Summary

On March 23 AD7, Mary and Joseph return to Jerusalem to find Jesus; meanwhile, he sits enraptured as he listens to the Jewish scholars in the Temple, and the priests and teachers are astonished by the boy’s understanding of complex spiritual concepts. Though Jesus is aware that his parents have left the city, his thirst for knowledge about God is overwhelming, and he finds many questions to ask.

Unable to locate Jesus in the city, Mary and Joseph continue to the Temple where Mary hears Jesus’s voice coming from the location where the sages teach the Scriptures, and she and Joseph are shocked at the ease with which their son is discussing God. When they angrily ask where he has been, Jesus replies, “didn’t you know I had to be in my father’s house” (page 76)?

Mary, Joseph and Jesus return to...