Luke 2:43 Commentary and Bible Study

Luke tells us nothing about the feast itself. That is not his purpose in relating this incident. He focuses on what happened afterwards on the way home back to Nazareth. The problem was that unknown to Joseph and Mary Jesus was not in the company travelling back to Nazareth. He had remained behind in Jerusalem, and they had unwittingly gone off without him. Clearly he had never done anything like this before, and they were expecting that he would behave with his normal wisdom. Clearly this was a situation in which many friends and relatives travelled together, and it could be reasonably assumed that Jesus was somewhere in the company, even though Joseph and Mary did not know exactly where. Many others would have been going in all directions across the land back to their homes, but he was old enough to not get left behind, and to be travelling with the right group of people returning to Nazareth. A whole day had gone by before they started to ask where he was and to look for him. They were not irresponsible parents and this is an indication of how safe society was in those days. A young child could be assumed to be in no danger and to be travelling somewhere in the company even though the parents did not know exactly who he was with.They searched through the group, finding relatives and friends who had travelled together, and they asked if anyone had seen him, but nobody had. They then began to get very concerned. They were his parents, and though he was the Christ, he was still a child and they were responsible his safety. This was their God given commission. Once they were sure he was not anywhere in the group, they knew they had to go back to Jerusalem. Could something have happened to him? It is now a day since they last saw him.