hat I must be in my Father's house? 50 And they understood not
the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with
them, and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto them; and his
mother kept all _these_ sayings in her heart.

52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God
and men.

It has been said that the boyhood of Jesus is like a walled garden from
which we have been given but a single flower, but this is so fragrant as
to fill our hearts with a longing to enter within the secret inclosure. We
have but a single incident of his boyhood days; it is recorded for us only
by Luke, a visit to Jerusalem paid by Jesus when he was twelve years old.
At about this age a young Jew became a "son of the law" and began to
observe its requirements, among which were the pilgrimages to the holy
city to observe the sacred feasts. On this first visit to Jerusalem, Jesus
was unintentionally left behind by his parents as they started on their
return journey to Nazareth. At the end of the first day they failed to
find him in the long caravan which was moving northward toward Galilee.
The day following, Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem, and on the third
day they discovered Jesus in the Temple in the midst of the teachers who
were surprised at his knowledge of the sacred Scriptures. There was an
implied rebuke in the words of Mary, "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with
us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing?" In the reply of Jesus
there was something of surprise and also of reproof, yet there were deep
undertones of love, of spiritual vision, and of solemn resolve: "How is it
that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father's house?"

These are the first recorded words of Jesus and they are an index and an
explanation of his entire career; for their preservation this story was
recorded by Luke. If they contained a rebuke for Mary, it must have been
conveyed in accents of reverence and affection; and was there not involved
a delicate compliment? Jesus does not reprove his parents for seeking him,
but for not seeking him in the Temple first of all; and does he not seem
to have implied that his parents had taught him to love the house of God
and to delight in the law of God? He was saying in effect: "Why thus did
you seek me? Why did you not remember that the Temple is the very place
where I should be found?"

These words are thus a revelation of the life in the