Twelve Years Old

 

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old (my emphasis), they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days (my emphasis) they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."

And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:41-51)

Jesus was 12 years old.  I think this is the only time we read about Jesus as a boy.  His early life – except for his birth – is a mystery.  We have no idea about what he did or knew.  What stands out for me is Luke’s use of numbers 12 and 3.  Consider the following.

(begin) When exploring which numbers in the Bible carry symbolic significance, number 12 stands out as one of the most prominent in Scripture. Among numbers such as 3 and 40, the number 12 appears numerous times throughout the Old and New Testament.  What does the number 12 mean in the Bible?

Number 12 typically means perfection or authority—often used in a context of government. For instance, because Jacob has 12 sons, they form the 12 tribes of Israel. There are also 12 minor prophets that dot the text of the Old Testament. Found 187 times in the Bible, the number 12 makes a special appearance in Revelation, showing the authority and perfection of God’s kingdom at last.

We see Jesus chose 12 disciples, and the disciples later replaced Judas Iscariot with Matthias to keep the number at 12 (Acts 1) to show the perfection and authority of those who followed Jesus.

Similar to the number three, it’s likely not every instance of the number 12 is a ‘good’ kind of perfection. Jesus heals a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, for instance (Matthew 9:20-22). The 12 years could possibly symbolize just how bad her condition was, signifying the malady as a ‘perfect storm,’ with seemingly no possible cure. Or, it could signify that this was completion of a difficult timeframe and God would be doing a new thing now.

However, 12, more often than not, tends to represent something good. The new Jerusalem, for instance, is stocked full of the number 12 (gates, angels, foundations, etc., Revelation 21). (end)

So, I speculate Luke used 12 years as his way of indicating Jesus’s perfection and authority.  Of course, taking liberty with Jesus’s age (and his parents' search) makes one wonder where else did he write creatively?  Perhaps the entire story of being missing from his parents and then being found in “his Father’s house” is Gospel-writer embellishment to highlight Jesus’s special nature and importance for the benefit of Luke’s audience. 

Regardless, Mary and Joseph must have kept many things in their hearts.  All parents keep many special things in their hearts. My wife's and my heart are filled with memories of our two sons.,

Deacon David Pierce