Luke 2:46 Commentary and Bible Study

They begin to search Jerusalem and no doubt to go back to all the places where they had been before. It was three days before they found him – probably including the day’s travel before they noticed he was missing, another day to travel back to Jerusalem, and a day searching for him in Jerusalem. It is a very worrying time for them. They have been given this child, this gift from God and feel they have neglected to care for him in some way. Something has gone wrong and he has not displayed his normal reliable behaviour. Why not? Surely he knew he should be travelling with everybody else and not staying behind without telling anybody.But now they find him alive and well, and his being there is no accident. He has deliberately not travelled with the company returning to Nazareth. He is there in the temple and obviously we are to understand that he has been there all the time, even though they have only just found him. But Joseph and Mary have only looked here for the first time after a whole day’s search in the city. That is a significant failure on their part as he will point out to them. He is sitting in the midst of the doctors of the law, the scholars and the experts on the interpretation of the law. He has probably anticipated this opportunity to speak to such knowledgeable men, an opportunity which was not available in Nazareth. These are the most knowledgeable people in Jerusalem with respect to the Scriptures. It looks like an impromptu gathering: Jesus has engaged them in conversation and they are giving rapt attention to him and he is to them, and they have been there for three days. This could not have happened if he had been some ordinary child. They were clearly deeply impressed with his level of understanding, and gave him special licence to converse with them. They took note of his extraordinary knowledge. ‘Nevertheless,’ Hendriksen comments, ‘exaggeration must be avoided. Jesus was not yet the teacher. That would come later.’Luke emphasises that the twelve-year old Jesus is doing two things. He is listening to the doctors of the law, but he is also questioning them. Barnes observes that these questions were not to perplex or confound them (as later). He would have been respectful and listened with proper deference to their answers. But furthermore, they were asking him questions. They were amazed both at the nature of the questions and at the answers to their questions they were hearing from such a young child. He had certainly already spent much time meditating on the Scriptures and arranging its doctrines into order in his mind.