The Finding in the Temple

At the age of 12, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph, as was the family custom. Something new happens on this journey. He is no longer an infant, no longer a child. His "place" in the family is now ready to change. Neither Mary nor Joseph are surprised that He might be someplace else in the caravan. But there is something new happening. When He has to choose His place, He chooses the one place that serves to draw Him into the Presence of His Heavenly Father, the Temple. He remains there as the family departs without Him.

When Mary and Joseph discover that Jesus is not with them, they are distressed. They retrace their steps and return to Jerusalem. When they find Him, He is in the Temple, speaking to the teachers there, listening and asking questions, understanding and leading to deeper understanding in those who speak to Him. Seeing this scene, Mary is able to express to her Son the nature of the distress that she and Joseph have shared. And Jesus is able to respond to her from His new "place." Nonetheless, He returns with them to Nazareth and remains under their authority.

"Why did you look for Me? Did you not know I had to be in My Father's House?" Jesus says to His mother. He is inviting her to know Him in a new, more intimate way. The unity between mother and Son has always been present. It will continue to grow until that moment when the Son is on the Cross. At this moment, Mary has a pang in her heart. No doubt she recalls the words Simeon spoke to her a dozen years before in this very Temple. She does not yet know the depth of the pain that will come one day. For now, she has a few more years of peace with Jesus and Joseph. Yet, she must begin to create more room for her Son as He walks His own way. Her relationship to Him is changing. More and more, He must be about His Father's business.

With the Finding in the Temple, we meet Jesus in an experience that is very human. So many families can relate to the experience of the child lost or left behind. Teens and young adults can relate to the need to separate from parents in the journey of finding their own identity. Jesus reveals the way to negotiate through this human experience: honesty of purpose and, at the same time, an attitude of obedience.

In our world today, so many are lost and confused about their identity. In an effort to "find themselves" and to express their uniqueness, many are duped into establishing false selves or into defining their identity by aspects of themselves that are not the real center. The Finding in the Temple shows how one's true identity is to be discovered: through attending to relationship with the Living God. Seeking God first and being in His Temple will serve to bring each of us to the truth of who we are in God.