Jesus at the Temple

At class last Wednesday, a comment was made about the story of Jesus as a twelve year old boy, left behind in Jerusalem after Passover to finally be found at the temple. (Luke 2:41-49) A few verses:

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."

"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

A comment was made by a member of the class that, "They should have known where he was."

Is that right? Should his parents have known where he was? I've always sympathized in this story with Mary and Joseph, not with Jesus.

• This is their son. They had the raising of him for twelve years. They love him. And they've lost him. How do they feel? How would you feel?
• Even if they don't understand exactly WHO he is, Mary and Joseph do know that they have been entrusted by God with someone very special. Do they fully understand who he is? We don't, and we know the rest of the story. So how do they feel when they loose him? I imagine that they feel as if they have failed God.
• Like any parents, they have an expectation that their son will obey them. As parents, we all have to have that expectation, or we are doomed in this "raising a child" project. We must believe we have authority, or we do not have it at all. When he disobeys them, they have a right to be angry.
• They are parents -- they have been given this job by God. They have a right to be respected by their son. Staying behind in Jerusalem may have been necessary to the mission he was on and may have been commanded by God, but Mary and Joseph have a right to be surprised by it. And hurt. And frightened.

Should they have known where he was? He says they should have, but they didn't. None of that detracts from the fear, anger and puzzlement that they feel. It is right and natural, and when we denigrate them for feeling it, we lessen their role as parents to this human.

God could have sent Jesus to the world as a fully grown human, but he chose to send him as a baby. A baby that was dependent upon parents for his life and his maturity. A baby who had to be taught how to walk and talk, to hammer a nail and to grow into a man. Fully human AND fully divine. Let's not forget the humanity in the bright light of the divinity.