Jesus as a Boy

This window portrays Jesus in the temple as a boy. Little is known of the adolescent and young adult life of Jesus. In the second chapter of Luke we are given a small window into both the divinity and humanity of Jesus as a boy. Like all faithful Jews, Jesus’ parents annually made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the ancient Old Testament feast called Passover. The Passover feast commemorated the “passing over” of the angel of death long ago when the people of Israel were delivered from the bondage of the Pharoah of Egypt. During one of those visits the boy Jesus decided to stay behind in the Temple to discuss matters of the Mosaic law with those in the temple. Mary and Joseph, thinking that Jesus was with the traveling party with which they came, left the city. However, at the end of the first day of travel they were shocked to find that Jesus was no where to be found. After days of searching in Jerusalem they found Jesus right where they had left him—in the temple. The Gospel of Luke records that those present in the temple were amazed at how well this twelve year old boy understood the Scriptures, but they did not realize that the boy before them was the very Messiah toward which the Passover feast looked! However, unlike the “miraculous deeds” recorded in non-biblical sources, the Bible declares that Jesus chose to shroud His identity as Messiah until he publicly began His ministry at age thirty.