I Have Lots of Questions

   This Christmas, having stretched out my BSF lesson as far as it could go, I decided to study Luke's account of Jesus' birth and childhood. I have lots of questions, and a few ideas about what I would have done. When Luke mentions Mary pondering or treasuring things in her heart, I believe it is because she herself told him these events. Luke 1:3 states he "carefully investigated everything from the beginning." I could almost hear him asking Mary, "What stands out to you from Jesus' birth and childhood?" We sometimes view Mary and Joseph as if they were streaming God's will in a daily podcast, but the angelic visits and dream guidance to Joseph about going to Egypt were very rare events. Most of their daily lives were lived just like ours. 

    So when Simeon and Anna prophesy about Jesus' future, Mary and Joseph marveled because they did not really know what lay ahead for God's Son. God had promised Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died and, having seen and held Jesus, he was content now to do so. However, if I had been Simeon (unless I was especially old and achy) I would have said, "Wait, Lord, I meant the grown up version!" Now for the questions:

If he was officially named Jesus at his circumcision (Lk. 2:21), what did they call him the first 7 days? What name did the shepherds use? I assume giving the name at the temple was for purposes of the geneology records, but still I wonder if he was just "baby" before that.

 

If Mary and Joseph went back to Nazareth after Mary's purification (Lk. 2:39), why were they back in Bethlehem when the Magi came (Mt. 2:6-11)? 

 

How did Jesus learn scripture growing up in Nazareth? Nazareth was a podunk town with a small synagogue and limited resources for buying scripture scrolls. If I was Mary or Joseph, I would have wanted to move the Son of God to a larger town with a bigger synagogue and access to more scripture. If I were Joseph, I would have felt the need to get out of carpentry and into a profession that paid enough to send Jesus to school and was more fitting to train God's Son.

 

    If Luke did ask Mary what stood out from Jesus' childhood, I can see why Jesus being left at the temple is recorded only here. That would be pretty memorable. Three days of searching through Jerusalem at Passover knowing you had LOST GOD'S SON would stick in your mind. More questions:

Where did Jesus sleep and eat those 4 days? Were there guest quarters?

How big a group were Joseph and Mary traveling in that it took a whole day to notice Jesus was gone? Did they not count kids back then?

Why didn't Jesus know his parents would worry? I know he was 12, but he was also Jesus. 

Were his siblings glad Jesus finally did something to trouble his parents? Was he punished when he got home? Did he get extra chores? If I had been Mary, my first words would have been harsher and include the phrase "worried sick".

 

     I did some research. Although Jesus was about the age for it, Bar Mitzvah was not really a thing until the middle ages and does not mean a ceremony, but a recognition of reaching the age of personal accountability before God in relation to the covenant. What Joseph and Mary understood way better than I, is that God had called a carpenter and his wife in small town Nazareth to raise His Son. If He had wanted Jesus to grow up in a wealthier family with more access to scripture, He would have chosen other people. His parents did not need to pave Jesus' path to success because His Father would take care of that. As parents, wanting the best education and opportunities for our children, we sometimes forget that all God wants is our faithfulness. Then and now, He will take care of the rest.