conclusion of their son. To accept his conclusion is to admit their wrong, and that is just something that they will not do. One or the other of them had to be wrong; it was not Christ.

One of the greatest surrenders of pride is to admit that you have caused your own pain; that is what Joseph and Mary are struggling with. Make no mistake - the accusation of Joseph and Mary is completely unfair. The next statement is all the more remarkable because of this.

Verse 51 reveals Christ's obedience in this unfair situation.

Luke 2:51, "And he went down with them and came unto Nazareth and he remained subordinate to them. And his mother was maintaining all these events in her heart."

It was His parents original wish to go back home to Nazareth; it was Christ's righteous desire to remain in Jerusalem. Since the boy was under the authority of his parents, he went back down to Nazareth. Nazareth is down for two reasons: because it is down with respect to elevation - it is downhill; and because it is down with respect to importance - Jerusalem is the most important city of all.

Luke uses a very strong idiom - the periphrastic participle - to show Christ's utter and complete subordination to his parents. It immediately became DEI - a moral necessity - to obey his parents' wishes. It was God's direct will in spite of his parents out of fellowship state and the importance of his interchange with the temple teachers.

Mary was maintaining these things in her heart. This is why we know that this is Mary's narration to Luke. Only Mary could know her own heart. She would have had to tell someone about the thoughts of her heart.

The word for maintain is DIETEREI - the imperfect tense of DIATEREO. The imperfect shows that she did this constantly, not just at one moment of time.

DIATERO here is contrasted with SUNTEREO of 2:19, when Mary heard the words of the wise men from the east. This is not the same as treasure. It is closer to remember without reference to an emotional appreciation. It literally means to 'keep through'. This concentrates on the duration of the events. Verse 19 concentrates on Mary's understanding; this verse concentrates on her memory without reference to understanding.

PANTA TA RE.MATA is a phrase which indicates that not only this event but many others remained in Mary's memory.

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