Luke 2 Did Jesus Get "Time Outs" as a Young Boy?
46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[f] 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
It must have been incredibly amazing for Mary to give birth to the son of God. And then, she and Joseph were given the responsibility of raising the future Messiah. What a daunting task to raise the Savior of the world as your son. Did they have to discipline him? Tell him to go to bed on time? Turn the lights out on him when he was reading the Hebrew bible late at night?
The only real story we have about Jesus as a teenager is this story when his parents lost him as they left the Passover feast. It may seem like gross negligence on their part, but in those days families traveled together in great big caravans. It would sort of be like a big group of families camping, and a parent assuming their child was with other kids and their families. But what is remarkable about this story is that Mary and Joseph looked for three days trying to find teenage Jesus. You can only imagine their panic. This accounts for maybe why Mary says, "Why have you treated us this way. Dad and I have been looking for you!"
Jesus reply is enigmatic. He says, "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I was in my father's house?" In my house this might be bordering on "talking back", but we know Jesus was no ordinary child. Though his parents may have given him a "time out" on the way home, secretly they treasured these things in their hearts. They knew Jesus had a special purpose and now it was being revealed slowly, but surely.
By the way the text ends with, "Then he went down to Nazareth and was obedient to them." Maybe he learned his lesson not upset mom like that!
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