“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
Why were you searching for me? he asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house? — the response is simultaneously gentle and theologically definitive. Why were you searching for me — the implied answer is that they should have known where to look. Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house: the first recorded words of Jesus in Luke, and they establish the controlling relationship of his life. The had to (dei, divine necessity) appears here for the first time — the same necessity that will govern the passion predictions. My Father's house is the temple, but the Father is not Joseph.
Church Fathers on Luke 2:49
The Evangelist having said before that the Child grew and waxed strong, verifies his own words when he relates, that Jesus with the holy Virgin went up to Jerusalem; as it is said, And when he was twelve years old, &c.
His indication of wisdom did not exceed the measure of His age, but at the time that with us the powers of discernment are generally perfected, the wisdom of Christ shows itself.
Or the twelfth year was the commencement of our Lord’s disputation with the doctors, for this was the number of the Evangelists necessary to preach the faith.
Read all 27 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!